Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ernest Irving
From R. Vaughan Williams,
The White Gates,
Westcott Road,
Dorking.
Dear Irving,
I am so glad to hear you are etc.
The selection seems good - though I am sorry we have not got the sea music.1
It is most kind of you to be sending the recordings.
By the way “The Shepherds” is not & never was a Cantata, but a stage piece & has had several performances as such - it was once done (& I do not think successfully) at the 3 Choirs in concert form.2
Yrs
RVW
1. Possibly refers to the music for the film The Loves of Joanna Godden of which a selection was recorded. See Catalogue of Works 1946/2.
2. The Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains, Catalogue of Works 1922/6. The work was performed at Sadlers Wells in early/mid-February 1947, which might have prompted this comment, presumably in response to a letter from Irving.