Welcome to the Vaughan Williams Foundation – one of the foremost sources of funding for recent and contemporary music in the UK
The Vaughan Williams Foundation is a new grant-giving charity which upholds the values and vision of the celebrated composer Ralph Vaughan Williams and his wife Ursula Vaughan Williams.
Our principal aims are to honour RVW’s desire to support his fellow composers, and to help make his own work widely accessible to the general public.
VWF was founded in 2022, 150 years after the composer’s birth, and brings together the two charities originally set up by Ralph (RVW Trust) and Ursula (Vaughan Williams Charitable Trust).
Funding
VWF supports the work of British/Irish composers from the last 100 years, as well as projects which further the knowledge and understanding of the life and music of Ralph Vaughan Williams, and of the work of Ursula Vaughan Williams.
Applications for our next funding round are now open and ensembles, organisations and individuals are invited to apply.
VWF also offers annual £6,000 annual Vaughan Williams Bursaries to postgraduate composition students.
RVW150
12 October 2022 marked the 150th anniversary of the birth of Ralph Vaughan Williams, and the launch of this Foundation but #RVW150 celebrations continue into the summer of 2023.
Find out more about the composer and explore some of the projects going on in the anniversary year
READ THE LATEST
Three Choirs Festival
@3choirs
We’re thrilled to have received support from the @VWFndn – Learn more about them and their impact on the festival below 👇
Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
We are absolutely delighted to be supporting a number of festivals this year, including @3choirs, @PresteigneFest and @late_music.
We hope to see you over the #summer! 🎼 🎶
https://bit.ly/3olQ5Ky
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Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
When did you first become aware of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ music? 🎼
An answer here from @CherylHoad who was 8-years-old and in her first year at the @MenuhinSchool.
Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
How did a cheerful agnostic become one of the most prolific hymn writers of the 20th century?
Hattie Butterworth, @justabigviolin, explores answer’s here for @GramophoneMag 👇
https://www.gramophone.co.uk/blogs/article/how-a-cheerful-agnostic-became-one-of-the-most-prolific-hymn-writers-of-20th-century
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Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
✉ A touching insight into the relationship between composer Gustav Holst and his friend Ralph Vaughan Williams – with Holst not taking any nonsense about artistic block!
Find the full letter on our website here: https://vaughanwilliamsfoundation.org/letter/letter-from-gustav-holst-to-ralph-vaughan-williams-12/
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NMC Recordings
@nmcrecordings
🎺 ALBUM LAUNCH CONCERT 3 WEEKS TODAY
Not long until @OnyxBrass celebrate the release of their new album on NMC with live music by @_ceharding_, @zkm555, @_yshani, & @TurnageTime
+ a live composer Q&A session!
📍@whbeat
🎫 https://tinyurl.com/4mx4vzd5
Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
With a wonderful score by Ralph Vaughan Williams! 🎼
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Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
An @OUPAcademic blog explores Ralph Vaughan Williams as an advocate for amateurs 👇 https://bit.ly/432Vi8T
Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
Discover a collection of beautiful, free to use, photographs relating to the life of composer Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Explore here: https://vaughanwilliamsfoundation.org/discover/rvw-in-pictures/
Talking Pictures TV
@talkingpicstv
This Week! Premiere: Wed-7-June 3pm #JohnMills #DerekBond #DianaChurchill SCOTT OF THE ANTARCTIC (1948) biographical adventure drama on #TPTV Ealing Studios Production.
THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
Featured Letter
Get to know the man and his music
RVW’s wide-ranging correspondence – with family, pupils, fellow composers, conductors and performers – paints an intriguing portrait of the man, as well as providing fascinating insights into his major preoccupations: musical, personal and political.
Our searchable database includes over 5000 annotated transcriptions of his correspondence all available to read online.
Letter of the Day
Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP)
Letter No.: VWL2704
From R. Vaughan Williams,
The White Gates,
Westcott Road,
Dorking.
July 11th 1953
Dear Frank,
As regards the new carol book idea; I will do one or two arrangements myself if you wish, and if I am to be in the book I must have a final veto on all that goes into it. I do not see much point in having Jacques in; I don’t trust either his judgement or his knowledge in the matter of Carols. I think we ought to make it entirely a collection of English Carols.
With regard to Anthony Scott’s arrangement of Tallis, I claim no copyright over the tune. I understand he [Tallis] has been dead more than fifty years.
Yrs
RVW
1. English Traditional Carols, ed. by VW and Martin Shaw was published in 1954, containing 21 carols from the Oxford Book of Carols (Catalogue of Works 1928/2). Reginald Jacques was subsequently invited by OUP to edit, with David Willcocks, the first volume in its highly successful series Carols for Choirs.
2. On VW’s connexion with Scott’s motet Almighty Word, see VWL2685 and VWL3442.