THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

13 Cheyne Walk
S.W.

[?September 1906]

Dear Madam

Please forgive my delay in answering your letter.  I shall be delighted to arrange & invent some music for the “Pilgrim’s Progress”  – if you can provide me  with a string orchestra of first-rate amateurs & 3 or 4 professionals to keep the thing going.  I see you mention Miss Waterhouse as one of the amateur players – every player should be at least as good as she and have had experience in playing in orchestras.
You will kindly let me know as soon as you can exactly where music will be wanted & where it accompanies business about how long it will last.
I am returning the copy to Miss Ouless so perhaps she will kindly let me have a copy.
I have one or two suggestions to make:
(1)  I must have a few words – just a sentence or two – for the singing of the angels – something which can be repeated often, like “alleluia”.
(2)  I think it better to have a real folksong for the shepherds and not “He that is down” – also the pipe will be impractical unless we have wind in the orchestra – also it will not be a duet but a solo.
(3)  C^d could not the delightful “Who w^d true valour see” from part II of P.P. be introduced – possibly the song during the arming of Xtian¹
Yrs truly

R. Vaughan Williams

1. It was: VW had recently included this hymn as ‘He who would valiant be’ in the newly published English Hymnal, set to a folk song called after and collected at Monk’s Gate.