Music, Life, and Changing Times At this book’s core is a critical edition of letters exchanged over 50 years between Anglo-Irish composer Elizabeth Maconchy (1907–1994) and the Welsh composer Grace Williams (1906–1977). These two innovative and talented women are highly regarded for their music, their professional activities, and their roles in British musical life. The edition comprises around 353 letters from 1927 to 1977, none of which have been published before, along with scholarly introductions and contextualisation. Interwoven commentaries, in tandem with carefully constructed appendices, frame the letter texts. Moreover, the commentaries and introductory essays highlight and track the development of important themes and issues that characterise the study of twentieth-century British music today. This edition presents a dialogue, through both sides of a unique correspondence that offers an alternative commentary on musical and cultural developments of this period. Sophie Fuller studied music at King’s College London and works at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. She is the author of The Pandora Guide to Women Composers: Britain and the United States, 1629–Present (1994). Her research interests and writings explore many different aspects of music, gender, and sexuality but focus in particular on musical life in late nineteenth- and twentieth-century Britain. Her work in this area includes essays on the significance of the private musical world in the life and career of Edward Elgar and on women musicians and professionalism in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Together with Phyllis Weliver, she has established the digital resource ‘Sounding Victorian’ (www.soundingvictorian.org). Jenny Doctor is a musicologist intrigued by social aspects of British culture in the twentieth century. After being awarded a Fulbright Grant to the UK in 1989–90, when she was affiliated with the Music Department at King’s College London, she later was affiliated with St Hilda’s College, Oxford, where she archived and catalogued the music manuscripts of Elizabeth Maconchy, which are held in the College Library. She has researched and written on British music and composers of the twentieth century, in p articular Benjamin Britten, Elizabeth Maconchy, Grace Williams, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Edward Elgar, often i nvestigating their relationships with the BBC and other sound t echnologies of their day. Her investigations led to The BBC and Ultra-Modern Music, 1922–36: Shaping a Nation’s Tastes (Cambridge University Press, 1999). With Sir Nicholas Kenyon and David Wright, she c o-edited The Proms: A New History (Thames & Hudson, 2007), contributing an essay on the interwar period. More recently, she co-edited with Björn Heile and Peter Elsdon W atching Jazz: Encounters with Jazz on Screen (Oxford University Press, 2013), contributing an essay on jazz on early BBC television. She is currently the Head of the Albino Gorno Memorial Library and Associate Professor of Musicology at the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati. Music, Life, and Changing Times Selected Correspondence Between British Composers Elizabeth Maconchy and Grace Williams, 1927–77 Volume 1 Edited by Sophie Fuller and Jenny Doctor First published 2020 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2020 selection and editorial matter, Sophie Fuller and Jenny Doctor; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Sophie Fuller and Jenny Doctor to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Maconchy, Elizabeth, 1907–1994, author. | Williams, Grace, 1906–1977, author. | Fuller, Sophie, editor. | Doctor, Jennifer R. (Jennifer Ruth), 1958– editor. Title: Music, life, and changing times : selected correspondence between British composers Elizabeth Maconchy and Grace Williams, 1927–77, volume 1 / edited by Sophie Fuller and Jenny Doctor. Description: London and New York : Routledge, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2018052289 (print) | LCCN 2018054323 (ebook) | ISBN 9781315615042 (ebook) | ISBN 9781409424123 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781409424123 (hardback : alk. paper) vol. 1 | ISBN 9780367244644 (hardback : alk. paper) vol. 2 | ISBN 9780429282621 (eBook) Subjects: LCSH: Maconchy, Elizabeth, 1907–1994—Correspondence. | Williams, Grace, 1906–1977—Correspondence. | Composers— England—Correspondence. | Composers—Wales—Correspondence. Classification: LCC ML410.M167 (ebook) | LCC ML410.M167 A4 2019 (print) | DDC 780.92/2—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018052289 ISBN: 978-1-4094-2412-3 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-28260-7 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Apex CoVantage, LLC Contents Volume 1 List of figures viii List of music examples ix Editors’ Preface x Introductory thoughts xii SOPHIE FULLER Afterthoughts xvi JENNY DOCTOR A friendship of fifty years xxi NICOLA