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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
VWL3582 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to G.E. Moore 19571014 Oct 14 [1957]
VWL3288 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to G.E. Moore 19560215 February 15th 1956.
VWL3114 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to G.E. Moore 19491109 9th November, 1949
VWL3078 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to G.E. Moore 19491116 November 16 [1949]
VWL3062 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to G.E. Moore 19491123 November 23 [1949]
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]
VWL2498 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to G.E. Moore 19521015 Oct 15 [1952?]
VWL2396 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to G.E. Moore 19520416 16th April 1952
VWL2326 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to G.E. Moore 19471013 [13th October 1947]
VWL2251 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to G.E. Moore 19510607 7 June 1951
VWL1298 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to G.E. Moore 19380426 April 26 [1938?]
VWL1282 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to G.E. Moore 19380308 March 8 [1938]
VWL648 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to G.E. Moore 193803-- Wednesday [March 1938?]
VWL285 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to G.E. Moore 18971015 [Mid October 1897]
VWL279 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to G.E. Moore 189903-- [Early March 1899]
VWL258 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to G.E. Moore 189805-- [?May 1898]
VWL228 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to G.E. Moore 1895---- [1895?]
VWL182 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to G.E. Moore 19040111 [11 January 1904]
VWL109 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to George Moore 1901---- [1901?]
VWL108 Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to George Moore 1901---- [1901?]

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