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.

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Letter No. Title Date Date on Letter
VWL585 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 19250522 [22nd May 1925]
VWL589 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 19251101 [About 1 November 1925]
VWL739 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 1925---- Thursday [?about 1925]
VWL1017 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 19321021 [On or about 21 October 1932]
VWL4075 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 19161205 Dec 5th 1916
VWL128 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 190012-- [?About December 1900]
VWL232 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 1898---- [?Late1898 (or early 1899)]
VWL269 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 189911-- [About September/October 1899]
VWL303 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 1910---- [1910?]
VWL356 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 191807-- [Summer 1918]
VWL445 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 19181116 Nov. 16th [1918?]
VWL539 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 19231231 Dec 31.[1923]
VWL816 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 192809-- [September 1928]
VWL884 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 19301220 [about 20th December 1930]
VWL1032 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 193209-- [September 1932]
VWL1034 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 193301-- [About January 1933]
VWL226 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 19220605 [About 5th June 1922]
VWL229 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 1896---- [1896?]
VWL262 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 18980626 Sunday [26 June 1898]
VWL353 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 191606-- [Late June 1916]
VWL432 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 19170804 Aug 4 [1917]
VWL113 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 1901---- [1901?]
VWL139 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 190607-- [July 1906]
VWL159 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 190801-- [?January 1908]
VWL999 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 19320320 March 20 [1932]
VWL1024 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 19321125 Nov 25th [1932]
VWL1055 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 19330415 [About 15th April 1933]
VWL1199 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 19340317 Sat: [March 17th 1934]
VWL745 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 1929---- [?1929]
VWL851 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 19300404 [4th April 1930]

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