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
VWL4466 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Frank Howes 1939---- Tuesday [1939?]
VWL373 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ernest Farrar 19110708 [8th July 1911]
VWL1916 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Douglas Lilburn 19440522 May 22 [1944]
VWL1762 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Arthur Bliss 19430510 May 10 [1943]
VWL1434 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Adrian Boult (BBC) 19400902 [About 2nd September 1940]
VWL1750 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Adrian Boult (BBC) 19430215 Feb 15 [1943]
VWL954 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Adrian Boult 19310920 September 20 [1931]
VWL1270 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Adrian Boult 19340727 [27 July 1934]
VWL1945 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Adrian Boult 19450808 Aug 8 [1945]
VWL1260 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Adrian Boult 19340606 [6th June 1934]
VWL748 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to A. Wynn (BBC) 19350626 June 26 [1935]
VWL1436 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams 19400906 Septr 6, 1940
VWL2464 Letter from John Ireland to Ralph Vaughan Williams 19520829 August 29th, 1952
VWL1415 Letter from Henry Wood to Ralph Vaughan Williams 19400416 April 16th, 1940.
VWL2472 Letter from Ernest Irving to Ralph Vaughan Williams 19520922 22nd September 1952
VWL4378 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Victor and Mary Sheppard 19500815 August 15 [1950]
VWL4679 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Cordelia Curle 19460801 Thursday morning [1 August 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