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.

Filter letters

Letter No. Title Date Date on Letter
VWL996 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sir Ivor Atkins 19320211 February 11 [1932]
VWL3779 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sir Humphrey Milford 19420311 March 11 [1942]
VWL1386 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sir Henry Wood 19381009 October 9 [?1938]
VWL1568 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sir Henry Wood 19390614 June 14 [1939]
VWL1909 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sir Henry Wood 19440329 March 29 [1944]
VWL1306 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sir Henry Wood 19380607 June 7 [1938]
VWL1304 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sir Henry Wood 19380602 June 2. [1938]
VWL3811 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sir Alexander Kaye Butterworth 19370722 July 22 [1937]
VWL3810 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sir Alexander Kaye Butterworth 19370728 July 28 [1937]
VWL3809 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sir Alexander Kaye Butterworth 19350823 August 23 [1935]
VWL4002 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sir Alexander Kaye Butterworth 19361121 Nov 21 [1936]
VWL5166 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sinclair Logan 193-0208 Feb 8 [1930s?]
VWL5185 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sinclair Logan 194-0823 August 23 [1940s]
VWL5121 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Serge Koussevitsky 19351203 Dec 3 [1935]
VWL5124 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Serge Koussevitsky 1932---- [1932?]
VWL1279 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 19350816 August 16 [1935?]
VWL899 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 19310118 January 18 [1931]
VWL680 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 19290721 July 21 [1929]
VWL837 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 19300110 January 10 [1930]
VWL2511 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Robert Trevelyan 19471227 December 27 [1947]
VWL3166 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Robert Trevelyan 19490807 August 7 [1949]
VWL2905 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Robert Müller-Hartmann 19480529 May 29 [1948?]
VWL2897 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Robert Müller-Hartmann 19440423 April 23 [1944]
VWL2899 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Robert Müller-Hartmann 19450418 April 18 [1945]
VWL1277 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Robert Müller-Hartmann 19380127 January 27 [1938]
VWL4935 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Robert Müller-Hartmann 19490511 May 11 [1949]
VWL120 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to René Gatty 1899---- [1899?]
VWL261 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ralph Wedgwood 189905-- [May 1899]
VWL211 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ralph Wedgwood 19061010 [10th October 1906]
VWL257 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ralph Wedgwood 189712-- [December 1897?]

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