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
VWL2358 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to John Barbirolli 19520126 January 26th 1952.
VWL2377 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to John Barbirolli 19520312 12th March, 1952.
VWL2385 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to John Barbirolli 19520325 25th March, 1952.
VWL2522 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to John Barbirolli 19521026 October 26th [1952]
VWL2533 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to John Barbirolli 19521031 Oct 31 [1952]
VWL3222 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to John Barbirolli 19551113 November 13th 1955.
VWL2609 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to John Barbirolli 19530110 Jan 10 [1953]
VWL2662 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to John & Evelyn Barbirolli 19530220 February 20th 1953.
VWL2468 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Hubert Foss 19520917 17th September, 1952
VWL2454 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Hubert Foss 19520727 July 27th, 1952
VWL4565 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harold Smith 19530120 20th January, 1953.
VWL2674 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Guthrie Foote (OUP) 19530330 March 30 [1953]
VWL3851 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Grace Williams 19530120 20th January, 1953.
VWL2623 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gerald Finzi 19530128 28th January, 1953.
VWL2349 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gerald Finzi 19520109 9th January, 1952.
VWL4469 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Frank Howes 19520604 4th June, 1952.
VWL3141 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Felix Borowski 19530311 11th March, 1953
VWL2710 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Evelyn Barbirolli 19530802 August 2nd 1953.
VWL3174 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ernest Irving 19490629 29th June, 1949
VWL2934 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ernest Irving 19481216 16th December, 1948
VWL3144 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ernest Irving 19490928 September 28th, 1949.
VWL2477 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Elizabeth Trevelyan 19521110 November 10th 1952
VWL3657 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cordelia Curle 19521210 [About 10th December 1952]
VWL1547 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to an unidentified correspondent 19520726 26 July 1952
VWL2415 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19520524 May 24th 1952
VWL2549 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19521119 19th November 1952.
VWL2562 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19521231 31st December, 1952.
VWL2668 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19530311 11th March, 1953.
VWL3364 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19560818 August 18th 1956.
VWL3520 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19570526 May 26th 1957.

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