CLASSICAL

Typed Letter Signed ('Hector Charlesworth') from the Canadian writer Hector Willoughby Charlesworth to the English diplomat Ernest Francis Gye, concerning Mme Albani, the latter's mother,

Author: 
Hector Charlesworth [Hector Willoughby Charlesworth] (1872-1945), Canadian writer [Dame Emma Albani (1847-1930), Canadian soprano; Ernest Frederick Gye (1879-1955), diplomat]
Publication details: 
On his Toronto letterhead; 1 June 1945.
£90.00

1 p, 4to. 20 lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged and creased paper. In response to a letter from Gye states that he did not hear Albani sing 'until her last two Canadian tours when she was approaching 50', when he 'thought her best in her singing of Mozart, which revealed her rare vocal finesse'. Charlesworth was told by the 'late Edwin R. Parkhurst, a Toronto music critic, 30 years my senior who had heard her frequently in his younger days in London', that 'these appearances gave no adequate idea of how glorious her voice had been in the seventies'.

Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'Rodney Bennett') from the librettist Harry Rodney Bennett to Leslie Arthur Boosey of the music publishers Boosey & Hawkes, including a discussion of royalties

Author: 
Harry Rodney Bennett (1890-1948), librettist and author, father of composer Sir Richard Rodney Bennett (b.1936) [Leslie Arthur Boosey (1887-1979), president of the music publishers Boosey & Hawkes]
Harry Rodney Bennett
Publication details: 
Letter One: 20 Woodstock Road, Bedford Park, Chiswick; 1 May 1926. Letter Two: The George Hotel, South Molton, North Devonshire; 22 September 1941.
£95.00
Harry Rodney Bennett

Letter One: 2 pp, 12mo. 23 lines. Good. Docketed '3.5.26 | copd.' He thanks him for his letters, and has 'sent the verses to Sanderson'. The copies of the 'Quilter publications' that Bennett needed for the writing of an article in the 'Music Teacher' have not arrived. Asks for information on a 'volume of songs by Sibelius'. 'If they are available could they be included in the Quilter parcel'. He is 'writing about Sibelius for publication in July, & want to be as complete as possible'. Letter Two: 2 pp, 4to. 23 lines. Good, with staple holes to one corner.

Autograph Letter Signed ('T. E. Page') from the classical scholar and Charterhouse master Thomas Ethelbert Page to the educationist Thomas Lloyd Humberstone, declining to 'demolish' 'Armstrong's book'.

Author: 
T. E. Page [Thomas Ethelbert Page] (1850-1936), English classical scholar, master at Charterhouse, editor of Loeb's Classical Library [Thomas Lloyd Humberstone (1876-1957), educationist]
Publication details: 
18 September 1904; Charterhouse, Godalming.
£38.00

4to, 1 p. Fourteen lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper, with negligible hole caused by wear (not affecting text). He is enclosing a 'notice of the Joint Resolution', which 'recites facts, gives reasons, & is outspoken'. He has 'not had time to dwell much on its literary shape wh. is however not of great moment'. He has 'partly read Armstrong's book' (Edward Armstrong, fellow of Queen's College?), and is 'in sympathy' with 'a considerable part of the early addresses'.

Autograph of the Welsh bass baritone Bruce Dragavel, on 'Programme of Old Time Melody Concert' by the Burslem Orpheus Male Voice Choir.

Author: 
Bruce Dargavel (1905-1985), Welsh bass baritone singer [Burslem Orpheus Male Voice Choir]
Autograph of the Welsh bass baritone Bruce Dragavel
Publication details: 
Programme for performance on 24 February 1946, at the Queen's Hall Burslem.
£25.00
Autograph of the Welsh bass baritone Bruce Dragavel

Programme: 12mo, 4 pp. Bifolium. Printed in green on orange paper. Text clear and complete. On lightly-aged paper with slight wear to extremities. Dargavel's signature is in pencil in the top left-hand corner of the second page: 'Best Wishes, | Bruce Dargavel'.

Autograph Signature of the English soprano Flora Marion Woodman ('Flora M. Woodman').

Author: 
Flora M. Woodman [Flora Marion Woodman] (d.1981), popular British soprano of the 1920s and 1930s
English soprano Flora Marion Woodman
Publication details: 
Undated.
£25.00
English soprano Flora Marion Woodman

On neat rectangle of grey paper, roughly 14.5 x 5 cm, laid down on piece of pink paper removed from autograph album. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Firm, bold signature: 'Flora M. Woodman./'

Autograph Signatures of the German pianist Wilhelm Backhaus and the Australian pianist and composer Lindley Evans.

