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
VWL122 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Mrs W. Hadley 1907---- [1907?]
VWL121 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to H.G. Robinson 1900---- [Before September 1905]
VWL120 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to René Gatty 1899---- [1899?]
VWL119 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to René Gatty 1899---- [1899?]
VWL118 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to René Gatty 1899---- Wednesday [1899?]
VWL117 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to René Gatty 1904---- [1904?]
VWL116 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to René Gatty 1904---- [1904?]
VWL115 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Cecil Sharp 1904---- [1904?]
VWL114 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 1899---- [1899?]
VWL113 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 1901---- [1901?]
VWL112 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sir Humphrey Milford 19420323 March 23 1942
VWL111 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Gustav Holst 1901---- [1901?]
VWL110 Letter from Ursula Vaughan Williams to William Cole 19581018 October 18th 1958
VWL109 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to George Moore 1901---- [1901?]
VWL108 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to George Moore 1901---- [1901?]
VWL107 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Ralph Wedgwood 19011227 December 27th [1901]
VWL106 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ralph Wedgwood 190204-- [April 1902?]
VWL105 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ralph Wedgwood 1901---- [1901?]

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