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
VWL3855 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Grace Williams 1931---- [1930s?]
VWL3862 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Grace Williams 19380520 [about 20 May 1938]
VWL3876 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Grace Williams 19360226 [Late February 1936]
VWL3883 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Grace Williams 193108-- [August 1931]
VWL3885 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Grace Williams 19391028 [late October 1939]
VWL4035 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams for the Coldharbour parish magazine 19311022 [22 October 1931]
VWL4036 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to L.W. Wale 19311022 October 22 [1931]
VWL4284 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Evelyn Richmond 19481014 14th October, 1948.
VWL4286 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Dennis Arundell 19570303 March 3rd 1957.
VWL4394 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Lady Goodrich 191405-- [May 1914]
VWL4395 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Evangeline Farrer 19080707 July 7th [1908]
VWL4485 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Nancy Evans 19550529 May 29th 1955.
VWL4486 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Editor of The Times 19550528 [May 28 1955]
VWL4489 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Nancy Evans 19580306 March 6th 1958.
VWL4610 Letter from Patrick Hadley and Henry Balfour Gardiner to Ralph Vaughan Williams 19350412 12 April 1935
VWL4776 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Malcolm Sargent 1949---- Sunday [1949?]
VWL5009 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to John Buckland 19480211 12 [i.e.11] February, 1948.

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