Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Grace Williams

Dear Grace
Are either of these any use to you - I don't think you c^d get the Mendelssohn - judging by the people who do get it - but you never can tell - & I think you are eligible for the Cobbett - but I sh^d ask P'... if I were you.¹ I loved your last letter & did I never thank you for the Dresden photograph - It's not my favourite - the "Marriage at Cana" by Tintoretto or Veronese - I forget which is the one I like best.
You might suggest to Russell² that I sh^d much like a line to hear how he is getting on. I wish I c^d be hearing all those operas - I had a card from Imogen³ & Buda Pest - were you there also? a dangerous place for pretty young women like you
Yrs
Uncle Ralph

P.S. I'm longing to hear the Sonata⁴ - I'm glad it's Welsh - & don't be frightened at having soul - that is the one danger of Wellesz or any German teacher
because they are all suffering from a surfeit of sentimentality & are trying to get away from it - but we in England & Wales are not so & are only just beginning to be able to express our selves
RVW
PPS So glad about the Sonata - I knew it w^d come one day - so go on with the good work

1. The Mendelssohn and Cobbett Prizes were awarded by the Royal College of Music.
2. Leslie Russell, who was also studying in Vienna on a travelling scholarship from the Royal College of Music.
3. Imogen Holst, another pupil of VW.
4. Sonata for violin and piano, in three movements (1930)