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
VWL2061 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank 195011-- [November 1950]
VWL2077 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank 19500820 Aug 20th 1950
VWL2089 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Joy Finzi 19501004 October 4 [1950?]
VWL2107 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Guthrie Foote (OUP) 19501014 Oct. 14 [1950]
VWL2115 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Guthrie Foote (OUP) 19501030 Oct. 30 [1950]
VWL2117 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Cordelia Curle 19501103 Friday [3rd November 1950]
VWL2123 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ralph Wedgwood 19501213 13th December, 1950.
VWL2126 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Cordelia Curle 19501219 Tuesday [19th December 1950]
VWL2212 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gilmour Jenkins 19510409 April 9 [1951]
VWL2235 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gilmour Jenkins 19510516 [16th May 1951]
VWL2262 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gerald Finzi 19510703 July 3rd [1951]
VWL2271 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alice Sumsion 19510831 31st. August, 1951.
VWL2339 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Cordelia Curle 195103-- Sat [March 1951]
VWL2344 Lord Lechery’s song 195105-- [?May] 1951
VWL2349 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gerald Finzi 19520109 9th January, 1952.
VWL2357 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank 19520116 16th January, 1952.
VWL2383 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Hubert Foss 19520317 March 17 [1952]
VWL2437 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19520621 June 21st 1952.
VWL2455 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harriet Cohen 19520730 30th July, 1952.
VWL2468 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Hubert Foss 19520917 17th September, 1952
VWL2474 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Lady Beryl Lock 19520925 Monday [?25th September 1952]
VWL2480 Letter from Hubert Foss to Ralph Vaughan Williams 19521006 6th October, 1952
VWL2491 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gerald Finzi 19521019 October 19th 1952.
VWL2514 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Joy Finzi 19480104 January 4 [1948]
VWL2536 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Hubert Foss 19521110 November 10th 1952.
VWL2547 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alice Sumsion 19521118 November 18th 1952.
VWL2561 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Robert Longman 19521231 31st December, 1952.
VWL2566 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gilmour Jenkins 19530119 Jan 19th 1953
VWL2612 Letter from Michael Kennedy to Ralph Vaughan Williams 19530118 Sunday, Jan 18th, 1953.
VWL2613 Letter from Gilmour Jenkins to Ralph Vaughan Williams 19530119 19th Jan. 1953

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