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
VWL3633 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 19400312 March 12 [early 1940s]
VWL3632 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 19460512 May 12 [after 1945]
VWL3631 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 1940---- [1940s?]
VWL3588 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland and Kathleen Boughton 19571015 October 15th 1957.
VWL3544 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 19570831 August 31st [1957]
VWL3451 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 19561209 December 9th 1956.
VWL3428 Letter from Ursula Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 19560929 September 29th 1956
VWL3419 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 19580115 January 15th 1958.
VWL2772 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 19480624 24th June, 1948.
VWL2695 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 19530621 June 21st 1953.
VWL2684 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 19530513 13th May, 1953.
VWL2621 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 19530124 24 Jan [19]53
VWL2448 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 19520709 9th July, 1952.
VWL2441 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 19520625 25th June, 1952.
VWL2245 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 19510521 Monday [?21 May 1951]
VWL2234 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 19510515 [15 May 1951]
VWL2133 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 19501220 20th December, 1950.
VWL1351 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 193508-- [August 1935?]
VWL1318 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 19341015 Oct 15 [1934-1952]
VWL1279 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 19350816 August 16 [1935?]
VWL1152 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 1932---- [1932 or 1933]
VWL899 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 19310118 January 18 [1931]
VWL837 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 19300110 January 10 [1930]
VWL825 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 192907-- Sunday [mid-July 1929]
VWL680 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 19290721 July 21 [1929]
VWL679 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Rutland Boughton 19290712 [12 July 1929]

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