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.

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Letter No. Title Date Date on Letter
VWL3176 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Katharine Thomson 19490622 22nd. June, 1949.
VWL3174 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ernest Irving 19490629 29th June, 1949
VWL3173 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alice Sumsion 19490702 Saturday [2 July, 1949]
VWL3167 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ursula Wood 19490805 Friday [5th August 1949]
VWL3166 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Robert Trevelyan 19490807 August 7 [1949]
VWL3165 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Robert Trevelyan 19490810 10th August, 1949
VWL3164 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Frank Howes 19490810 10th August, 1949.
VWL3159 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ronald Cunliffe 192306-- [June 1923]
VWL3158 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ronald Cunliffe 19230418 18 April 1923
VWL3157 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ronald Cunliffe 19230312 March 12 1923
VWL3156 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ronald Cunliffe 19230102 [2 Jan 1923]
VWL3155 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ronald Cunliffe 1922---- [1922, after April]
VWL3154 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ronald Cunliffe 19220412 12/4/22
VWL3151 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Anthony Vercoe 19490824 24th August, 1949
VWL3147 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to E.M. Tillett 19490914 14th September, 1949
VWL3146 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Mrs Tillett 19490919 Sept 19, 1949
VWL3144 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ernest Irving 19490928 September 28th, 1949.
VWL3142 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Miss Tottenham 1920---- [between 1905-1929]
VWL3137 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Mrs Isidore Schwiller 19491013 Oct 13 [1949]
VWL3136 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Katharine Thomson 19491013 13th October, 1949.
VWL3133 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Norman Del Mar 19491013 13th October, 1949.
VWL3131 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Isidore Schwiller 19491019 19th October 1949
VWL3130 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harry Stubbs 19491025 Oct 25 [1949]
VWL3129 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Roy Douglas 19550810 [August 10 1955]
VWL3128 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Michael Kennedy 19550808 August 8th 1955.
VWL3127 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Katharine Thomson 19491025 Oct 25 [1949]
VWL3123 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harry Stubbs 19491101 [About 1 November 1949]
VWL3122 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Harry Stubbs 19491101 [About 2 November 1949]
VWL3121 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Major Arthur Congreve 19480716 16th July, 1948
VWL3120 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Isidore Schwiller 19491102 2nd November, 1949

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