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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
VWL4315 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19140818 18 August, 1914
VWL4314 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19140817 Monday [17 August, 1914]
VWL4109 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 191406-- [?June 1914]
VWL4301 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 191402-- Friday [February, 1914]
VWL345 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 191401-- [Jan 1914?]
VWL4419 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 191401-- Friday, [January, 1914]
VWL4306 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 1914---- Saturday [late 1914]
VWL4384 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 1914---- [1914?]
VWL4304 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 1914---- Monday, [late 1914]
VWL4307 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 1914---- [late 1914?]
VWL4303 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 1914--- [4 January, 1914]
VWL4302 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19131222 22 December, 1913
VWL4418 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19130925 [25 September, 1913]
VWL4417 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19130521 Wednesday [21 May, 1913]
VWL4416 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19130208 [8 February, 1913]
VWL4415 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19130129 Tuesday, [29 January, 1913]
VWL4414 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19130118 Friday, [18 January, 1913]
VWL4298 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19130113 [13 January, 1913]
VWL4412 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 191208-- [August,1912]
VWL4410 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 1912---- Sat. [ca 1912]
VWL4413 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 1912---- [1912?]
VWL4411 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 1912---- Monday [ca 1912]
VWL4409 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19110807 7 August, 1911
VWL4382 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 1910---- [ca 1910]
VWL4408 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 1910---- [ca 1910]
VWL4383 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 1910---- [ca 1910]
VWL4385 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 1910---- [ca 1910]
VWL4322 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19071118 Nov 19th 1907
VWL4381 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 190711-- [after November 1907]
VWL4321 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 1905---- [between 1905-November, 1907]

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