USING THE DATABASE
The letters are chiefly from Ralph Vaughan Williams, but the database includes some responses which shed light on subject matter, and also a number of letters from Adeline and Ursula Vaughan Williams. These provide further information and often include messages or observations from Ralph, and there are also letters from Adeline and Ursula written on behalf of the couple.
Searching:
The letters can be filtered by any keyword including name, musical title, place, year or subject (singly or in combination). Search results will show the location of the original letter where known.
Abbreviations used:
VW – Ralph Vaughan Williams
AVW – Adeline Vaughan Williams, first wife of VW
UW – Ursula Wood, before her marriage to VW
UVW – Ursula Vaughan Williams after her marriage to VW
Works cited in abbreviated form:
Ursula Vaughan Williams, RVW: a biography of Ralph Vaughan Williams, London 1964 [RVW: a biography]
Michael Kennedy, A Catalogue of the Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams, revised edition, Oxford 1982; second edition Oxford 1996. Works are cited by page no. and by year and number within the year, as given in Catalogue of Works (e.g. 1958/2).
Ralph Vaughan Williams, Letters of Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1895-1958, edited by Hugh Cobbe, Oxford, 2008 [Cobbe]
Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst, Heirs and Rebels, letters written to each other and occasional writings on music, edited by Ursula Vaughan Williams and Imogen Holst, Oxford, 1959 [Heirs and Rebels]
SOURCES
The original set of letters were transcribed and annotated by Hugh Cobbe at the request of Ursula Vaughan Williams and a selection of 757 letters was previously published in 2008 by Oxford University Press as Letters of Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1895-1958, edited by Hugh Cobbe, ISBN: 9780199257973. Letters that have been added have been transcribed and annotated by Katharine Hogg and Colin Coleman.
If users are aware of any letters by the composer, which do not appear in the database and could be added to it, they are invited to contact the project.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright statement: The text of letters written by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Ursula Vaughan Williams remains in the copyright of the Vaughan Williams Foundation and may not be further reproduced without the prior written consent of the Foundation.
