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
VWL829 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19300107 7 Jan 1930
VWL908 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19310329 [29 March 1931]
VWL913 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19310517 [17 May 1931]
VWL974 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19311122 Nov 22nd [1931]
VWL985 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19311129 [29 November 1931]
VWL986 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19311214 [14 December 1931]
VWL988 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19311217 [17 December 1931]
VWL1042 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19330128 [28 January 1933]
VWL1063 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19330722 [22 July 1933]
VWL1065 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19330710 [10 July 1933]
VWL1087 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19330824 [24 August 1933]
VWL1281 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19380213 [13 February 1938]
VWL1342 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19341202 Sunday [2 December 1934]
VWL1352 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 193309-- [September 1933]
VWL808 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19351103 [3rd November 1935]
VWL889 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19301228 [28 December l930]
VWL901 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19310125 [25 January 1931]
VWL928 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19310724 [24 July 1931]
VWL1022 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19321119 Sat [19 November 1932]
VWL1062 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 193307-- [About July 1933]
VWL1064 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19330725 July 25 [1933]
VWL1096 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19330923 [23 September 1933]
VWL1098 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19330925 [25 September 1933]
VWL1099 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19331001 [About 1 October 1933]
VWL1100 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19331014 [14 October 1933]
VWL1123 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19331113 [13 November 1933]
VWL1133 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 193305-- [?May 1933]
VWL736 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19350614 [14th June 1935]
VWL2058 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19460824 Aug 24 [1946]
VWL1109 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19361127 [27th November 1936]

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