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
VWL798 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cedric Thorpe Davie 19350923 September 23 [1935]
VWL783 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Joan Western 19350917 September 17 [1935]
VWL782 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cedric Thorpe Davie 19350916 September 16 [1935]
VWL781 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Joan Western 19350916 September 16 [1935]
VWL779 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cedric Thorpe Davie 19350911 Sep 11 [1935]
VWL774 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Henry Nevinson 19350908 Sep 8 [1935]
VWL3809 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sir Alexander Kaye Butterworth 19350823 August 23 [1935]
VWL769 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Gerald Finzi 19350822 Aug 22 [1935]
VWL1279 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 19350816 August 16 [1935?]
VWL766 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cedric Thorpe Davie 19350816 August 16th [1935]
VWL765 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cedric Thorpe Davie 19350805 Monday [about 5th August 1935]
VWL4178 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Christopher le Fleming 19350803 August 3, [1935?]
VWL4667 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Else Headlam-Morley 19350714 July 14 [1935]
VWL757 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cedric Thorpe Davie 19350712 July 12th 1935
VWL756 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to William Rothenstein 19350710 July 10 [1935]
VWL752 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Joan Western 19350708 July 8 [1935]
VWL751 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ethel Strudwick 19350706 July 6 [1935]
VWL748 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to A. Wynn (BBC) 19350626 June 26 [1935]
VWL3238 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Marion Scott 19350610 June 10 [1935? or later]
VWL733 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Cordelia Curle 19350608 June 8th [1935]
VWL717 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Cordelia Curle 19350603 June 3 [1935]
VWL5223 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to an unidentified correspondent (probably Artur Rodzinski) 19350518 May 18 [1935]
VWL4665 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Else Headlam-Morley 19350504 May 4 [1935]
VWL3250 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Marion Scott 193505-- Monday night [May 1935?]
VWL545 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Joan Western 193505-- Friday [?May 1935]
VWL562 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Joy Finzi 193505-- Friday [May 1935?]
VWL4143 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Christopher le Fleming 19350425 April 25 [?1935]
VWL447 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Adrian Boult 19350414 April 14 [1935]
VWL417 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to David Stanley Smith 19350414 [14th April 1935]
VWL315 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Cordelia Curle 19350408 Monday night [8th April 1935]

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