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
VWL1876 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Denys Kilham Roberts 19450304 4th March [1945]
VWL1875 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Eugene Kilinski 19450225 Feb 25 1945
VWL1873 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Miss Henn Collins 19450211 Feb 11 [1945]
VWL841 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ernest Chapman 19450210 Feb 10 [1945]
VWL1845 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Ann Boult 19450204 Sunday [4 February 1945]
VWL1870 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Bush 19450110 Jan 10 [1945]
VWL4671 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Cordelia Curle 1945---- Monday [1945]
VWL4522 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19441226 December 26 [1944]
VWL1949 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Norman Peterkin 19441203 Dec 3 [1944]
VWL4072 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Miss Piper 19440921 21 Sept 1944
VWL1934 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Arnold Barter 19440916 Sept 16 [1944]
VWL1930 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Ann Boult 19440826 August 26 [1944]
VWL1929 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Smith 19440819 August 19 [1944]
VWL1927 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Kenneth Wright (BBC) 19440818 August 18 [1944]
VWL1924 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Elizabeth Trevelyan 19440801 August 1 [1944]
VWL1923 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Elizabeth Trevelyan 19440730 July 30 [1944]
VWL1922 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Gerald Finzi 19440704 July 4 [1944]
VWL5221 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Bridget Fry 19440507 May 7 [1944]
VWL2897 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Robert Müller-Hartmann 19440423 April 23 [1944]
VWL1910 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Norman Peterkin 19440404 [4th April 1944]
VWL1909 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sir Henry Wood 19440329 March 29 [1944]
VWL1908 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Norman Peterkin (OUP) 19440328 March 28 [1944]
VWL1903 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Joyce Hooper 19440319 [19 March 1944]
VWL4520 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19440314 March 14 [1944]
VWL5271 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Vinicio Barocas 19440103 Jan 3/44
VWL1846 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Norman Peterkin 19440101 Jan 1/1944
VWL1816 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Norman Peterkin 19431029 October 29 [1943]
VWL1810 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Ann Boult 19431015 October 15 [1943]
VWL1808 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Frank Thistleton 19431014 October 14 [1943]
VWL4128 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Christopher le Fleming 19430913 September 13 [1943]

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