MUSIC

Autograph Note in third person by John Balsir Chatterton, harpist to Queen Victoria, to Henry G. Times.

Author: 
John Balsir Chatterton (1804-1871), harpist to Queen Victoria [Henry G. Times, London surgeon]
Publication details: 
32 Manchester Square [London]. 'Sunday' [no year].
£38.00

1p., 12mo. On bifolium with mourning border. With mourning envelope addressed by Chatterton to the surgeon 'Henry G. Times Esqre. | Manchester Street | Manchester Square'. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, in aged envelope. The note reads: 'With Balsir Chattertons [sic] best thanks. | Sunday | 32 Manchester Street | Manchester Square'.

Autograph Signature of the German composer and conductor Peter Josef von Lindpaintner, received after his death from the London music publishers Wessel & Co.

Author: 
Peter Josef von Lindpaintner (1791-1856), German composer and conductor [Wessel & Co., music publishers, 18 Hanover Square, London]
Publication details: 
With note stating that it was received 'from Wessel & Co - 1859'.
£45.00

The signature, cut from a letter is on a strip of paper roughly 1.5 x 10 cm, laid down on a piece of paper, 7 x 11.5 cm. Lindpaintner's signature ('Js. Lindpaintner') is bold and florid; a small part at the head has been trimmed away in cutting the strip. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, with one pinhole at head of mount, and traces of grey paper on reverse. The mount is neatly captioned 'Autograph of Lindpaintner, composer of "The Standard Bearer" | &c. &c. &c. | Recd. from Wessel & Co - 1859'.

Autograph Letter Signed from the printer and Congregationalist minister John Curwen, praising in the most affectionate terms his 'loving old friend' the typefounder and Liberal politician Sir Charles Reed.

Author: 
John Curwen (1816-1880), Congregationalist minister, printer, and founder of the Tonic sol-fa system of music education [Sir Charles Reed (1819-1881), typefounder, philanthropist, Liberal politician]
Publication details: 
Plaistow, E. (on reversed 1875 letterhead of the Tonic Sol-fa College, Plaistow, London, E. 18 December 1874.
£80.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. 40 lines. In fair condition, creased and with minor damage to second leaf from previous mounting. Addressing Reed as 'Dear Charles', Curwen explains that when asked who he would like as chairman for a forthcoming meeting, 'it was natural I should mention you, because of our old regard'. He is sorry that his 'friends' applied 'again - after your declining'.

[Handbill; verse] Colored Cavalier

Author: 
[H. de Marsan, publisher & bookseller; E.A. Sparks, illustrator]
Colored Cavalier
Publication details: 
H. de Marsan, Songs, Ballads, toy books. 60 Chatham St, NY. "Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, by H. DE MARSAN [...] Clerk's Office [...] for the Southern Dustrict of New York".
£120.00
Colored Cavalier

Handbill, one page, crudely coloured border with images of a black troubadour with banjo[?] , a native American, and a trapper [?], 26 x 17cm, three stanzas each eight lines plus chorus, edges chipped, laid down on a larger page. Commences, "Oh! listen a while., a story I will tell; | It will please you to death, I know berry well [...]" Decorative border signed "E A Sparks" ("Printed within colored pictorial border (De Marsan trapper border J, in Wolf, E. Amer. song sheets)." One copy of this imprint listed by WorldCat, two of another imprint (later).

Autograph draft of a circular letter by the comedian Tommy Trinder urging Equity members to vote in favour of Sunday opening in a wartime ballot on that question. With a typescript of the circular, and a printed facsimile of Trinder's signature.

Author: 
Tommy Trinder [Thomas Edward Trinder] (1909-1989), English stage, screen and radio comedian with the catchphrase 'You lucky people!' [C.A.S.T., Campaign of Actors for Sunday Theatres, 1943]
Publication details: 
Undated [1943].
£120.00

The three items are stapled to one another, in good condition on lightly-aged paper. The first item is the typescript, which is 1p., 4to. It is addressed to 'Dear Brother Artist,' and begins: 'You will possibly be rather surprised to receive a letter from me, but after having spent most of my life in the Provinces, I now find myself landed in London. I am surprised at the amount of discussion and activity that takes place here regarding the "politics" of the theatre - and realise how you in the Provinces are apt to get left out.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Georg Henschel') from Sir George Henschel, the baritone and pianist, to Lady Thompson, asking her to extend the hospitality to 'Mr. and Mrs. Koecher (and the Misses Koecher)'.

Author: 
Sir George Henschel [born Isidor Georg Henschel] (1850-1934), German-born British baritone, pianist, conductor and composer
Publication details: 
25 Gloucester Road, Regents Park, NW [London]. 15 June 1881.
£40.00

2pp., 12mo. On bifolium. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with strip of tape from previous mounting adhering at the foot of the recto of the second leaf. He asks her to send 'cards for your afternoon Friday' to 'our dear friends Mr. and Mrs. Koecher (and the Misses Koecher)', who would 'enjoy every minute'. He gives the Koecher's address as de Keyser's Royal Hotel, Blackfriars, and ends by conveying his wife's love.

