Dame Myra HESS (1890-1965)

Autograph Letter Signed (“Myra Hess”) to “Dear Mr. Mayor” [the Mayor of Colchester], regretting that she cannot accept his invitation to the Oyster Feast.

1 page 4to, 48 Wildwood Road NW11, 5 October 1951.

“It is again with the deepest regret that I cannot accept your kind invitation for November 9^th.

I am to receive an honorary degree at Leeds University that day & oh – how much would prefer to be at your Oyster Feast!

I shall pray you may invite me another year when I could come.”

The centuries-old Colchester Oyster Feast was subject to some disruption in 1951 when the date set for the feast coincided with the general election. Traditionally, attendance at the Feast was by invitation, and the Mayor of Colchester would invite some of the most respected citizens of the country. Famous for her wartime concerts at the National Gallery, designed to raise morale, Myra Hess was an obvious choice among the guests.

There are two neat filing holes at the left margin, not touching the text.

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