WORKING WITH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS SOME NEWLY DISCOVERED MANUSCRIPTS Roy Douglas I N tb e Autumn o f 1988 tb e British Library published Working with aughan Williams^ my account o f eleven years spent as musical assistant to tbe composer, and of tbe friendship which grew up between us during that time. Tbe volume prints in full seventy-four letters written to m e b y Vaugban Williams, inter- woven witb a n explanatory commentary an d personal narrative; it is illustrated with exam- ples o f some of tbe manuscripts an d docu- ments from wbicb I bad to work.^ Since publication, furtber relevant material bas come to ligbt, and I have been able to ad d tbis to tbe Britisb Library's now extensive collection of manuscripts of Vaugban Williams. As well as the additional letter^ (printed in full below), tbere ar e tbirty-two pages of queries^ relating to the Eighth Symphony (composed i n 1953-6). Part o f my job was to provide legible copies o f Vaughan W illiams's scores, in tbe process tidying up tbe kind o f erro rs often found in manuscripts written out in tbe beat of composition, not to mention puzzling out bis sometimes illegible handwriting. Tbe many complications involved in tbis simple sounding task a r e described in tbe book.) Wben direct consultation was not possible, I would send tbrougb tbe post hsts of queries, written out on music paper, concerning doubtful-looking de- tails in his scores, such as discrepancies o f sbarps o r fiats, adjustments o f dynamics, and sometimes corrections o f actual notes which looked wrong to me. Vaughan W illiams would scribble hi s replies on these sheets and return tbem to me. I t w a s possible to illustrate Working with aughan Williams witb a page from th e composer's autograph full score o f the Eighth Symphony showing how some o f the problems raised in tbe letters ba d been solved (plates 6 , 7 ), but I bad thought that all the query sheets for this symphony ba d been lost long ago,^ so this is a particularly welcome discovery. Some of the composer's replies (often themselves barely legible) ar e typical o f hi s w ry sense o f humour at his own expense. For example, three small queries about apparently wrong notes were briefly answered thus: Wbat t b e devil tbe E is doing tbere I cannot imagine I cannot remember wbat I meant but I tbink I prefer F sbarp. I am a bloody fool. Trb pt sbd be... Inadvertently be bad written a note for the piccolo which w a s below its compass; he confessed to making tbis tiny error, declaring witb humorous self-reproach: As before I a m a bloody fo ol - I knew that perfectly - pure ca rele ssnes s (Dr Jobnson) In response to my doubts concerning some Italian words, be assured me: Yes I believe tbat is correct Italian - after consulting several dictionaries - do you know any live Italians A t a climax in tbe last movement be had written a glissando - a vigorous sweeping of the hammer to an d fro - across the tubular bells. I pointed out that this might result in a full D major scale being used, rather than the five- note scale whicb be wanted, and I proposed an alternative. Also I warned him that tbe glissando migbt 'drown everytbing else'. The replies to m y suggestions were w ritten in a particularly spidery example of his 'caco- grapby' bis own word for bis band writing). Wben at last decipbered, hi s comments were found to be optimistic, though no t entirely confident: I understood tbat t b e bell merchant only bangs up tbe bells b e wants wbicb will (wd ? make tb e gliss 2 0 1