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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
VWL2590 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cedric Glover 19480414 14th April, 1948.
VWL3281 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cedric Glover 19580627 June 27th 1958.
VWL3308 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cedric Glover 19580408 April 8th 1958.
VWL1256 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cedric and Margaret Thorpe Davie 19371229 [29th December 1937]
VWL388 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cecil Sharp 19131103 [About 3 November 1913]
VWL147 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cecil Sharp 190611-- Wed [November 1906]
VWL490 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cecil Sharp 19220202 2/2/22
VWL305 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cecil Sharp 1911---- [1911]
VWL335 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cecil Sharp 191107-- [July 1911]
VWL115 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cecil Sharp 1904---- [1904?]
VWL150 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cecil Sharp 190705-- [After April, 1907]
VWL436 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cecil Sharp 19171228 Dec 28th [1917]
VWL338 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cecil Sharp 191307-- [July 1913]
VWL148 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cecil Sharp 190611-- [November 1906]
VWL1402 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cecil Armstrong Gibbs 19381015 October 15 [1938]
VWL2124 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cecil Armstrong Gibbs 19491215 Dec 15 [1949]
VWL1252 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cecil Armstrong Gibbs 19371108 [8th November 1937]
VWL724 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cecil Armstrong Gibbs 1922---- [Summer 1922]
VWL525 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cecil Armstrong Gibbs 194001-- [January 1940?]
VWL1380 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cecil Armstrong Gibbs 19400130 [30th January 1940]
VWL2602 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cecil Armstrong Gibbs 195210-- [After 12 October 1952]
VWL1696 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cecil Armstrong Gibbs 19421001 Oct 1st [1942]
VWL1913 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cecil Armstrong Gibbs 19440514 May 14 [1944]
VWL2179 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cecil Armstrong Gibbs 19510131 31st. January, 1951
VWL1733 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cecil Armstrong Gibbs 19421104 Nov 4 [1942]
VWL4961 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Canon Walter Hussey 19500201 1st February, 1950.
VWL3616 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Canon George W. Briggs 19431003 Oct 3 1943
VWL4100 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Canon Briggs 19400201 Feb 1st [1940]
VWL2949 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cambridge University Music Society 195403-- [March 1954]
VWL4707 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Bruce L. Richmond 19451015 Oct 15th 1945

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