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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
VWL4674 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Mrs Lock 19421025 October 25, [1942]
VWL1293 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Maud Karpeles 19340906 Thurs [6th September 1934]
VWL4361 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Mary Watts 19480702 July 2 [1948]
VWL4356 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Mary Watts 19480310 March 10 [1948]
VWL4369 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Mary Sheppard 19490805 August 5 [1949]
VWL4371 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Mary Sheppard 19490909 Friday [9 Sep 1949]
VWL4367 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Mary Sheppard 19490707 July 7 [1949]
VWL567 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Mary Fletcher 19240718 Friday [?18th July] 1924
VWL571 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Mary Fletcher 19240901 [Early September 1924]
VWL1186 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19471227 December 27 [1947?]
VWL4293 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19150630 June 30th, [1915]
VWL4306 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 1914---- Saturday [late 1914]
VWL4318 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19150331 March 31 [1915]
VWL4410 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 1912---- Sat. [ca 1912]
VWL4417 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19130521 Wednesday [21 May, 1913]
VWL4415 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19130129 Tuesday, [29 January, 1913]
VWL4419 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 191401-- Friday, [January, 1914]
VWL4305 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 191505-- Sunday [May 1915]
VWL4314 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19140817 Monday [17 August, 1914]
VWL4084 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 1916---- [1916]
VWL4290 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19150515 May 19 [1915]
VWL4301 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 191402-- Friday [February, 1914]
VWL4304 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 1914---- Monday, [late 1914]
VWL4534 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19480501 May 1 [1948?]
VWL4536 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19501011 October 11, [1950]
VWL4414 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19130118 Friday, [18 January, 1913]
VWL4522 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19441226 December 26 [1944]
VWL4411 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 1912---- Monday [ca 1912]
VWL4520 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 19440314 March 14 [1944]
VWL4525 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Martin Shaw 1946-- [November, 1946]

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