Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Grace Williams
The White Gates,
Westcott Road,
Dorking.
Dear Grace
Are either of these any use to you - I don't think you cd 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 shd 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 shd much like a line to hear how he is getting on. I wish I cd 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 wd 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)
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Williams was studying in Vienna at this time.