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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
VWL5156 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Boris Ord 19370526 May 26th [late 1930s?]
VWL5155 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Boris Ord 193706-- Sunday [summer 1937]
VWL5154 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Boris Ord 19370923 Sept 23d [1937]
VWL4446 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Boris Ord 19370917 [mid-September 1937]
VWL3288 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to G.E. Moore 19560215 February 15th 1956.
VWL2930 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Christopher Hassall 19530115 15 January 1953
VWL2799 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to G.E. Moore 19540314 March 14th 1954
VWL2630 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to G.E. Moore 19530201 [1st February 1953]
VWL2265 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Peter Tranchell 19510808 8th August, 1951.
VWL2251 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to G.E. Moore 19510607 7 June 1951
VWL1325 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Arthur Bliss 19341106 Nov 6 [1934]
VWL705 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Arthur Bliss 19350427 April 27 [1935]
VWL464 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Charles Edward Sayle 19200319 19/3/20
VWL463 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Charles Edward Sayle 19200314 14/3/20
VWL451 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Francis Jenkinson 19190626 26/6/19
VWL449 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Hugh Fraser Stewart 19190226 26/2/19
VWL441 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Edward J. Dent 19180226 Feb 26th [1918]
VWL422 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Edward J. Dent 19150424 [24 May 1915]
VWL409 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Edward J. Dent 19141001 [About 1 October 1914]
VWL348 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Edward J. Dent 191409-- [September 1914]
VWL301 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Francis Jenkinson 19000502 [May 2 1900]

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