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
VWL2772 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 19480624 24th June, 1948.
VWL2770 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Arnold Barter 19480617 17th June, 1948.
VWL2766 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harry Stubbs 19480605 June 5 [?1948]
VWL2598 Letter from Patrick Hadley to Ralph Vaughan Williams 19480508 8 May 1948
VWL4534 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19480501 May 1 [1948?]
VWL2595 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Nikolai Malko 19480429 29th April, 1948
VWL2592 Letter from Ernest Irving to Ralph Vaughan Williams 19480416 16th April, 1948
VWL2591 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19480415 April 15 [1948]
VWL2590 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cedric Glover 19480414 14th April, 1948.
VWL2588 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gwen Beckett 19480413 April 13 [1948]
VWL1288 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Mary Carter 19480410 10th April 1948
VWL2583 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Fritz Hart 19480325 March 25 [1948]
VWL2584 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19480325 25th March, 1948.
VWL2579 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Robert Müller-Hartmann 19480312 12th March, 1948
VWL2576 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19480304 4th. March, 1948.
VWL2572 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to The Musical Times 19480227 February 27th. 1948.
VWL2571 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harry Stubbs 19480225 Feb 25th [1948]
VWL2541 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Elizabeth Trevelyan 19480119 Jan 19 [1948]
VWL2538 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to George Parker 19480115 15th January, 1948.
VWL1767 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ursula Wood 1948---- [later part of 1948]
VWL2143 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to George Parker 19471218 Dec 18 [1947]
VWL2501 Letter from Robert Müller-Hartmann to Ralph Vaughan Williams 19471216 16th December 1947
VWL2431 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Katharine Thomson 19471204 4th December, 1947.
VWL2402 Letter from Ernest Irving to Ralph Vaughan Williams 19471119 19th November, 1947.
VWL2401 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Joy Finzi 19471113 13th November, 1947
VWL1516 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gerald Finzi 19471016 Oct 16 [1947]
VWL2183 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to George Parker 19470724 July 24 [1947?]
VWL2309 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Music Librarian (BBC) 19470721 July 21 [1947]
VWL2301 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Katharine Thomson 19470625 25th June, 1947.
VWL2184 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Katharine Thomson 19470531 31st May, 1947.

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