LEFANU PART I Letters 1–49 (1927–Summer 1939) 1 I.1 Letters 1–9 (1927–August 1931) 3 I.2 Letters 10–23 (February 1932–March 1933) 14 I.3 Letters 24–34 (June 1933–March 1934) 30 I.4 Letters 35–41 (November 1934–March 1936) 43 I.5 Letters 42–49 (June 1937–Summer 1939) 51 PART II Letters 50–93 (October 1939–April 1949) 59 II.1 Letters 50–64 (October 1939–June 1942) 61 II.2 Letters 65–81 (January 1943–December 1944) 80 II.3 Letters 82–85 (May 1945–January 1947) 100 II.4 Letters 86–90 (October 1947–June 1948) 105 II.5 Letters 91–93 (February 1949–April 1949) 111 vi Contents PART III Letters 94–146 (November 1949–December 1959) 117 III.1 Letters 94–104 (November 1949–July 1950) 119 III.2 Letters 105–113 (December 1950–November 1952) 135 III.3 Letters 114–122 (March 1953–March 1955) 147 III.4 Letters 123–136 (February 1956–August 1958) 157 III.5 Letters 137–146 (January 1959–December 1959) 173 PART IV Letters 147–187 (August 1960–December 1965) 187 IV.1 Letters 147–151 (August 1960–May 1961) 189 IV.2 Letters 152–162 (December 1961–February 1963) 197 IV.3 Letters 163–173 (July 1963–April 1964) 210 IV.4 Letters 174–179 (July 1964–January 1965) 226 IV.5 Letters 180–187 (March 1965–December 1965) 234 Grace Williams: Works xxiii Elizabeth Maconchy: Works xxvii A Select Bibliography xxxii Writings by Elizabeth Maconchy (arranged chronologically) xxxii Writings by Grace Williams (arranged chronologically) xxxii Select writings about Maconchy, Williams, and their circle xxxii Index xxxv Volume 2 List of figures viii List of music examples ix Editors’ Preface x Introductory thoughts xii SOPHIE FULLER Afterthoughts xvi JENNY DOCTOR A friendship of fifty years xxi NICOLA LEFANU Contents vii PART V Letters 188–268 (February 1966–November 1969) 1 V.1 Letters 188–198 (February 1966–December 1966) 3 V.2 Letters 199–220 (January 1967–May 1967) 19 V.3 Letters 221–238 (July 1967–January 1968) 41 V.4 Letters 239–254 (February 1968–December 1968) 65 V.5 Letters 255–268 (December 1968–November 1969) 86 PART VI Letters 269–353 (January 1970–January 1977) 107 VI.1 Letters 269–285 (January 1970–December 1970) 109 VI.2 Letters 286–295 (January 1971–November 1971) 134 VI.3 Letters 296–305 (February 1972–January 1973) 149 VI.4 Letters 306–315 (March 1973–December 1973) 165 VI.5 Letters 316–326 (February 1974–December 1974) 181 VI.6 Letters 327–337 (January 1975–December 1975) 197 VI.7 Letters 338–353 (February 1976–January 1977) 215 Grace Williams: Works xxiii Elizabeth Maconchy: Works xxvii A Select Bibliography xxxii Writings by Elizabeth Maconchy (arranged chronologically) xxxii Writings by Grace Williams (arranged chronologically) xxxii Select writings about Maconchy, Williams, and their circle xxxii Index xxxv Figures Volume 1 PI.1 Elizabeth Maconchy, 1925. 2 PI.1.1 Elizabeth Maconchy, The Land (1930), autograph manuscript, p. 1. (Letter 8) 10 PII.1 Grace Williams, date unknown. 60 PII.1.1 Elizabeth Maconchy, autograph letter, 18 April 1942. (Letter 63) 75 PIII.1 Elizabeth Maconchy and family, 1955. L to R: Nicola, Maconchy, Anna, William LeFanu. 118 PIV.1 Grace Williams and family, 1957, on the occasion of her father being granted Freedom of the Borough of Barry. Front row, L to R: Williams’s sister Marian, her mother, her father, Williams, Williams’s brother’s wife Marjorie. Back row, L to R: Williams’s brother Glyn, his sons, Marian’s daughter Eryl, Marian’s husband Glyn Evans. 188 PIV.3.1 Grace Williams, Trumpet Concerto (1963), autograph manuscript, p. 1. (Letter 172). Permission to reproduce kindly granted by Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru/National Library of Wales. 221 Volume 2 PV.1 Grace Williams, date unknown. 244 PV.4.1 Grace Williams, autograph letter, [after 17] September 1968. (Letter 254) 324 PVI.1 Elizabeth Maconchy and Nicola LeFanu, 1977. 350 Music examples Volume 1 PI.3.1 Elizabeth Maconchy, The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo (1930–31, rev. 1933–34), excerpt. (Letter 30) 37 PI.3.2 Elizabeth Maconchy, Deborah (1933–34), oratorio, excerpt. (Letter 31) 38 PI.3.3 Elizabeth Maconchy, String Quartet no. 1 (1933), excerpt. (Letter 34) 42 PI.4.1 Grace Williams, imitation of Vaughan Williams. (Letter 38) 48 PI.5.1a and 5.1b Elizabeth Maconchy, String Quartet no. 2 (1937), excerpts. (Letter 46) 55 PII.1.2a and 1.2b Elizabeth Maconchy, String Quartet no. 2 (1937), excerpts. (Letter 63) 76 PII.2.1 Grace Williams, Sinfonia concertante (1940–41, rev. 1942–3), excerpt. (Letter 65) 81 Volume 2 PVI.1.1a and 1.1b Elizabeth Maconchy, Concerto (Concertino) for piano and chamber orchestra (1928, rev. 1929–30), excerpts as recollected by Williams. (Letter 270) 354 PVI.1.2 Elizabeth Maconchy, String Quartet no. 9 (1968–9), excerpt. (Letter 279) 368 PVI.5.1 Alison Bauld, Egg for tenor, flute, cello, vibraphone, and drum (1973), excerpt as recollected by Williams. (Letter 320) 430 PVI.5.2 Grace Williams, Fairest of Stars (John Milton), aria for soprano and orchestra (1973), excerpt. (Letter 320) 431