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Home , Elizabeth Maconchy, Grace Williams, Hugh the Drover, Ivor Gurney, Patrick Hadley, Robin Milford

Vaughan Williams , Ralph Manuscripts in the Library

Entered RCM from Charterhouse 25 September 1890 • Studied harmony under F.E. Gladstone (pupil of S.S. Wesley) o Reached Grade V after 2 terms and allowed to study composition • Studied composition with Parry who ‘opened his eyes’ musically o Told to study more Beethoven, especially the late quartets. (At the time RVW disliked Beethoven.) o Had an early Gounod phase, but after that his favourite composers were Bach, Beethoven, Brahms and Wagner. Richard Walthew converted him to Carmen , while a performance of Verdi’s Requiem convinced him of the greatness of that work.

Left RCM on 24 March 1893, having already entered Trinity College Cambridge to read History in September 1892. (History chosen as the lectures would not conflict with Parry’s teaching days at the RCM.) • Travelled to the RCM weekly for lesson with Parry • Took Cambridge Mus. B. in 1894. Wood, who coached him, ‘confessed later that he had had no hope for him as a composer’ ( RCM Magazine 55 (1959), 14). • A Cambridge contemporary wrote ‘Among his contemporaries I cannot recall any who expected him to become eminent as a musician’ ( RCM Magazine 55 (1959), 14).

Re-entered RCM half way through the Summer term 1895 (13 June 1895) • Now studied composition with Stanford. VW later wrote ‘Stanford was a great teacher, but I believe I was unteachable. I made the great mistake of trying to fight my teacher … The details of my work annoyed Stanford so much that we seldom got beyond these to the broader issues … there was no time left for any constructive criticism’. • Continued organ study with Parratt. Alan Gray (Trinity College, Cambridge) had doubts about him and wrote to Parratt: ‘I can never trust him to play a simple service for me without some dread as to what he may do … In fact he seems to somewhat hopeless, but I should be glad if you could give me your opinion …’ • Member of the Literary and Debating Society – a group that included Dunhill, Ireland, Fritz Hart, Hurlstone and Holst who would continue their discussions in Wilkins’ Tea Shop in Kensington High Street. Before going there they would sing ‘Shall we go to Wilkins’, shall we go to Wilkins’? Yes!’ to the opening of the Scherzo of Brahms’ 4 th symphony. • Great friendship with Holst dates from this time.

Left RCM on 22 July 1896 for further study – against Stanford’s advice – in with Max Bruch.

Submitted works for the Patron’s fund after its foundation in 1904. The comments of the adjudicators demonstrate that they felt that he was still unsure where he was going: • Heroic Elegy & Triumphal March (1904). Yes, but held over to 1905 (when it was never performed) o Corder considered the Elegy ‘not bad’, but the March to be ‘dull’. o Dannreuther considered that the opening was good, but the ‘piece gets weaker as it proceeds’ o Faning considered the Elegy to be ‘Passionate, full of feeling, very impressive & effectively scored’, but picked up a number of consecutive 5ths! Considered the March to be over-scored, but thought both parts deserved a hearing. • Willow wood (Rossetti) – cantata (1904). No o Dannreuther wrote: ‘Composer does not know where he [illegible] technically: bags Berliozian things, Lisztian things, Wagnerian things!, jumbles them’ o Faning wrote: ‘… a lugubrious composition … There are many queer and uncouth harmonic changes, & there appears to be a kind of struggling for originality which is often at the expense of beauty. The orchestration shows many points of ingenuity, but the tone is not healthy …’ • Quintet for and strings (vln, vla, vc & cb). Tried out on 14 November 1904. Performers included Harold Samuel, (vla) and Ivor James (cello). No o Sons (cellist): ‘Diffuse, intricate and dull’

Appointed to teach at the RCM in 1920. Performances there included • 1922 The Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains (Bunyan), later incorporated into The Pilgrim’s Progress . • 1924 produced at the RCM and revived in 1933 • 1929 produced at the RCM • 1937 Riders to the Sea produced at the RCM (written 1925-32)

Also piano ‘play-throughs’ of a number of works at the RCM, including • 6th symphony, by Michael Mullinar (see MS 5360d below) on 10 June 1947

RCM pupils of RVW 1

H.K. Andrews Stanley Bate (1913-59) Jean Coulthard (1908-2000) Cecil Armstrong Gibbs Ruth Gipps Dorothy Gow Ivor Gurney Peggy Glanville Hicks Patrick Hadley (b.1899)

1 Some names taken from Ursula Vaughan Williams, R.V.W. , p.136 Leonard Isaacs (b.1895) Christopher le Fleming (b.1907) Robin Milford Michael Mullinar Archibald Potter Jasper Rooper William Lloyd Webber Ian Whyte

Manuscript

4128 The vagabond (, set 1, no 1). Autograph

4129 Love’s last gift (The House of Life, no 3). Autograph orchestration

4231 Symphony no 5. Autograph.

4570 The Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains. First proof, with autograph corrections.

4571 The Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains. Autograph piano score.

4572 Hugh the Drover. Autograph pages of vocal score, extracted from a printed vocal score.

4573 Job. Arranged for 2 by Vally Lasker

4936 Heart’s Music (part song). Autograph

4964 Sir John in Love. The Fat Knight’s part. Partly autograph.

4976/84 Romance for Viola and Piano. Autograph

4983 2 pieces for violin and piano: Romance & Pastorale. Autograph

5360c Pastoral Symphony. Arranged for 2 pianos (not autograph)

5360d Symphony no 6. Arrangements of the latter part of the slow movement and Scherzo for piano solo. Part autograph

6888 Letter to Sidney Waddington

7252 Letter to W H Reed, n.d. Found in the Library stack, May 1999.

7272 : Material relating to the marriage of Herbert and Dorothy Howells, 3 rd August 1920. Includes autograph of ‘The Chosen Tune’ with a pencil sketch, and autographs of short pieces by Stanford, Vaughan Williams and R R Terry, with other documentation.

7897 Letter to Miss [?] Thackeray. Aug 31 [?] 1940. From the gift of Charlotte Chesney, April 2005.

8179 Symphony in D major. London: University Press, 1946 (1947 impression). Published study score with autograph alterations. From the collection of Roy Douglas. The gift of Neil Thomson, 2003.

8619n Letters to Watkins Shaw. (typescript note on Purcell for the Arts Council book edited by WS in 1951; 1-vi-1954)

© Royal College of Music, London 2009