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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
VWL2956 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Eric Walter White 19490228 Feb 28 [1949]
VWL2953 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Douglas Lilburn 19490217 17th February, 1949.
VWL2954 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Katharine Thomson 19490217 17th February, 1949.
VWL2947 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Eric Walter White 19490209 9th February, 1949.
VWL2946 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Katharine Thomson 19490209 9th February, 1949
VWL2944 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Peter Hamber 19490126 26th January, 1949.
VWL4876 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Clive Carey 19490119 19th January, 1949.
VWL4874 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Clive Carey 19490105 5th January, 1949.
VWL4775 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Isidore Schwiller 1949---- Sunday [1949?]
VWL2854 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19481208 8th December, 1948.
VWL2855 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cedric Glover 19481208 8th December, 1948.
VWL4875 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Clive Carey 19481205 December 5 [1948]
VWL2852 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Eric Walter White 19481124 24th November, 1948.
VWL2850 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Eric Walter White 19481104 4th November, 1948.
VWL2838 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Douglas Lilburn 19481022 Oct 22/48
VWL2833 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Arnold Barter 19481014 14th October, 1948.
VWL2804 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Katharine Thomson 19480930 30th September, 1948.
VWL2801 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Arnold Barter 19480919 Sunday [19th September 1948]
VWL2792 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Arnold Barter 19480915 Sept 15 1948
VWL2790 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Elizabeth Maconchy 19480828 Aug 28 [1948]
VWL5126 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Serge Koussevitsky 19480819 19th August 1948.
VWL2784 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19480812 12th August, 1948.
VWL5125 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Serge Koussevitsky 19480812 12th August, 1948.
VWL5277 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Mary Carter 19480805 5th August, 1948.
VWL5130 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Mary Carter 19480729 29th July, 1948.
VWL2779 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19480723 23rd July, 1948.
VWL2778 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19480716 July 16 [1948]
VWL2774 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to John Barbirolli 19480708 8th July, 1948.
VWL2773 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Adrian Boult 19480624 24th June, 1948.
VWL2772 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 19480624 24th June, 1948.

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