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
VWL4474 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Frank Howes 19370212 February 12 [1937]
VWL1140 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Evelyn Sharp 19370131 January 31 [1937].
VWL3321 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Philip Henderson 19370131 January 31 [1937]
VWL1139 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Iris Lemare 19370131 January 31 [1937]
VWL3724 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Bush 19370129 January 29, [1937]
VWL4263 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Nadia Boulanger 19370111 January 11 [1937?]
VWL4780 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Louis Boyd Neel 1937---- Monday [1937]
VWL1114 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Diana Awdry 19361226 December 26 [1936?]
VWL1112 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cedric Thorpe Davie 19361220 December 20 [1936]
VWL4632 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Eva Hubback 19361217 December 17 [1936]
VWL3623 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Maud Karpeles 193612-- Dec. 1936
VWL4002 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sir Alexander Kaye Butterworth 19361121 Nov 21 [1936]
VWL4721 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Miss Wadham 19361101 November 1 [1936]
VWL4633 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Eva Hubback 19360927 September 27 [1936]
VWL981 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Ralph Vaughan Williams 19360831 Monday smorn [31st August 1936]
VWL4720 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Keith Douglas 19360823 August 23 [1936]
VWL3245 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Marion Scott 19360821 August 21 [1936?]
VWL977 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Hubert Foster Clark (BBC) 19360810 August 10 [1936]
VWL4258 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Nadia Boulanger 19360802 August 2 [1936]
VWL956 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Hubert Foss (OUP) 19360719 July 19th [1936]
VWL953 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gerald Finzi 19360714 July 14 [?1936]
VWL4257 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Nadia Boulanger 19360619 June 19 [1936]
VWL952 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ina Boyle 19360614 June 14 [1936]
VWL951 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sylvia Drew 19360606 June 6 [?1936]
VWL4870 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Maud Karpeles 19360526 May 26 [1936]
VWL945 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Evelyn Sharp 19360522 Friday [22nd May 1936]
VWL3782 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Horace Edward Randerson 19360517 May 17 [about 1936]
VWL944 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Ina Boyle 19360512 Friday [12th May 1936]
VWL942 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Ina Boyle 19360506 Wednesday [6th May 1936]
VWL4561 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Walford Davies 19360329 March 29 [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