Fifty-eight years ago today the funeral of Ralph Vaughan Williams was held at Westminster Abbey. As a close friend of the composer and his wife Ursula, Simona was a guest at the funeral and wrote about her feelings on his death and about the service. I have no idea if this has ever been published, certainly there is no evidence of it having been so in her papers, so rather than summarise her prose I've decided simply to post it as written in 1958.
Read MoreThe final section of Pigtails and Pernod takes place during the summer holidays of Simona's second year at drama school, at a time when the English community in Dieppe was diminishing in the years leading up to war. Families were returning to England, 'colonels were cutting down on their drinks...Marie was getting fewer orders for new dresses': it all paints a picture of a town in decline.
Read MoreSo I've finished Simona's book about Vaughan Williams and his music. I enjoyed reading it and discovered aspects of my grandmother that weren't apparent during her later years, as well as a lot about the music of Vaughan Williams. I will enjoy my continued musical education and will return to the book and Simona's subsequent friendship with Ralph and Ursula Vaughan Williams later in the year. But for now I'm moving on to Pigtails and Pernod, the account of Simona's teenage school holidays in Dieppe.
Read MoreI've started on Simona's first book, which discusses her obsession with Vaughan Williams. I'm recognising aspects of myself in her I never expected, and it is bringing back memories of the emotional impact music can have, especially at moments you least expect it.
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