[Pamphlet] The Incorporated Societry of Musicians. What it has done and What it is doing for Music and for the Musical Profession.

Author: 
The Incorporated Society of Musicians.
Publication details: 
19 Berners Street, London, W1, (Issued September, 1935).
£38.00

8pp., inc. title. cr. 8vo, staples rusted, ow good condition. No copy listed on COPAC.

Keywords:

Autograph Letter Signed ('Benjamin Britten') and Typed Letter Signed ('Ben') from the composer Benjamin Britten to the publisher Hans Juda, with seven other items including an Autograph Card Signed from Britten's secretary Jeremy Cullum.

Author: 
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976), English composer [Hans Juda [Hans Peter Juda] (1904-1975), art collector, publisher of the magazine 'The Ambassador']
Publication details: 
Britten's and Cullum's letters from The Red House, Aldeburgh, Suffolk. The nine items dating from 1962, 1964 and 1965.
£280.00

The nine items are in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Items One, Three and Four, from 1962, and stapled together, as are the other six items, dating from 1964-5. ONE: Autograph Letter Signed ('Benjamin Britten') from Britten to Juda. On letterhead of The Red House, Aldeburgh, Suffolk. 25 July 1962. Responding to Item Three below, Britten thanks Juda for 'sending the magnificent book on Graham Sutherland', which Britten is 'very glad indeed to have'.

Decorative title-leaf of the sheet music of 'Lucy Neal, Sung with rapturous applause by Messrs. Sweeney and Barlow, in their vocal delineations of Nigger Life, and by the Ethiopian Serenaders, arranged and partly composed by Edward Clare.'

Author: 
Edward Clare [The Ethiopian Serenaders; Blackface; Minstrel Show]
Lucy
Publication details: 
'London, Published by R. COCKS & CO. 6, New Burlington Street.' [1840s.]
£120.00
Lucy

A loose 8vo leaf, roughly 26.5 x 19.5cm. In fair condition, on aged paper, with the edges strengthened with cream paper strips. The cover is decoratively printed, in a variety of types and point sizes. Priced at two shillings, and stated to be entered at Stationers' Hall. At the foot of the page, in capitals: 'The present arrangement is copyright; and the only correct edition of this beautiful negro melody in which the words are faithfully true to the original story, so popular among the negros [sic] in Alabama.' The reverse carries the beginning of the song, by 'Edwd.

Typed Letter Signed, in French, from Jacques Lerolle of Paris music publishers Rouart, Lerolle & Cie, to Henry Prunieres of 'La Revue Musicale', concerning the manuscript of 'Valse-improvisation sur le nom de Bach' by Francis Poulenc.

Author: 
Jacques Lerolle, of the French music publishers Rouart, Lerolle & Cie [Henry Prunieres of 'La Revue Musicale'; Francis Poulenc (1899-1963), French composer]
Publication details: 
On the letterhead of Rouart, Lerolle & Cie, Editeurs de Musique, Paris. 18 November 1932.
£75.00

1p., 4to. Fair, on aged and worn paper. He begins: 'M. POULENC vous a sans doute remis le paraître dans votre supplément et nous charge de vous demander de nous le renvoyer au plus tôt lorsque votre graveur n'en aura plus besoin.' He accepts that it is likely that the Revue will ask Poulenc to correct the proof.

Printed programme of a concert by Albert Sammons, 'Assisted by Olive Goff (Soprano) | Gerald Moore (Pianist)', with cover photograph of Sammons signed by him, and containing an advertisement for Columbia New Process Records.

Author: 
Albert Sammons [Albert Edward Sammons] (1886-1957), English violinist and composer [L. G. Sharpe, Haymarket; Olive Goff, soprano; Gerald Moore, pianist; Columbia New Process Records]
Publication details: 
'Programme and Book of Words SIXPENCE. L. G. SHARPE, 25, Haymarket, S.W.1.' Undated.
£65.00

8pp., 12mo. On shiny art paper. On aged paper, with the two staples rusted. Sammons has signed over the cover portrait of him by 'Haile, Bognor', 'Sincerely Yrs | Albert Sammons'. Including texts by Mary E. Coleridge, Lord Lytton and Sir Rabindranath Tagore. Central opening carries an advertisement stating that 'ALBERT SAMMONS Records ONLY for COLUMBIA Records', with list of eight 'Recent ALBERT SAMMONS Records'.

[Printed Handbill] The Passing of Miss Marie Lloyd, England's Famous Comedienne, Oct. 7th 1922 [BURN'S Cobbler Poets Stories in Verse].

Author: 
Anon. [Marie Lloyd, music hall singer]
Publication details: 
Printed for the Author by J. Emberson, 309a, Portobello Road, W10 [London], [1922?].
£245.00

Handbill, one page, 8vo, creased, marked and foxed, shiful repair of tear, text complete Eleven stanzas (44 lines), mainly based on her life, commencing, "'Twas the Peg Woffington incident enacted once again, | A well-known public performer couldn't stand the strain....[ending] May the earth lie lightly on her, this most human, generous hearted soul." Copies were to be had of the Author and proceeds to "enable the Un-employed worker [the Poet?] to get a living." Scarce: no copy listed.

Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'T: Dibdin') from the playwright and song-writer Thomas Dibdin to his publisher John Whitaker of Button & Whitaker of St Paul's Churchyard, discussing work and finances; with an autograph cheque signed by Dibdin.

Author: 
Thomas Dibdin [Thomas John Dibdin] (1771-1841), dramatist, song-writer, author of pantomime 'Mother Goose' and song 'The Snug Little Island' [Button & Whitaker, music publishers, St Pauls Churchyard]
Publication details: 
The two letters: 'Weston Green 10th: July [1812]' and 'Johnsons Coffee House | Monday Evg: [July 1812]'. Cheque: 'London September 19th: 1817'.
£320.00

All three items are on stubs, within a card wallet. All good, on aged paper. Letter One: 'Weston Green 10th: July'. 1 p, 4to. On bifolium, with verso of second leaf addressed to 'Mr: Whitaker | St: Pauls Church Yard | London', with two postmarks (one 'KINGSTON - T | 12'), and docketed 'Mr; T.

Four Typed Letters Signed from H. Hugh Harvey to the diplomat Frederick Ernest Gye, regarding gramophone recordings of Gye's mother Dame Emma Albani.

Author: 
H. Hugh Harvey, musicologist [Dame Emma Albani (1847-1930), Canadian soprano; her husband Ernest Gye (c.1848-1925) and son Frederick Gye (1879-1955)]
Publication details: 
11 and 19 September, and 6 and 27 October 1952; all four on his letterhead of 24 Wessex Gardens, Golders Green, London.
£350.00

Totalling 5 pp, 4to. All texts clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper. He begins the first letter 'I am venturing to address you on the assumption that you are the son of the revered singer DAME EMMA ALBANI, and most sincerely trust that my letter may not come amiss.' Harvey is writing an article for Albani's centenary the following year 'for Sir Compton Mackenzie's magazine The Gramophone - for November, 1952' and is 'very anxious to obtain definite details of the two UNPUBLISHED Records which Madame ALBANI made for The Gramophone Company in 1904', of which he gives the details.

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'.

Autograph Note Signed Dan Leno, comedian, to an unnamed correspondent about his schedule.

Author: 
Dan Leno, English comedian and actor
Publication details: 
Pavilion, Picadilly, no date.
£125.00

One page, 16mo, fold mark, good condition. I finish my London season June 21st therefore shall not be able to sing for you. I an extremely sorry.

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 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 Godfrey Turner to [Edward] Walford, concerning the publication in the Daily Telegraph of an article on 'Our National Anthem'.

Author: 
Godfrey Turner [Godfrey Wordsworth Turner] (182-1891), journalist with the Daily Telegraph [Edward Walford (1823-1897); Sir Edwin Arnold (1832-1904), editor of the 'Daily Telegraph', 1873-1888]
Godfrey Turner
Publication details: 
24 June 1882.
£56.00
Godfrey Turner

12mo, 2 pp. 34 lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. He received Walford's manuscript and 'did free my spirit, as I promised I would, without loss of time'. The matter is now in the hands of the printer of the Daily Telegraph, who, 'at the time of going to press, is master of of the situation, and often delays, from night to night, giving a place to our best-loved paragraphs.' Turner marked his copy with 'a mem to the effect' that it should be shown to 'Mr. Arnold'.

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 W.H. Grattan Flood, Irish musicologist, to Godfrey E.P. Arkwright, Arkwright, Godfrey E. P. (1864–1944), editor and bibliographer of 16th–18th century music.

Author: 
Chevalier William Henry Grattan Flood (1857-1928), musicologist and historian
Chevalier William Henry Grattan Flood
Publication details: 
Rosemount, Enniscorthy, Ireland, 20 Dec. 1909.
£280.00
Chevalier William Henry Grattan Flood

Three pages, 12mo, in bifolium, black-edged, with original envelope, also black-edged,1.5 inch tear to fold, mainly very good. He explains that his father's illness and death (and consequent complicated affairs) delayed his response to Arkwright's letter. He thanks him for his advice as to my Preface & Introduction to Moore's Melodies [underlined; he edited a new standard edition of Moore’s Irish Melodies, 'The Spirit of a Nation' (1911)].

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.'

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'.

Signed photograph of the musical hall artiste Charles Coborn, best-known for the songs 'Two Lovely Black Eyes' and 'The Man Who Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo'.

Author: 
Charles Coborn [Charles Whitton McCallum] (1852-1945), Anglo-Scottish musical hall star
Publication details: 
Dated by Coborn 28 May 1929. Photo by Laird of Aberdeen.
£25.00

Black and white studio photograph, postcard format (13 x 8.5 cm). On leaf removed from autograph album. Good, on shiny photographic paper, with margin making dimensions of image 12 x 8 cm, captioned in bottom right-hand corner 'PHOTO | LAIRD | ABERDEEN'. Showing a kindly-looking Coborn seated in country tweeds, with spectacles in hand and paper on his knees. In addition to a facsimile in the bottom-left, the picture has Coborn's genuine dated signature across his chest: 'Charles Coborn | 28/5/29'.

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