Author: 
Wilhelm Backhaus (1884-1969), German pianist and pedagogue; Lindley Evans (1895-1982), Australian pianist and composer
German pianist Wilhelm Backhaus and Australian pianist/composer Lindley Evans
Publication details: 
Both dated 20 November 1922.
£95.00
German pianist Wilhelm Backhaus and Australian pianist/composer Lindley Evans

Both signatures on the same side of a light-green leaf removed from an autograph album, roughly 18 x 14 cm. Good, on lightly-aged paper. The first signature is the larger of the two: 'Wilhelm Backhaus | Nov. 20th. 1922.' The second reads 'Lindley Evans. | 20/11/22'.

Autograph Signature of the Australian composer William G. James, together with the score of the opening bars of his song 'The Sun-God' in his autograph.

Author: 
William G. James [William Garnet ('Billy') James] (1892-1977), Australian pianist and composer [Aubrey de Vere]
Autograph Signature of the Australian composer William G. James
Publication details: 
Undated.
£125.00
Autograph Signature of the Australian composer William G. James

On one side of a piece of pink paper, roughly 18 x 7.5 cm, cut from an autograph album. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. At the head James has written ' "The Sun-God" W. G. James', with the opening two bars beneath this, beneath which he has written the words 'I saw the master of the Sun -' In the bottom right-hand corner: 'Yrs Sincerely | William G. James'. James's music for Aubrey de Vere's poem was first published in 1921.

Galley proofs of an article by the violinist Yehudi Menhuin entitled 'A Chivalrous Tradition', with a couple of minor corrections, for a volume celebrating Benjamin Britten's fiftieth birthday.

Author: 
Yehudi Menuhin (1916-1999), Anglo-American violinist and conductor of Russian-Jewish extraction [Benjamin Britten (1913-1976), English composer]
Galley proofs of an article by the violinist Yehudi Menhuin
Publication details: 
Published in 'Tribute to Benjamin Britten on his Fiftieth Birthday' (London: Faber & Faber, 1963).
£80.00
Galley proofs of an article by the violinist Yehudi Menhuin

On two slips, both 15.5 cm wide, and totalling 59 cm long. Fair, on aged paper, with minor rust marks from a paperclip. The second slip headed with pagination '48', and running title 'Festschrift in Honour of Benjamin Britten'. He is grateful 'for the eerie fog, for the rain, as for the sixth sense, rich imagination and irrepressible humour of this people, as I am for all that has been absorbed of outlandish and exotic rendered proper, of wisdom and experience rendered intuitive - as I am particularly for their having absorbed and adopted me.' With one of Menuhin's compliments slips.

Autograph Letter Signed from Evangeline Florence to an unnamed male impressario.

Author: 
Evangeline Florence (1873-1928), American-born British soprano, remembered for her work at the Crystal Palace, London Ballad Concerts, and Royal Choral Society
Autograph Letter Signed from Evangeline Florence
Publication details: 
21 August 1898; on letterhead of 59 Wynnstay Gardens, Kensington, altered in autograph to 'Rottingdean'.
£56.00
Autograph Letter Signed from Evangeline Florence

12mo, 1 p. Six lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. She will 'keep January free' for him, and they can 'arrange the details of programme later'. She agrees that 'a wholly-Brahms programme might be rather heavy'. See Florence's obituary, The Times, 7 November 1928.

Autograph Letter Signed ('George Henry Glasse') from the classical scholar Rev. George Henry Glasse [to the editor of the Gentleman's Magazine John Nichols], offering his services 'as corrector of your press for any quantity of Greek'.

Author: 
Rev. George Henry Glasse (1761-1809), classical scholar, son of Dr Samuel Glasse (1734-1812) [John Nichols (1745-1826), editor of the Gentleman's Magazine; John Milton; James More]
Autograph Letter Signed ('George Henry Glasse')
Publication details: 
7 June 1791; Hanwell Rectory, Middlesex.
£95.00
Autograph Letter Signed ('George Henry Glasse')

4to, 1 p. 18 lines of text. Clear and complete. Fair, on aged and lightly-stained paper. Neatly laid down on a leaf removed from an album. Lightly marked-up in red pencil by the recipient. After professing respect for Nichols's 'literary character' and his 'valuable miscellany', Glasse offers his services 'as corrector of your press for any quantity of Greek you may incidentally have occasion to publish'.

Autograph Signature of the English classical conductor and composer Albert Coates.

