ELGAR

[J. A. Fuller Maitland [John Alexander Fuller Maitland], music critic and musicologist.] Autograph Letter Signed, regarding a lecture the recipient is about to give on 'a subject which is especially dear' to him.

Author: 
J. A. Fuller Maitland [John Alexander Fuller Maitland] (1856-1936), influential music critic and musicologist, who championed the work of Purcell, Stanford and Parry
Publication details: 
21 November [1899]. On letterhead of 39 Phillimore Gardens, Kensington, W. [London]
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, landscape 12mo. On bifolium of grey paper. The letter is complete, on what appears to be the upper half of a 4to bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with stamp, postmark and remains of autograph address on reverse of second leaf, with traces of mount. Signed ‘J A Fuller Maitland’. Begins: ‘Dear Sir / Very many thanks for your book, the second copy of which has just come. I shall hope to be able to come & hear your lecture on a subject which is especially dear to me.

[Harry Plunket Greene, Anglo-Irish baritone associated with Elgar and Vaughan Williams.] Autograph Letter Signed regarding an engagement.

Author: 
Harry Plunket Greene (1865-1936), Anglo-Irish baritone associated with Elgar and Vaughan Williams
Publication details: 
11 October 1927. On letterhead of 65 Holland Park Road, Kensington W14 [London].
£35.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage. Signed ‘H. P. Greene’. Truly atrocious handwriting. Apparently addressed to ‘Dear Miss Salt’, and beginning: ‘I’ll be proud.’ He gives a date which will ‘suit me best’, and asks to be informed ‘if there is anything special [?] like [?]’.

[Sir Claude Phillips, art historian.] 'Confidential' Autograph Letter Signed ('Claude Phillips') to the musicologist R. A. Streatfeild, asking, on behalf of 'poor Lady Elgar', what to do about 'the treatment of the two great oratorios'.

Author: 
Sir Claude Phillips (1846-1924), eminent Victorian art historian and art critic, first keeper of the Wallace Collection [Richard Alexander Streatfeild (1866-1919), musicologist; Sir Edward Elgar]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 40 Ashburn Place, S.W. [London] 24 April [no year].
£60.00

He asks Streatfeild to advise him in a matter 'which speaks for itself'. He reports that 'poor Lady Elgar is greatly distressed – and not without reason – at the treatment of the two great oratorios'. Phillips does not 'quite see what is to be done in the way of protest', although he finds that the 'statement that they “fail with audiences &c” is certainly false in fact, [last three words underlined] and therefore almost libellous'. Phillips considers 'the rest […] a matter of opinion. Perhaps even more false and absurd is the statement, or opinion, that they appeal only to the intellect.

[ Sir Claude Phillips, art critic and first Keeper of the Wallace Collection. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('C. P.') to 'Dearest Dick' [ i.e. the art critic R. A. Streatfeild ], regarding the obituaries of 'H. H.' and Elgar's 'wonderful' new 'things'.

Author: 
Sir Claude Phillips (1846-1924), art historian and critic for the Daily Telegraph and Manchester Guardian, first keeper of the Wallace Collection, 1900-1911 [ Richard Alexander Streatfeild ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 40 Ashburn Place, S.W. [ London ] 4 May 1916.
£40.00

2pp., 4to. In fair condition, on aged, worn and creased paper. Written in a hurried, difficult hand. He begins by saying he was 'just thinking' of him, 'and wondering!' He then invites him to dine the following Sunday in the 'usual way'. He continues: 'No, I didn't write about H. H. . There was a <?> ordinary notices in the D[aily]. T[elegraph]., but by whom written I can't say. I didn't really know enough about him.' He is 'going with Mr. Crawshay to the Elgar performance: it appears the new things are wonderful.

[ Francis Elgar, naval architect. ] Autograph Letter Signed [ to W. J. Fisher ], regarding the fund set up at the death of Harold Frederic.

Author: 
Francis Elgar (1845-1909), English naval architect [ Harold Frederic (1856-1898), London correspondent of the New York Times ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 18 York Terrace, Regent's Park, London. 3 January 1899.
£56.00

1p., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, with light signs of age. He is enclosing a cheque for two guineas towards 'The Frederic Fund', and writes that he had 'the pleasure of often meeting Mr Harold Frederic at the Savage Club some years ago'. He was 'deeply grieved to hear of his sad & untimely end'. He hopes enough money will be collected to be an 'appreciable help to his widow & children'. The letter relates to a celebrated Victorian scandal. In 1884 Frederic had come to England with his wife and five children as the London correspondent of the New York TImes.

Manuscript and Typescript sections of an apparently unpublished work on 'British music and its present state'; 2 Typed Letters Signed, 3 Autograph Cards Signed, 1 Typed Card Signed to Mary Eversley, Covent Garden Opera, with copies of two replies.

Author: 
Scott Goddard (c.1895-1965), British musicologist
Publication details: 
1931-1932.
£400.00

The collection as a whole is in good condition on aged paper. ITEM ONE: 90-page typescript headed 'II | ANTECEDENT', beginnning 'It has become a commonplace of musicology, at least in this country, that the first two decades of the Twentieth Century show an immense increase of creative activity in the composition of works of music by an astonishingly rich group of their [sic] young composers.

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