Autograph Letter Signed to 'H. Carvill Esqr', on leaf of printed handbill advertisement for Jefferies' 'FAREWELL BENEFIT | (Previous to his departure for Australia)', Saturday Orchestral Union, The Queen's Concert Rooms, Hanover Square.

Author: 
Richard Thomas Jefferies (1841-1920), Anglo-Australian musician
Publication details: 
Letter from 263 Stanhope St. [London] N.W.; advertisement for concert on 15 April 1871.
£100.00
SKU: 5041

12mo bifolium. A frail, aged survival of a scarce and significant item, with wear, staining and several closed tears. THE LETTER (one page, on recto of second leaf of bifolium), signed 'R. T. Jefferies', asks 'Can you not give me your assistance at my next concert you would be conferring a favor on me by attending and I should also be glad if you could send a few vocal friends, will not any of the boys be able to attend. Please excuse haste'. In another hand on verso of second leaf, 'Rehearsals | Metropolitan Lecture Hall adjoining Gower St Railway Station Saturday 3#'. THE ADVERTISEMENT (one page, on recto of first leaf of bifolium) is in blue ink, in a variety of types, and headed 'Saturday Orchestral Union. | President - - - JULES BENEDICT, ESQ.' | THIRD SEASON.' A 'FULL ORCHESTRA & CHORUS OF 150 PERFORMERS', led by S. D. Grimson, will perform Mendelssohn's 'Loreley' (with Miss Blanche Reeves in the part of Leonora) and Beethoven's C Minor Symphony. Twelve ticket agents given, with addresses. Admission, one shilling. 'Carriages to be ordered at 5 o'clock.' According to the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Jefferies was an important figure in the musical world of Victorian Australia, publishing, with James Brunton Stephens, an Australian national anthem which, according to the Australian Dictionary of Biography, 'won some acceptance'. On his arrival with his new bride Jefferies farmed unsuccessfully before returning to music. 'Soon after his arrival Jefferies had become conductor for the new South Brisbane Harmonic Society, the success of which led to the establishment of the Brisbane Musical Union; he conducted its first concert on 18 December 1872. With (Sir) Charles Lilley as president and William Hemmant as vice-president, the society offered, within its first four years, the initial Brisbane performances of Handel's Messiah, Judas Maccabeus and Israel in Egypt, Mendelssohn's Elijah and St Paul and Haydn's Creation and Seasons. Jefferies also founded the Brisbane Musical Union Orchestra and guided both organizations in 1872-78, 1880-86 and 1895-98.' He also imported music and instruments as R. T. Jefferies & Co.