Author: 
Albert Coates (1882-1953), English classical conductor and composer, born in St Petersburg
Publication details: 
Dated by Coates 1929.
£12.00

On rectangle removed from autograph album. In good condition. Reads 'Albert Coates | 1929'.

Autograph Signature of the British bass Robert Easton, who took part in the first BBC television broadcast.

Author: 
Robert Easton (1898-1987), British bass
Publication details: 
Undated.
£10.00

On piece of light-blue paper, removed from an autograph album. Firm signature. In good condition. Reads 'Robert Easton.'

Autograph Signature of the Russian classical pianist Shura Cherkassky.

Author: 
Shura Cherkassky [Alexander Isaakovich Cherkassky] (1909-1995), Russian classical pianist
Publication details: 
Dated by Cherkassky 1929.
£18.00

On rectangle removed from autograph album. In good condition. Reads 'Shura Cherkassky | 1929'.

Autograph Signature of the Austrian classical violinist Wolfgang Schneiderhan, written when touring England at the age of fifteen, and signed 'Wolfi Schneiderhan'.

Author: 
Wolfgang Schneiderhan [Wolfgang Eduard Schneiderhan; Wolfi Schneiderhan] (1915-2002), Austrian classical violinist
Publication details: 
Dated by Schneiderhan 1930.
£35.00

On rectangle of pink paper, removed from autograph album. In good condition. Reads 'Wolfi Schneiderhan | 1930.'

Archive of material, mainly comprising 150 Typed Letters addressed to the English operatic tenor Stephen Manton [Stephen Manton Bradbury], from the British Broadcasting Corporation, between 1944 and 1952, and concerning his work for the BBC.

Author: 
Stephen Manton [Stephen Manton Bradbury] (1908-1970), operatic tenor, director of the Intimate Opera Company from 1944 [British Broadcasting Corporation; BBC]
Publication details: 
The letters, all on letterheads of the British Broadcasting Corporation [BBC], mainly from Broadcasting House, London, dating from between 1944 and 1952.
£350.00

For more information about Stephen Manton Bradbury, or Stephen Manton as he was known professionally, see his obituary in The Times, 8 September 1970. The collection is in good condition, on aged paper. The correspondence from various figures in various BBC music departments, both London and regional, and in a variety of formats from 4to down to 12mo, breaks down to the following number of items per year: 1944, 8; 1945, 5; 1946, 30; 1947, 34; 1948, 32; 1949, 22; 1950, 11; 1951, 15; 1952, 1.

Autograph Letter Signed ('John Hullah') from the English composer John Pyke Hullah to the organist Edward Francis Rimbault.

Author: 
John Hullah [John Pyke Hulla] (1812-1884), English composer for one of whose operas Charles Dickens wrote the libretto [St Martin's Hall, Long Acre; Edward Francis Rimbault (1816-1876), organist]
John Hullah [John Pyke Hulla]
Publication details: 
30 March 1868; on letterhead of 11 Devonshire Place, W., London.
£35.00
John Hullah [John Pyke Hulla]

12mo, 2 pp. Bifolium. 12 lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He would 'much like' to show him a song he has written for 'Exeter Hall', and proposes dinner the following day. In a postscript asks if he has 'learnt anything about R. J. S. Stevens'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('John Hullah.') from the English composer John Pyke Hullah to an unnamed male recipient.

Author: 
John Hullah [John Pyke Hulla] (1812-1884), English composer for one of whose operas Charles Dickens wrote the libretto [St Martin's Hall, Long Acre]
John Hullah [John Pyke Hulla]
Publication details: 
24 May [no year]; 20 St James's Place, London.
£35.00
John Hullah [John Pyke Hulla]

12mo, 1 p. 10 lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. The recipient 'had better be in Town for the Choral Meeting on the 4th. June'. Gives details of when the recipient will 'generally find' Hullah there.

Photographic portrait by Messrs W. Walker & Sons of Cavendish Square, London, of the English composer John Pyke Hullah, on albumen carte-de-visite.

Author: 
John Hullah [John Pyke Hulla] (1812-1884), English composer for one of whose operas Charles Dickens wrote the libretto [St Martin's Hall, Long Acre]
John Hullah [John Pyke Hulla]
Publication details: 
Undated (circa 1860?). Messrs Walker & Sons, Artists & Photographers, 64 Margaret Street, Cavendish Square, London.
£125.00
John Hullah [John Pyke Hulla]

Oval sepia photograph of the head and shoulders of Hullah, looking to his right in double-breasted jacket. Faded and on aged card, with traces of mount adhering to reverse. The sitter - who by comparison with other photographs is definitely Hullah - is named as 'JOHN HULLAH' in a contemporary hand on the card beneath the laid-down photograph, and as 'Mr Hullah' in pencil on the reverse. Not present in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, which only holds three images of the composer.

