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
VWL1699 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams Geoffrey Bush 19421012 Oct 14 [1942]
VWL1698 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Fritz Hart 19421011 Oct 11 1942
VWL1697 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to an unidentified correspondent 19421009 Oct 9 [1942]
VWL1696 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cecil Armstrong Gibbs 19421001 Oct 1st [1942]
VWL1743 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ursula Wood 194210-- [About October 1942]
VWL1695 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ferdinand Rauter 19420929 [29. Sept 42]
VWL1694 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Norman Peterkin 19420928 Sept 28 [1942]
VWL1693 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Joy Finzi 19420927 Sunday [?27th September 1942 ]
VWL1691 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Hubert Foss 19420923 Sept 23 [1942]
VWL1690 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Adine O’Neill 19420921 Sept 21 [1942]
VWL4566 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Herbert Menges 19420913 Sept 13 [1942]
VWL1688 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Adine O’Neill 19420909 Sept 9 [1942]
VWL1687 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Norman Peterkin 19420908 [8th September 1942]
VWL1686 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Norman Peterkin 19420905 September 4th 1942.
VWL1684 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gerald Finzi 19420902 Sept 2 [1942]
VWL1742 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ursula Wood 194209-- [About September 1942]
VWL1683 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Hubert Foss 19420831 Aug 31 [1942]
VWL1680 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ferdinand Rauter 19420816 Aug 16 [1942]
VWL4069 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Miss Piper 19420808 Aug 8th [1942]
VWL1741 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ursula Wood 194208-- [?August 1942]
VWL1678 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ernest Chapman 19420728 [28 July 1942]
VWL1677 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harry Blech 19420728 July 28 [1942?]
VWL4498 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19420719 July 19 [1942?]
VWL1676 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Adrian Boult (BBC) 19420715 July 15 [1942]
VWL1674 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Beryl Lock 19420714 July 14 [1942]
VWL1675 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Norman Peterkin (OUP) 19420714 July 14 [1942]
VWL1673 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Eveline Reed 19420705 July 5 [1942]
VWL4127 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Christopher le Fleming 19420705 July 5 [1942]
VWL1740 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ursula Wood 194207-- [July 1942]
VWL4934 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Walter Leigh 19420603 June 3rd, 1942.

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