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
VWL183 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Donald Francis Tovey 19350103 Jan 3rd 1935
VWL468 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Donald F. Tovey 19270303 March 3 [1927]
VWL691 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to William Rothenstein 193703-- [?About March 1937]
VWL891 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Peter Montgomery 193006-- [About June 1930]
VWL1174 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Iris Lemare 19370414 [14 April 1937]
VWL1250 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to William Rothenstein 19371101 Nov 1st [1937]
VWL1429 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Adrian Boult (BBC) 19400815 Aug 15 [1940]
VWL1432 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Adrian Boult (BBC) 19400826 [26 August 1940]
VWL1452 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Geoffrey Bush 19381227 Dec 27th [1938]
VWL1581 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Hubert Foss (OUP) 19410912 Sep 12 [1941]
VWL2590 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cedric Glover 19480414 14th April, 1948.
VWL3048 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Dr Mary Grierson 19520228 Feb 28 [1952]
VWL3049 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Dr Mary Grierson 19500927 27th September, 1950.
VWL3050 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Dr Mary Grierson 19501011 11th October, 1950.
VWL3340 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Editor of the Daily Telegraph 19580220 20th February 1958
VWL3465 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Michael and Eslyn Kennedy 19570215 February 15th 1957.
VWL3539 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Michael Kennedy 19570820 August 20th [1957]

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