Item 184 - Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Elizabeth Trevelyan

1 item

The White Gates, Dorking. - '[V]ery dear' of Bessy to write; wishes she could hear [his new 5th Symphony, to be performed that evening at the Albert Hall]; it is 'very quiet & not at all like the one before'. Thinks [Hubert] Foss did 'an almost impossible job very well'. They have had 'happy letters' from the Löwenbachs, who are in New York; [Jan] is 'quite well again', and writing for a Czech newspaper published there.

British Library, MS Mus. 1714/1/15, ff.3-4

Transcription available on-line on the Letters of Vaughan Williams website, copyright the Vaughan Williams Charitable Trust.
Reference number VWL1789: http://vaughanwilliams.uk/letter/vwl1789

Pencil annotation dating the letter '1943' and notes this is 'Date of first performance of his new D maj[or] Symphony in London'; this is probably in Elizabeth Trevelyan's hand.