Manuscript Letter, written for publication in a 'valuable periodical', signed by 'Uno dell'Antica Scuola', containing 'observations' for 'students of the Vocal Art'. ['The art of Vocalization', with especial reference to Italian opera.]

Author: 
'Uno dell'Antica Scuola' [Italian Opera; vocalisation]
Observations' for 'students of the Vocal Art'
Publication details: 
Undated. [England, 1880s?
£95.00
Observations' for 'students of the Vocal Art'

4to, 4 pp. Bifolium. 87 lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper, with wear to extremities and a spike hole to one corner. Written in ink in a Victorian hand, and with three changes in pencil. Docketed at head 'The art of Vocalization'. Towards beginning writes that the subject is one which he has 'studied many years in close connexion with the most eminent Masters of Italy, most of whom I may rank among my personal friends, and the pith of whose conversations, added to my own experience I propose embodying in a few short essays upon the Formation of the Voice'.

[sheet music] Pigeons On The Grass Alas. Recitation and Air for Barytone. From the Opera Four Saints in Three Acts. Text by Gertrude Stein. Music by Virgil Thomson. As sung by Edward Mathews.

Author: 
Gertrude Stein; Virgil Thomson [Edward Mathews]
Stein, Pigeons On The Grass Alas.
Publication details: 
1935. J. Fischer & Bro., New York, N.Y. [Limited edition 'printed especially for the Berkshire School Musicale Association']
£120.00
Stein, Pigeons On The Grass Alas.

4to, [i] + 4 pp. On two loose bifoliums, in tan printed wraps. No. 73 of 110 copies (one of the hundred numbered copies and NOT one of the ten copies signed by author and composer). Limitation inside front wrap. Title-page states 'This arrangement is dedicated by the composer to the Berkshire School Musicale Association'. No copy on COPAC.

[sheet music] baby, baby, from "On Whitman Avenue". A Lullaby. [piano solo]

Author: 
Paul Bowles
Paul Bowles, baby, baby, from "On Whitman Avenue".
Publication details: 
1946. Mercury Music Corporation, New York, N.Y.
£35.00
Paul Bowles, baby, baby, from "On Whitman Avenue".

4to, 4 pp. Bifolium. In light-grey printed wraps with design by Lieberman printed in dark-grey and pink (price on front amended with stamp). Score on central two pages. Last page carries an advertisement for another of Bowles's piano pieces, and a short biographical notice, headed 'ABOUT THE COMPOSER' ('[...] He is best known as composer of music for the theatre. In this medium he has written incidental scores for the two Orson Welles productions: [...] Mr. Bowles has also done several film scores, and the music for two ballets commissioned by the American Ballet Caravan: [...]').

[sheet music] Carretera de Estepona (Highway to Estepona). Piano Solo.

Author: 
Paul Bowles
Paul Bowles, Carretera de Estepona
Publication details: 
1947. Contemporary Composers Series. Marks Edition, New York. [Copyright MCMXLVII by Edward B. Marks Music Corporation.]
£56.00
Paul Bowles, Carretera de Estepona

4to, 3 pp (paginated 3-7). Bifolium loose in grey wraps printed in red. Good, on lightly-aged paper with slight wear to spine.

[sheet music] Six Preludes for Piano.

Author: 
Paul Bowles
Paul Bowles, Six Preludes for Piano.
Publication details: 
1947. Mercury Music Corporation, New York, N.Y.
£28.00
Paul Bowles, Six Preludes for Piano.

4to, 12 pp. On six loose bifoliums. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with minor spotting on reverse of last leaf (page of advertisements).

[sheet music] Sonatina. For piano solo. Paul Bowles.

Author: 
Paul Bowles
Sonatina. For piano solo. Paul Bowles.
Publication details: 
1947. Elkan-Vogel Co., Inc., Philadelphia, Pa.
£56.00
Sonatina. For piano solo. Paul Bowles.

4to, 13 + [i] pp. On four loose bifoliums. On aged paper with small closed tears to spine and last leaf repaired with archival tape.

[sheet music] Letter to Freddy. For voice and piano. Words by Gertrude Stein. Music by Paul Bowles.

