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.

Filter letters

Letter No. Title Date Date on Letter
VWL4783 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Louis Boyd Neel 194-1102 Nov 2 [1940s]
VWL4781 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Louis Boyd Neel 1940---- [late 1940]
VWL4780 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Louis Boyd Neel 1937---- Monday [1937]
VWL4779 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Louis Boyd Neel 193504-- [April 1935]
VWL4778 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Louis Boyd Neel 19511114 14th November, 1951.
VWL4777 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Louis Boyd Neel 1943---- [1943?]
VWL4776 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Malcolm Sargent 1949---- Sunday [1949?]
VWL4775 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Isidore Schwiller 1949---- Sunday [1949?]
VWL4774 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Malcolm Sargent 1943---- Oct 15 [after 1943]
VWL4773 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Isidore Schwiller 19351226 Dec 26 [1935?]
VWL4772 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Diana Awdry 193412-- [December, 1934]
VWL4771 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Diana Awdry 19340317 March 17 [1934]
VWL4770 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Maud Karpeles 19250131 [31 January 1925]
VWL4767 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ursula Wood 19471119 19 Nov 1947
VWL4766 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ursula Wood 19450824 [24 Aug 1945]
VWL4765 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Hubert Foss (Oxford University Press) 19400916 September 16 [ca 1940]
VWL4764 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Hubert Foss 19380608 [8] June, 1938
VWL4763 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Choir of Kensington High School 19421022 Oct 22 [1942]
VWL4762 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Isidore Schwiller 19300103 Jan 3d [ca 1930]
VWL4761 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Isidore Schwiller 192604-- [April, 1926?]
VWL4760 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Malcolm Sargent 19541124 November 24th 1954.
VWL4759 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Cordelia Curle 19510126 Thursday [26 Jan 1951]
VWL4758 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Cordelia Curle 194----- Sunday [1940s]
VWL4757 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gerald Cockshott 19570426 April 26th 1957.
VWL4756 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gerald Cockshott 19570103 January 3rd 1957.
VWL4755 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gerald Cockshott 19560802 August 2nd 1956.
VWL4754 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gerald Cockshott 19540711 July 11th 1954.
VWL4753 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gerald Cockshott 19530118 18th January, 1953
VWL4752 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gerald Cockshott 19520611 11th June, 1952
VWL4751 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gerald Cockshott 19520213 13th February, 1952

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