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
VWL1316 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Vally Lasker 19341002 Oct 2 [34]
VWL1317 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Nora Day and Vally Lasker 19341014 Oct 14th 34
VWL1326 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Vally Lasker 19341107 [About 7th Nov 1934]
VWL1343 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Vally Lasker 19341204 Dec 4. 34
VWL1563 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Vally Lasker 19390425 [April 25 1939]
VWL1607 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Vally Lasker 19391012 Oct 12 [1939]
VWL1711 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Vally Lasker 19421020 Oct 20 [1942]
VWL1786 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Vally Lasker 19430611 June 11, 43
VWL2285 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Vally Lasker 19511024 24th October, 1951
VWL2627 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Vally Lasker 19530128 28th January, 1953.
VWL2809 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Vally Lasker and others 19481014 14th October, 1948
VWL4553 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Vally Lasker 19130825 August 25 [1913?]
VWL4883 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Vally Lasker 1935---- [late 1930s?]
VWL4884 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Vally Lasker 195010-- [late October, about 1950?]
VWL4885 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Vally Lasker 19230915 [mid-September 1923]
VWL4886 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Vally Lasker 1922---- [1922?]
VWL4887 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Vally Lasker 1922---- Wednesday [1922?]
VWL4888 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Vally Lasker 192106-- [June 1921]
VWL4889 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Vally Lasker 1922---- Monday [1922?]

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