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
VWL4993 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Leslie Arthur Boosey 19330813 August 13 [1933]
VWL4986 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Arthur Boosey 19401114 Nov 14 [1940]
VWL4984 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Leslie Arthur Boosey 19401031 October 31 [1940]
VWL4983 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Arthur Boosey 19401004 Oct 4 [1940]
VWL4981 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Arthur Boosey 19400802 August 2 [1940]
VWL4978 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Arthur Boosey 19380703 July 3rd. [1938]
VWL4977 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to W. Paston 19380522 Sunday [22 or 29 May 1938]
VWL4965 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Sylvia Spencer 19360319 March 19 [1936]
VWL4935 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Robert Müller-Hartmann 19490511 May 11 [1949]
VWL4923 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Cordelia Curle 195102-- Thursday [February 1951]
VWL4875 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Clive Carey 19481205 December 5 [1948]
VWL4870 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Maud Karpeles 19360526 May 26 [1936]
VWL4856 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Peter Montgomery 193-- [1933 or later]
VWL4849 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Peter Montgomery 19290624 June 24 [1929?]
VWL4845 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Peter Montgomery 19300823 Aug 23 [1?]
VWL4842 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Bernard Van Dieren 193410-- Sunday [late October 1934?]
VWL4841 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Bernard Van Dieren 19300130 January 30 [1930]
VWL4834 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Clive Carey 19460130 January 30 [1946]
VWL4830 Letter (extract) from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Evelyn Sharp 193601-- [between 15 January and February, 1936]
VWL4824 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Maud Karpeles 19330220 Feb 20 [1933]
VWL4794 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Isidore Schwiller 19491022 October 22 [1949?]
VWL4793 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Isidore Schwiller 19491223 Dec 23 [1949?]
VWL4785 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Louis Boyd Neel 19401203 Dec 3 [1940?]
VWL4784 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Louis Boyd Neel 1950---- Dec 8 [1950]
VWL4781 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Louis Boyd Neel 1940---- [late 1940]
VWL4780 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Louis Boyd Neel 1937---- Monday [1937]
VWL4775 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Isidore Schwiller 1949---- Sunday [1949?]
VWL4773 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Isidore Schwiller 19351226 Dec 26 [1935?]
VWL4771 Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to Diana Awdry 19340317 March 17 [1934]
VWL4768 Letter from Adeline Ralph Vaughan Williams to Diana Awdry 19310419 Sunday [19 April, 1931]

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