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.

Searching:
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
VWL974 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19311122 Nov 22nd [1931]
VWL976 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19311122 [22 November 1931]
VWL971 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19311106 6 November 1931
VWL965 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19311103 [3 November 1931]
VWL957 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19311024 [24 October 1931]
VWL1177 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 193110-- [late October 1931]
VWL928 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19310724 [24 July 1931]
VWL925 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19310714 [14 July 1931]
VWL913 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19310517 [17 May 1931]
VWL908 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19310329 [29 March 1931]
VWL901 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19310125 [25 January 1931]
VWL889 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19301228 [28 December l930]
VWL829 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19300107 7 Jan 1930
VWL836 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19300106 [6 January 1930]
VWL710 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19291201 [1 December 1929]
VWL709 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19291102 [2 November 1929]
VWL688 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19291003 [3 October 1929]
VWL641 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19281214 [14 December 1928]
VWL793 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 192602-- [February 1926]

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