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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
VWL1370 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ursula Wood 19380817 [17th August 1938]
VWL5267 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Leslie Arthur Boosey 19380815 Aug 15[?] [1938]
VWL1369 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cedric Thorpe Davie 19380811 Aug 11 [1938]
VWL1368 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to OUP 19380725 July 25 [1938]
VWL1367 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Hubert Foss (OUP) 19380722 July 22 [1938]
VWL1366 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Ralph Vaughan Williams 19380721 Thur [21 July 1938]
VWL1365 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Ralph Vaughan Williams 19380718 Monday [18 July 1938]
VWL1363 Letter from Honorine Williamson to Ralph Vaughan Williams 19380717 Sunday [17 July 1938]
VWL1362 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ursula Wood 19380717 [17th July 1938]
VWL1360 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Ralph Vaughan Williams 19380715 Friday smorn [15 July 1938]
VWL1336 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Ralph Vaughan Williams 19380712 Tuesday [12 July 1938]
VWL1335 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Ralph Vaughan Williams 19380711 Monday [11 July 1938]
VWL1334 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Mary Fletcher 19380710 July 10, 1938
VWL3615 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Laurence Binyon 19380709 July 9 [1938]
VWL1333 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ursula Wood 19380704 [4th July 1938]
VWL1332 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Hubert Foss (OUP) 19380703 July 3 (1938)
VWL4978 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Arthur Boosey 19380703 July 3rd. [1938]
VWL695 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Herma Fiedler 193807-- [?July 1938]
VWL1331 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Professor H.G. Fiedler 19380626 Sunday [26 June l938]
VWL1329 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ursula Wood 19380626 [26 June 1938]
VWL1330 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Editor of The Times 19380626 June 26 [1938]
VWL1328 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sir Henry Wood 19380623 June 23 [?1938]
VWL1308 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ursula Wood 19380614 Midnight - Tuesday [14 June 1938]
VWL1307 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Frank Howes 19380611 June 11 [1938]
VWL4764 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Hubert Foss 19380608 [8] June, 1938
VWL1306 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sir Henry Wood 19380607 June 7 [1938]
VWL4390 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Evangeline Farrer 19380606 June 6 [1938 or 1939]
VWL1305 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Herma Fiedler 19380603 June 3 [1938]
VWL1304 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sir Henry Wood 19380602 June 2. [1938]
VWL694 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Herma Fiedler 193806-- [Late June 1938]

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