Ursula Vaughan Williams 1911-2007

[vandermolen]

Ursula Vaughan Williams died on 23rd October aged 96.  She was Ralph Vaughan Williams's second wife and married him a couple of years after the death of his first wife Adeline in 1951. When Ralph and Ursula married in 1953; Ursula was 41 (she had been widowed quite young) and Ralph was 81.  They had been friends for some time and had collaborated on a number of projects (I am currently listening to his late, great oratorio "Epithalamion" which was one of their joint projects (Ursula was an accomplished poet and writer). If you like VW and don't know this lovely life-affirming piece do look out for it.

In recent years Ursula gave permission for a recording (and then a performance) of the original 1913 version of "A London Symphony" which allowed us to hear the 20 or so minutes of extraordinarily poetic music that Vaughan Williams had excised from the score (up until the final revision in 1936) in the interests of concision.

On a personal note. I wrote to her when, as a 17 year old, I had become besotted with Vaughan Williams's music in 1972 (the year of the VW centenary celebrations). She sent me a charming letter straight back with an inscribed copy of VW's essays "National Music and other essays", which is a treasured possession.  We corresponded a bit over the years and she revealed some intersting things; like the fact that she regarded VW's 9th Symphony as one of "Ralph's most magical and strange works" (I agree).

She did a great deal for young musicians (through the VW trust which promoted the music of composers other than Vaughan Williams).

If you live in the UK and are interested there are obituaries in today's Daily Telegraph and Times.

[btpaul674]

She will be sorely missed.

[Mark]

Wow! You corresponded with Ursula? That's terrific - I'm very impressed.

And yes, a sad loss.