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
VWL5328 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19571227 27 Dec 1957
VWL5326 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19530525 May 25th 1953.
VWL5325 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19531011 October 11th 1953.
VWL5324 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19540114 January 14th 1954
VWL5323 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19540206 [6th February 1954]
VWL5321 Letter from Ursula Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19540920 [late September 1954]
VWL5320 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19560226 Sunday 26 Feb 1956
VWL5319 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19561009 [9th October 1956]
VWL5318 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19561117 November 17th 1956.
VWL5317 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19561204 December 4th 1956.
VWL5316 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19570804 August 4th 1957.
VWL5315 Letter from Ursula Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19571020 [late October] 1957
VWL5314 Letter from Ursula Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19571128 28 Nov 1957
VWL4452 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19491026 26th October, 1949.
VWL4442 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19500208 8th February, 1950.
VWL4441 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19490824 24th August, 1949.
VWL4336 Letter from Ursula Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank 19570118 January 18th 1957
VWL4312 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19341225 Xmas day [1934]
VWL4309 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank 19471211 11th December, 1947.
VWL4308 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank 19471203 Dec 3 [1947]
VWL4281 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19561018 October 18th 1956.
VWL4280 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19521110 Nov 10 [1952]
VWL4279 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19530205 Feb 5 1953
VWL4171 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19510221 21st. February, 1951.
VWL4170 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19570215 February 15th 1957.
VWL4169 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19560610 June 10th 1956.
VWL4167 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19550306 March 6th 1955.
VWL4166 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19540314 March 14th 1954
VWL4165 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19530802 August 2nd 1953.
VWL4164 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Frank (OUP) 19521008 8th October, 1952.

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