THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

From R. Vaughan Williams,
10, Hanover Terrace,
Regents Park,
London, N.W.1.

April 8th 1958.

Dear Tony,

Thank you so much for writing, and I won’t pretend that I am not pleased that you liked it.  The Flugel man showed me at rehearsal that unless I allowed a minimum of vibrato, the tone would sound hard, rather like a bad horn.  The valve trouble caused him to miss a few notes, but the trumpet, who was sitting next to him, gallantly came to the rescue and played them for him: so that I, at all events, did not know that anything had gone wrong!¹
I am delighted to hear about the opera – I understand it is about an organ tuner.  I hope you introduce the whole tone scale?²
Love from us both,
Yrs

RVW

1.  VW’s Ninth Symphony had been given its first performance on 2 April. Partially printed in R.V.W.: a biography, p.391.
2.  Scott’s entry in International Who’s Who in Music lists two one-act operas but without title or other detail.