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
VWL3978 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alexander Burnard 19290905 5 September 1929
VWL664 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Diana Awdry 192908-- [August 1929]
VWL826 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Lucy Broadwood 192908-- [Before August 1929]
VWL666 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Diana Awdry 192908-- [July/August 1929]
VWL681 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to W.W. Thompson at the BBC 19290730 [30 July 1929]
VWL5076 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Editor of The Times 19290721 July 21 [1929]
VWL680 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 19290721 July 21 [1929]
VWL4177 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ivor Atkins 19290714 July 14 [1929]
VWL679 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 19290712 [12 July 1929]
VWL825 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 192907-- Sunday [mid-July 1929]
VWL676 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Malcolm Sargent 19290623 Sunday [23 June 1929]
VWL671 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to W.W. Thompson (BBC) 19290604 [4 June 1929]
VWL5118 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge 19290521 May 21 [1929]
VWL669 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Isidore Schwiller 19290402 [2nd April 1929]
VWL668 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Penelope Spencer 19290331 [About 31st March 1929]
VWL667 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Royal College of Music 19290322 March 22 1929
VWL3780 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Maud Karpeles 1929032- [Late March 1929]
VWL661 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Diana Awdry 19290311 [11th March 1929]
VWL4176 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ivor Atkins 19290310 March 10 [1929]
VWL824 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Elizabeth Trevelyan 192903-- [March 1929]
VWL660 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Evelyn Sharp 19290223 Feb 23 [1929]
VWL659 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Diana Awdry 19290210 [10 February 1929]
VWL658 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Evelyn Sharp 19290201 [About 1st February 1929]
VWL4097 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19290130 30th Jan. 29
VWL657 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Evelyn Sharp 19290127 27th January 1929
VWL3850 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to William Williams 19290124 Jan 24th 1929
VWL656 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Penelope Spencer 19290121 [Third week of January 1929]
VWL4808 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Maud Karpeles 1929---- [late 1920s]
VWL3854 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Grace Williams 1929---- [1929?]
VWL1137 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ina Boyle 1929---- [?1929]

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