Author: 
Gertrude Stein; Paul Bowles
Letter to Freddy. For voice and piano. Words by Gertrude Stein.
Publication details: 
1946 (first separate printing). G. Shirmer, Inc. New York. ['Copyright, 1935, by New Music. Copyright assigned, 1946, to G. Shirmer, Inc.']
£50.00
Letter to Freddy. For voice and piano. Words by Gertrude Stein.

4to, 3 pp. Loose leaf inserted in bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Front page printed in black and red. Advertisements on reverse of last leaf.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Burghersh') from Lord Burghersh, regarding the copying of the score of one of his compositions.

Author: 
John Fane (1784-1859), 11th Earl of Westmorland [as Lord Burghersh], English diplomat and composer
Autograph Letter Signed ('Burghersh') from Lord Burghersh
Publication details: 
Undated.
£56.00
Autograph Letter Signed ('Burghersh') from Lord Burghersh

4to, 1 p. Text clear and complete. On aged and creased paper. He is returning the score, and asks Hedgely to 'copy the three voice parts of the two canons Criste Eleison & Crucifixus & the Voice part of the Soprano Song, Gratias Agimus', and to send the whole back 'as soon as you can finish them'.

Two Autograph Notes Signed ('Louise M Earle' and 'Lue Hamilton Earle') to Arthur Poyser.

Author: 
'Louise Dale' [stage name of Louise Mary Delany (d. 1954), singer, who married Ronald Hamilton Earle (1874-1919), bass singer; and then Sir Henry Mulleneux Grayson (1865-1951), shipping magnate]
"Louise Dale", singer, Letters
Publication details: 
The first: 26 December [1923], on letterhead of 3 Herbert Crescent, Hans Place.The second: 8 Jan [1924?]; 3 Herbert Crescent, Hyde Park, on cancelled letterhead of 91 Gloucester Terrace.
£35.00
"Louise Dale", singer, Letters

Both letters are tipped in on a captioned sheet removed from an autograph album. Both items lightly-aged, but good. Item One: 12mo, 1 p. Inviting him to 'a small dance for Hubie' at a location 'lent by Miss Constable'. 'You need not dance!' Item two: 12mo, 1 p. Asking him to 'come fairly early' the next day, and to 'stay on after the children have gone & have supper - of a sort'. Refers to 'H's party'.

Autograph Letter Signed to his former pupil Richard Twining, with a transcription in Twining's hand.

Author: 
Samuel Parr (1747-1825), schoolmaster and classical scholar [Richard Twining (1772-1857), tea merchant]
Publication details: 
11 February 1824; Hatton.
£95.00

8vo, 2 pp. Leaf dimensions 21 x 16.5 cm. On good wove paper. 29 lines. Text clear and complete. On the first leaf of the bifolium, with the transcription, presumably by Twining, on the recto of the second. Addressed by Parr to Twining at Devereux Court in the Strand, on the reverse of the second leaf, which carries Parr's broken seal in red wax, and a postmark. In good condition, though a little grubby. Parr's handwriting is legendarily bad (he received a flogging at Harrow because of it, and never reformed), and although the transcriber has made a game effort, there are a few lacunae.

Autograph Signature ('Charlotte H Dolby') on fragment of letter.

Author: 
Charlotte Helen Sainton-Dolby (1821-85), English contralto singer
Publication details: 
Date and place not stated.
£25.00

Dimensions roughly two and a half inches by four and a half wide. Clear, bold signature on aged paper. Reads '<...> believe me Gill's friend as well as your own | [signature] Charlotte H Dolby'. Reverse reads '<...> says, because I get mixed up with such a lot of people, and lose my individuality in the <...>'.

Typed Letter Signed ('Gilbert Murray') to K. W. Luckhurst, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Gilbert Murray [George Gilbert Aimé Murray] (1866-1957), English classical scholar and intellectual, the 'Adolphus Cusins' of Shaw's 'Major Barbara'
Publication details: 
13 February 1941; on embossed letterhead of Vatscombe, Boars Hill, Oxford.
£28.00

Landscape 12mo (12.5 x 20.5 cm), 2 pp. Good, on lightly-aged and creased paper, with pinhole to one top corner. Concerning a meeting at the Society, Murray is 'so glad to hear that His Excellency, the Greek Minister has consented to take the Chair'. 'My lecture on Hellenism will be practically the same as that which I gave on January 21st to the Royal Institution, [...] I hardly think you will wish to print it again, [...] I did not know when accepting your invitation that you proposed to publish the lecture afterwards.

Syndicate content