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
VWL5060 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Edgar Stafford Arthur Herbert 19190101 January 1st 1919
VWL5059 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Editor of the Musical Times 193504-- [April 1935]
VWL5058 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams and others to the Editor of the Musical Times 194701-- [January 1947]
VWL5057 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams and others to the Editor of Music and Letters 19350308 March 8, 1935.
VWL5056 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams and others to the Editor of The Times 19510730 [Monday July 30 1951]
VWL5055 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams and others to the Editor of The Times 19360818 August 18 [1936]
VWL5054 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams and others to the Editor of The Times 19450416 [April 16 1945]
VWL5053 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams, T.S. Eliot and others to the Editor of The Times 19490303 [Thursday March 3, 1949]
VWL5052 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams, Myra Hess, Albert Sammons and Lionel Tertis to the Editor of The Times 19470522 [Thursday May 22 1947]
VWL5051 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams, Adrian Boult and others to the Editor of The Times 19500220 February 20 [1950]
VWL5050 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ernest Chapman 19381124 Nov 24 [1938?]
VWL5049 Letter from Arnold Bax, Ralph Vaughan Williams and others to The Editor of The Times 19460409 [Tuesday April 9, 1946]
VWL5048 Letter from John Masefield, Ralph Vaughan Williams and members of the National Book League to the Editor of The Times 19551126 [Saturday November 26, 1955]
VWL5047 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams and others to the Editor of The Times 19551223 [Friday December 23, 1955]
VWL5046 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams and others to the Editor of The Times 19400723 [Tuesday July 23, 1940]
VWL5045 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams and others to the Editor of The Times 19450111 January 11 [1945]
VWL5044 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams and many others to the Editor of The Times 19381118 18 November [1939]
VWL5043 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams and others to the Editor of The Times 19560121 [Saturday January 21, 1956]
VWL5042 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Editor of the Times 19350211 [11 February 1935]
VWL5041 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams and others to the Editor of the Musical Times 193909-- [September 1939]
VWL5040 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Editor of the Musical Times 195501-- [January 1955]
VWL5039 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to John Buckland 19370919 Sunday [19 Sep 1937]
VWL5038 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to John Buckland 19490429 [29 April 1949]
VWL5037 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to John Buckland 19381026 [26 Oct 1938]
VWL5036 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to John Buckland 19360809 [9 Aug 1936]
VWL5035 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to John Buckland 19361012 [12 Oct 1936]
VWL5034 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to John Buckland 193510-- [Oct 1935]
VWL5033 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to John Buckland 19351114 November 14 [1935]
VWL5032 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to John Buckland 19461020 Oct 20 [1946]
VWL5031 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to John Buckland 19500914 Sept 14 [1950?]

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