ABSTRACT
The letters from this period are dominated by the performances and reviews of Williams’s opera The Parlour (1959–1). Williams was characteristically downbeat about the work and its viability, although Maconchy was enthusiastic. Both women were excited about Williams’s plans to write an opera for television. Maconchy revised her opera The Sofa (1956–7) and embarked on her Eighth String Quartet (1966–7) while Williams worked on her contribution for the composite Severn Bridge Variations (1966) and Carmina Avium for SATB chorus, viola d’amore, and harp (1966–7).
