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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
VWL4203 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Joan and Martin Shaw 195302-- [February, 1953]
VWL4229 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ernest Newman 19470509 [9 May 1947]
VWL4265 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Molly Imlach 19571018 18 Oct 1957
VWL4323 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sir Thomas Beecham 19490428 28th April, 1949.
VWL4337 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Mary Sheppard 19531018 October 18th 1953.
VWL4459 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to René Gatty 19000101 Sunday night [1 January 1900]
VWL4472 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Frank Howes 19540630 June 30th 1954
VWL4478 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Benjamin Britten 195710-- [late October 1957?]
VWL4505 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Joan and Martin Shaw 193710-- [October 1937]
VWL4512 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Joan and Martin Shaw 19411016 Oct 16 [1941?]
VWL4513 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Martin and Joan Shaw 19421028 28 October, 1942
VWL4537 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Joan and Martin Shaw 19501018 18th October, 1950.
VWL4544 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Joan Shaw 19530128 28th January, 1953.
VWL4545 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Joan Shaw 19530204 4th February, 1953
VWL4763 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the Choir of Kensington High School 19421022 Oct 22 [1942]
VWL4832 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Clive Carey 19521015 [ca 15 October, 1952]
VWL5104 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to the editor of The Musical Times 19560201 [February, 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