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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
VWL4384 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 1914---- [1914?]
VWL4307 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 1914---- [late 1914?]
VWL4303 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 1914--- [4 January, 1914]
VWL343 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Arnold Barter 19131230 [About 30th] Dec. 1913
VWL4302 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19131222 22 December, 1913
VWL4952 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harold Child 19131221 21 Dec., 1913
VWL342 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Arnold Barter 19131219 Dec 19th 1913
VWL390 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ernest Farrar 19131205 Dec. 5 [1913]
VWL388 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cecil Sharp 19131103 [About 3 November 1913]
VWL339 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Arnold Barter 191311-- [late November 1913]
VWL4418 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19130925 [25 September, 1913]
VWL347 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ralph Wedgwood 19130801 [10 August 1913]
VWL4947 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harold Child 19130723 27th July, 1913.
VWL338 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cecil Sharp 191307-- [July 1913]
VWL341 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Michael Calvocoressi 19130609 June 9th [1913]
VWL4946 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harold Child 191306-- June 1913
VWL4416 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19130208 [8 February, 1913]
VWL386 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Lucy Broadwood 19130122 [22 January 1913]
VWL4554 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams 19130113 Jan 13th 1913,
VWL4298 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19130113 [13 January, 1913]
VWL306 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ralph Wedgwood 1913---- [1913?]
VWL4950 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harold Child 1913---- [Autumn 1913]
VWL4948 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harold Child 1913---- [Autumn 1913]
VWL4949 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harold Child 1913---- [Autumn 1913]
VWL4951 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harold Child 1913---- [Autumn/Winter 1913]
VWL4433 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Frances Cornford 1913---- [1913]
VWL4412 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 191208-- [August,1912]
VWL4945 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harold Child 19120710 [10 July, 1912]
VWL4494 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Maja Kjöhler 19120603 [Jun 3 1912]
VWL383 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Edward J. Dent 19120530 May 30th [1912]

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