THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank

Letter No. VWL4308

Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank

Letter No.: VWL4308


From R VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
The White Gates
Dorking

Dec 3 [1947]

Dear Frank
Can you or Phyllis1 suggest any pieces of the wrong note school (I mean the real thing – Schonberg, Berg, Lutyens, Gerhard – it doesn’t matter which they all sound exactly the same to me). I want to find out how they achieve those nasty noises they make – I might find something useful for my “Dance of Penguins”.2 It had better be pfte music as I can’t read a score. Also who publishes Mahler’s 2nd (“Resurrection”) Symphony – I want to study the orchestration of one or two passages – not for wrong notes – his notes seem to be painfully “right”
Yrs
R Vaughan Williams


1. Phyllis Tate, the composer, who was married to Alan Frank.
2. VW was composing the film music for Scott of the Antarctic.