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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
VWL4234 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Joseph Cooper 19461026 Oct 26 [1946]
VWL4239 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Joan Shaw 19551030 October 30th 1955.
VWL4305 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 191505-- Sunday [May 1915]
VWL4306 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 1914---- Saturday [late 1914]
VWL4387 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Evangeline Farrer 19400209 Feb 9 [1940]
VWL4388 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Evangeline Farrer 19400208 Feb 8 [1940]
VWL4423 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Treasurer of the Leith Hill Musical Festival 19531223 December 23rd 1953.
VWL4425 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sir Edwin Herbert 19561223 December 23rd 1956.
VWL4426 Letter from Ursula Vaughan Williams to Sir Edwin Herbert 19540125 January 25th [1954?]
VWL4501 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Joan Shaw 1942---- [1942]
VWL4509 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Joan Shaw 19410515 May 15 [1941?]
VWL4520 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19440314 March 14 [1944]
VWL4529 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Joan Shaw 19480120 Jan 20 [1948?]
VWL4536 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19501011 October 11, [1950]
VWL4554 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams 19130113 Jan 13th 1913,
VWL4617 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Joan Western 19360131 Jan 31 [1936]
VWL4618 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Joan Western 1936---- [1936]
VWL4697 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Evelyn Sharp 19270729 July 29 [1927]
VWL4699 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Evelyn Sharp 19270926 September 26 1927
VWL4702 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Evelyn Sharp 19311213 December 13 [1931]
VWL4705 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Evelyn Sharp 193203-- [shortly after 16 March, 1932]
VWL4861 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Maud Karpeles 1935---- [1930s?]
VWL4966 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sylvia Spencer 19491123 23rd November, 1949.
VWL5080 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Editor of The Times 19301204 Dec. 4, 1930
VWL5132 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Editor of The Listener 19350320 [20 March, 1935]

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