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 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 through funding for performances and recordings, 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
Applications Open
Composers are at the heart of what we do. VWF offers three annual funding rounds towards:
the performance, commission and recording of music by British and Irish composers active in the last 100 years, and/or
work which furthers the knowledge and understanding of the life and work of Ralph Vaughan Williams, and of Ursula Vaughan Williams.
We welcome applications from ensembles, organisations and individuals.
Our new Trustees
Joining the Board
We are delighted to announce the appointment of Sam Wigglesworth, Harriet Wybor and Raymond Yiu as new Trustees, bringing with them a wealth of experience and a passion for music.
We are so grateful for their commitment to the Foundation and look forward to working with them to develop VWF for the future.
Find out more about the faces behind the VWF and our work.
RVW
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) is one of the greatest of British composers whose music, generosity and vision for community music making continue to impact British musical life.
Find out more about the composer and explore our extensive archive of letters and photographs and catalogue of published works.
Funding
Vaughan Williams Scholarships
4 scholarships of £8,000 each are awarded annually to postgraduate students of composition
For more than 40 years Vaughan Williams funding has been awarded to support postgraduate study in composition. The 270 previous recipients have included names such as Julian Anderson, Christian Alexander, Anna Meredith, Graham Fitkin, Larry Goves, Gavin Higgins, Hannah Kendall and Daniel Kidane.
Congratulations to our 2025 Vaughan Williams Scholars: Tom Burkhill, Lucy Holmes, André Faria Serra and Elliott Park.
READ THE LATEST
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 Ralph Wedgwood
Letter No.: VWL200
Leith Hill Place,
Nr. Dorking.
[12th November 1905]
Dear Randolph
In moving house we came upon several of your early letters – what enourmous1 screeds we used to write to each other then! I suppose as one gets more & more to do and more & more interested in one’s own bee-line one has less to say even to one’s greatest friends – or perhaps one can cram more into a few words than one used to – at all events I’m afraid my handwriting is as illegible as ever.
You must come and see the new house soon. I’ve got a grand study in the attic with a grand view of the river and a bridge and 3 great electric light chimneys and a sunset
Then I’ve also got a roll top desk a writing table & a new piano so I ought to do!
What do you think of the change of address cards?
Thank you so much for the cutting – send the full report as I couldn’t understand the cutting.
We’ve got Crompton2 & Harry3 coming to dinner on Thursday.
What news of Felix4 – I wonder if one feels inspired to write music & poetry in the wilds or whether the discomfort is too great?
Yrs affectionately
RVW
1. sic.
2. Crompton Llewellyn Davies. See further on him in note to VWL280.
3. Unidentified.
4. Arthur Felix Wedgwood, youngest brother of Ralph Wedgwood. He was a civil engineer specialising in the purchase and recovery of wrecks. He was presumably engaged in either an engineering or salvage project.
