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
VWL978 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Diana Awdry 19360825 Aug 25 [1936]
VWL3984 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alexander Burnard 19360821 Aug 21 [1936]
VWL979 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gerald Finzi 19360818 [18th August 1936]
VWL5036 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to John Buckland 19360809 [9 Aug 1936]
VWL970 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cedric Thorpe Davie 19360809 9 August 1936
VWL968 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Fritz Hart 19360807 [About 7th August 1936]
VWL966 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Herbert Howells 19360802 2nd August 1936
VWL963 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cedric Thorpe Davie 19360802 [2 August 1936]
VWL4259 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Nadia Boulanger 193608-- [1936?]
VWL961 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Arnold Goldsbrough 19360729 July 29 [about 1936?]
VWL959 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Diana Awdry 19360727 [27 July 1936]
VWL4871 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Maud Karpeles 19360720 [late July 1936]
VWL955 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Diana Awdry 19360715 [15th July 1936]
VWL758 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Edwin Evans 19360714 July 14th [1936]
VWL550 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Herbert Howells 19360710 [?10, July 1936]
VWL551 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Fritz Hart 193607-- [Late July 1936]
VWL549 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cedric Thorpe Davie 193606-- [June 1936]
VWL950 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cedric Thorpe Davie 19360522 [22 May 1936]
VWL948 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ann Boult 19360520 [20 May, or after, 1936]
VWL946 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Diana Awdry 19360519 [19th May 1936]
VWL947 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Imogen Holst 19360519 [19th May 1936]
VWL943 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Boris Ord 19360512 May 12th [c1936?]
VWL4142 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Christopher le Fleming 19360420 Monday, [20 April, 1936]
VWL5074 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Editor of The Times 19360331 [Tuesday, 31 March 1936]
VWL4561 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Walford Davies 19360329 March 29 [1936]
VWL935 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Christian Darnton 19360308 March 8 [1936?]
VWL548 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 193603-- Tuesday [March 1936]
VWL3876 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Grace Williams 19360226 [Late February 1936]
VWL932 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Christian Darnton 19360208 Feb 8 [1936]
VWL4617 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Joan Western 19360131 Jan 31 [1936]

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