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).
General 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 will reopen on 2 June. Ensembles, organisations and individuals are welcome to apply.
The Foundation also offers annual funding for postgraduate composition students.
FUNDING
Postgraduate Composers
The 25/6 Vaughan Williams Scholarships of £8,000 each will be awarded to applicants who demonstrate exceptional compositional talent and who are intending to make composition their professional career. Scholarships are awarded towards the costs of study of a taught Masters course or PhD in composition at UK universities or conservatoires.
Congratulations to the seven composers who received Vaughan Williams Bursaries towards their Masters studies in composition in 2024.
.
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
Twitter feed image.
Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
We hope you enjoy making, listening to, or sharing music over the weekend 🎶
Twitter feed image.
Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
⏰📻 Set a reminder for what promises to be a radio treat on Sunday!
Sara Mohr-Pietsch hosts BBC Radio 3’s ‘Music Map’ – a programme about the history and legacy of Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending.
1:30pm on Sunday, May 18.
Twitter feed image.
Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
An amusing anecdote in a letter to Vaughan Williams from his friend, the composer Gustav Holst!
Twitter feed image.
Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
Investment in the arts and culture is vital…
The Campaign for the Arts (@_CFTA) has launched a petition highlighting how the arts make our lives happier and our communities stronger.
✍️ Find it here 👉 https://www.campaignforthearts.org/petitions/spending-review-2025/
Twitter feed image.
Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
Our website offers a wealth of resources relating to the life and works of Ralph Vaughan Williams, including letters, images and links for further reading.
Explore what’s available here: https://vaughanwilliamsfoundation.org/discover/
Twitter feed image.
Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
Have you got five minutes?
This letter, from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Percy Scholes, (extract here) contains the entire ‘work in progress’ plot for Hugh the Drover, or Love in the Stocks – a great read!
Find the full version here: https://vaughanwilliamsfoundation.org/letter/letter-from-ralph-vaughan-williams-to-percy-scholes-4/
Twitter feed image.
Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
An example of how Ralph Vaughan Williams supported musicians.
At the VWF we hope we are following in his footsteps – supporting musicians and composers in his memory.
Twitter feed image.
Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library is calling for papers for a two-day Traditional Tunes and Popular Airs conference on November 8 & 9.
Details here: https://www.efdss.org/about-us/what-we-do/news/15054-traditional-tunes-and-popular-airs-call-for-papers
Twitter feed image.
Ipswich Chamber Choir
@ipschamchoir
Our next concert features Tom Aldren, a highly respected violinist who has performed with many of the UK’s leading orchestras. He takes the lead in an arrangement (for violin and choir) of Ralph Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending. Tickets are available now.
#violin #concert
Vaughan Williams Foundation
@vwfndn
Michael Kennedy, writing to Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1957.
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 Hubert Foss
Letter No.: VWL2260
The White Gates,
Dorking,
Surrey.
27th June, 1951
Dear Hubert
I am so sorry I have been so long answering your letter.1 However I will try and do so in detail.
I was interested in your article, though I do not altogether agree with your criticisms of the production.
I have come to the conclusion that certain places want altering and occasionally enlarging. This is especially the case in “Vanity Fair”. As soon as the sketch is ready I am going to get someone to play it through, probably Leonard Hancock, and if you could come and listen I should be very grateful.
I should very much like to see the review of your book, but it has not arrived yet.
About Kreisler playing in the orchestra at the Worcester Festival, that is my story, not Cranmer’s. Anyway it is merely a funny story and would be quite out of place in a book which professedly deals not with personalities except insofar as they directly influence my music.
I do not think I want to hear Jenning’s film. I had a lot of trouble over my talk but I don’t think I want to hear it again.
I will try and write something about the L.S.O. when I can think of anything.
As regards a lecture at Epsom, I really do not think I can face sitting still the whole evening while someone else talks about me, so I am afraid I must ask you to let me off.
I have already answered you about Kennedy Scott.2 I shall be glad to add my quota to the requests for an honour to be given him. Perhaps you could indicate to me more or less the line I ought to take?
I fear this is rather a wet blankety letter.3
Yrs
RVW
Hubert Foss, esq.,
60 Corringham Road,
London, N.W.11.
1. About Pilgrim’s Progress. See VWL2255.
2. See VWL2258.
3. This line added in manuscript in the hand of VW.
