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, 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, performance and recording 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 are open to ensembles, organisations and individuals.
The Foundation also offers annual funding for postgraduate composition students.
Postgraduate Funding
Congratulations to the seven composers who received 2024 Vaughan Williams Bursaries towards their masters studies in composition.
Find out more about our new opportunity for Masters and PhD student composers.
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.
READ THE LATEST
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Over the last 40 years, 260 Vaughan Williams Bursaries have been awarded to help fund Masters Degrees in composition.
Find out more here: https://vaughanwilliamsfoundation.org/news/2024-vaughan-williams-bursaries/
NMC Recordings
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📀 OUT NOW – Freya Waley-Cohen: Spell Book 📀
We’re delighted to announce @freyawaleycohen’s debut album Spell Book is out now! ✨
Buy/Listen 👇👇👇
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The @RCMLondon in #London is global first for music and performing arts in the @TopUnis World University Rankings of 2024, 2023 and 2022.
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The VWF database includes transcripts of over 5,000 items of annotated correspondence relating to the lives of Ralph and Ursula Willliams. The letters are fully indexed and searchable, and can all be read online.
✉️ Find them here: https://vaughanwilliamsfoundation.org/discover/letters/
Vaughan Williams Foundation
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Ralph Vaughan Williams created important works in most major musical forms and genres, as well as writing music for film and stage.
He championed music-making in the community, and in his adventurous reimagining of the English Hymnal, changed the face of British Church music.
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We have compiled a great selection of links for anyone interested in learning more about the work and life of Ralph Vaughan Williams in more detail.
Find them here: https://vaughanwilliamsfoundation.org/discover/useful-links/
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“The son of a Gloucestershire vicar, Vaughan Williams was once described as a Christian Agnostic ” – Scottish, Catholic composer @jamesmacm considers the complex faith life of Ralph Vaughan Williams for the BBC’s Faith in Music.
📻 Listen here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0012s9d
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Vaughan William’s candid response to aspects of the second performance of his friend Gustav Holst’s First Choral Symphony.
✉️ Find Holst’s philosophical reply here: https://vaughanwilliamsfoundation.org/letter/letter-from-gustav-holst-to-ralph-vaughan-williams-3/
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Ursula Vaughan Willimas published seven collections of poems, wrote three novels and the libretti for two operas, as well as contributing words to nine of her husband’s major works.
Find out more about her life and work here: https://vaughanwilliamsfoundation.org/the-foundation/ursula-vaughan-williams/
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One for the philatelists among you!
This 9p stamp featuring Ralph Vaughan Williams was designed by Clive Abbot and issued in 1972.
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 Adeline Vaughan Williams to Mrs Lock
Letter No.: VWL4674
The White Gates, Dorking.
October 25, [1942]
Dear Mrs Lock1
Thank you so much for your very kind letter. You may feel sure that it is a pleasure to us both to do what we can for Ursula – we are so fond of her.
I have felt very sorry for you being separated from her. She is with us for the weekend and yesterday your wonderful parcel arrived and she unpacked it & we admired each thing from the “beautiful string” to the safety pins. You could not have made a more perfect choice. The butter must be put away for an emergency but we are celebrating Ursula’s visit with the sweets. She is in good heart & looks well and next week she is to have Rosemary with her.
How kind of your to find out Dr. Sternbach. I like his wife so much – she longs to join her husband, but she has lost hope, and I will not raise her hopes again.
We both send you our grateful thanks for the parcel.
Yours very sincerely
Adeline Vaughan Williams
1. Ursula’s mother. UW’s husband Michael Wood had died of a heart attack on Monday 8th June.
