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
VWL1170 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Hubert Foss (OUP) 19370803 August 3 [1937]
VWL1171 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Jack Gordon 19370411 April 11 [1937]
VWL1313 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Eric Crozier 19500726 26th July, 1950.
VWL1413 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ursula Wood 19400404 [April 4th 1940]
VWL1626 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Stanford Robinson (BBC) 19420104 Jan. 4th [1942]
VWL1882 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Ann Boult 19490317 March 17 [1949]
VWL1958 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ursula Wood 194409-- [September 1944]
VWL2019 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Geoffrey Keynes 19451117 November 17 [?1945]
VWL2032 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19460409 April 9 [1946]
VWL2078 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cedric Glover 19500826 August 26th [1950?]
VWL2220 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Edward J. Dent 19510430 April 30 [1951]
VWL2223 Letter from Edward J. Dent to Ralph Vaughan Williams 19510502 2 May 1951
VWL2230 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Edward J. Dent 19510517 17th May, 1951
VWL2265 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Peter Tranchell 19510808 8th August, 1951.
VWL2340 Letter from Ursula Wood to Ralph Vaughan Williams 195104-- [mid April 1951]
VWL2351 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Katharine Thomson 19520109 9th January, 1952.
VWL2693 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Editor of The Times 19530618 18 June 1953
VWL2740 Letter from Ursula Vaughan Williams to Michael and Eslyn Kennedy 19531123 Monday 23rd [Nov. 1953]
VWL2756 Letter from Ursula Vaughan Williams to Michael Kennedy 19540122 22nd [January 1954]
VWL2793 Letter from Ursula Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19540222 February 22nd [1954]
VWL3029 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Fluck 19530718 July 18th 1953.
VWL3030 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Fluck 19540114 January 14th 1954.
VWL3113 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Mary Glasgow 19491109 9th November, 1949.
VWL3176 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Katharine Thomson 19490622 22nd. June, 1949.
VWL3258 Letter from Ursula Vaughan Williams to Michael and Eslyn Kennedy 19560119 Jan 19th [1956]
VWL3287 Letter from Ursula Vaughan Williams to Michael Kennedy 19580612 [12 June 1958]
VWL3298 Letter from Ursula Vaughan Williams to Michael and Eslyn Kennedy 19580522 May 22nd [1958]
VWL3307 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Anthony Scott 19580408 April 8th 1958.
VWL3323 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19580315 March 15th 1958.
VWL3364 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19560818 August 18th 1956.

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