Search the letters

The Vaughan Williams Foundation has made over 5000 items freely available: chiefly letters from Ralph Vaughan Williams, but including some responses which shed light on the 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. The text of letters written by RVW and UVW remain the copyright of the Foundation.

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The letters are in tabular form and can be sorted by column, or filtered by any keyword including name, musical title, year or subject (singly or in combination). Partial matches will also be found, e.g. searching “sky” will also find “Stravinsky”. To search for a phrase use inverted commas, e.g. “New York”.

To search by letter number, include the prefix VWL, e.g. VWL123.

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Letter No. Title Date Date on Letter
VWL5099 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to John Cruft 19560225 Feb 25 [1956]
VWL5100 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Editor of The Times 19560911 [11 September, 1956]
VWL5101 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Editor of The Times 19580612 12 June, 1958
VWL5102 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Editor of The Times 19561024 Wednesday 24 October, 1956
VWL5103 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Editor of The Times 19551116 Wednesday 16 November, 1955
VWL5104 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the editor of The Musical Times 19560201 [February, 1956]
VWL5105 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Editor of The Morning Post 19040924 Sep 24 1904
VWL5106 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Editor of the Morning Post 19031215 156 Dec. 1903
VWL5107 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Editor of the Morning Post 19041008 Sunday 8 October, 1904
VWL5108 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Editor of the Morning Post 19060828 August 28, 1906
VWL5109 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Editor of the Morning Post 19031201 [1 December, 1903]
VWL5110 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Arnold van Wyk 19510725 25th July, 1951.
VWL5111 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Frits Stegmann 19490413 13th April, 1949.
VWL5112 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Arnold van Wyk 19510321 21st. March, 1951.
VWL5113 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Owen Wister 19321105 Nov 5 [1932]
VWL5114 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Olga Koussevitsky 19521014 October 14th 1952.
VWL5115 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Olga Koussevitsky 19540619 June 19th 1954.
VWL5116 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Louis Kaufman 19520604 4th June, 1952.
VWL5117 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge 193110-- [October 1931?]
VWL5118 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge 19290521 May 21 [1929]
VWL5119 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge 19310605 June 5 [1931]
VWL5120 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge 19321218 December 18 [1932]
VWL5121 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Serge Koussevitsky 19351203 Dec 3 [1935]
VWL5123 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Serge Koussevitsky 19450430 [April 30 1945]
VWL5124 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Serge Koussevitsky 1932---- [1932?]
VWL5125 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Serge Koussevitsky 19480812 12th August, 1948.
VWL5126 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Serge Koussevitsky 19480819 19th August 1948.
VWL5127 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Olga Koussevitsky 19510707 7th July, 1951.
VWL5129 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Editor of the Penguin Magazine 1947---- [1947]
VWL5130 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Mary Carter 19480729 29th July, 1948.

You have never lost your invention but it has not developed enough.  Your best – your most original and beautiful style or ‘atmosphere’ is an indescribable sort of feeling as if one was listening to very lovely lyrical poetry.

GUSTAV HOLST letter to RVW 1903

He was one of the most 'complete' men I have ever known. He loved life, he loved work and his interest in all music was unquenchable and insatiable.

SIR JOHN BARBIROLLI, conductor

I was thunderstruck by the symphony last night - and hadn't expected to be. Jagged, pulsating and angry, from that very first clanging dissonance - how can it have come from the same source as the Tallis Fantasia?

AUDIENCE MEMBER, Newbury Festival