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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
VWL244 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 189707-- [July 1897]
VWL245 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 189707-- [July 1897]
VWL251 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Laura Vaughan Williams 189707-- [July 1897]
VWL283 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ralph Wedgwood 18970610 [Just after 10 June 1897]
VWL243 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ralph Wedgwood 189706-- [Later June 1897]
VWL255 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Fredegond and Ermengard Maitland 1897---- [September 1897]
VWL282 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ralph Wedgwood 18960831 [31 August 1896]
VWL242 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ralph Wedgwood 189605-- [?May 1896]
VWL229 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 1896---- [1896?]
VWL228 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to G.E. Moore 1895---- [1895?]
VWL4449 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ralph Wedgwood 1895---- [1895?]
VWL3966 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ralph Wedgwood 1895---- [1895?]
VWL4448 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ralph Wedgwood 1895---- [1895]
VWL5171 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to J.N. Barran 18940218 Feb 18 1894
VWL227 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ralph Wedgwood 1894---- [1894?]
VWL5194 Letter from George Trevelyan to Ralph Vaughan Williams 189306-- [June 1893?]
VWL237 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ralph Wedgwood 189103-- [Spring 1891?]
VWL5205 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Margaret Vaughan Williams 18891015 [15 October 1889]

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