Project / Collection: Music Manuscripts / Language: English - British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue Search Results

Reference (shelfmark):: MS Mus. 1778/1/6
Title:: Harrison Birtwistle: Music for the theatre ('Lorca'; 'Hamlet'; 'Bow Down'; 'Volpone'; 'The Trojan War Will Not Take Place')
Scope & Content:: Assorted material relating to music for various theatre works (all except 'Lorca' were written while Birtwistle was employed by the National Theatre); 54 folios in total. (1). ff. 1-6. Drafts for incidental music to 'Lorca', a play by John Calder and Bettina Jonic, performed at the Edinburgh Fe...
Collection Area:: Music Collections
Languages:: English
Date Range:: 1966-1983
Extent:: 1 volume (74 folios)

Reference (shelfmark):: MS Mus. 1778/2
Title:: Harrison Birtwistle: Orchestral, ensemble, and vocal music
Scope & Content:: Sketch material relating to orchestral, ensemble, and vocal music: MS Mus. 1778/2/1: Earth Dances (1985-6) MS Mus. 1778/2/2: Salford Toccata (1989) MS Mus. 1778/2/3: Endless Parade (1986-7) MS Mus. 1778/2/4: Entr’actes and Sappho Fragments (1964); Tragoedia (1965); Verses (1965); Nenia: The Dea...
Collection Area:: Music Collections
Languages:: English
Date Range:: 1964-1989
Extent:: 6 volumes

Reference (shelfmark):: MS Mus. 1778/2/1
Title:: Harrison Birtwistle: 'Earth Dances' sketch material
Scope & Content:: Sketch material for Earth Dances, for large orchestra. Premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Peter Eötvös. Sketches are on A2 manuscript paper, and relate to various stages of the compositional process, including melodic, rhythmic, harmonic, and textural workings, with some extended deve...
Collection Area:: Music Collections
Languages:: English
Date Range:: 1985-1986
Extent:: 1 volume (i + 64 folios)

Reference (shelfmark):: MS Mus. 1778/2/2
Title:: Harrison Birtwistle: 'Salford Toccata' sketch material
Scope & Content:: Loose pages, plus 2 small notebooks, containing sketch material for Salford Toccata, for brass ensemble. Premiered 1989 by Salford College Brass Band and Elgar Howarth. (1). ff. 1-17. Loose pages containing extensive sketches, many of which relate to an advanced stage in the composition process...
Collection Area:: Music Collections
Languages:: English
Date Range:: 1989
Extent:: 1 volume (35 folios)

Reference (shelfmark):: MS Mus. 1778/2/3
Title:: Harrison Birtwistle: 'Endless Parade', sketch material
Scope & Content:: ff. 1-7. Material relating to Endless Parade, for trumpet, strings, and vibraphone. Commissioned by and dedicated to Paul Sacher; premiered 1987, Zürich, by Collegium Musicum and Sacher. Retrospectively signed and titled by the composer. Includes: f. 1: title page f. 2: dedication to Paul Sache...
Collection Area:: Music Collections
Languages:: English
Date Range:: 1986-1987
Extent:: 1 volume (7 folios)

Reference (shelfmark):: MS Mus. 1778/2/4
Title:: Harrison Birtwistle: Sketch material for 'Entr'actes and Sappho Fragments'; 'Tragoedia'; 'Verses'; 'Nenia: The Death of Orpheus'
Scope & Content:: Assorted musical material for the four works detailed below. (1). ff 1-2. 'Entr’actes and Sappho Fragments', for soprano and instruments, 1964. Premiered by the Virtuoso Ensemble of London and John Carewe). f. 1: neatly copied formal plan for the work on a single A4 leaf, used to illustrate a ...
Collection Area:: Music Collections
Languages:: English
Date Range:: 1964-1970
Extent:: 1 volume (11 folios)

Reference (shelfmark):: MS Mus. 1778/2/6
Title:: Harrison Birtwistle: Leaves relating to settings of Robin Blaser poems
Scope & Content:: Sketches for musical settings of poems by Robin Blaser (‘The Shadow’ and ‘Carmelo Point’), neither of which are referenced in existing Birtwistle literature. This material provides a new insight into Birtwistle’s relationship with Blaser, the librettist of 'The Last Supper', whose poems are also...
Collection Area:: Music Collections
Languages:: English
Date Range:: 1990s
Extent:: 1 volume (9 folios)

Reference (shelfmark):: MS Mus. 1778/3
Title:: Harrison Birtwistle: Early works; music for school children
Scope & Content:: Material in this series includes several unpublished early works (1945-c.1955); and simple works, arrangements, and exercises dating from his time spent teaching music at schools including Cranborne Chase (1960-1965): MS Mus. 1778/3/1: Early works (c. 1945-1955) MS Mus. 1778/3/2: Music for schoo...
Collection Area:: Music Collections
Languages:: English
Date Range:: 1945-1965
Extent:: 7 volumes

Reference (shelfmark):: MS Mus. 1778/3/1
Title:: Harrison Birtwistle: Early works
Scope & Content:: Drafts and sketches for various early works, none of which are published. Arranged in approximate chronological order. Some retrospectively signed and roughly dated by the composer. (1). ff. 1-2. ‘Pantomime: Choreographic Sketch for Three Mime Dancers and Unaccompanied Clarinet’, c. 1945. Compl...
Collection Area:: Music Collections
Languages:: English
Date Range:: 1945-1955
Extent:: 1 volume (23 folios)

Reference (shelfmark):: MS Mus. 1778/3/2
Title:: Harrison Birtwistle: Music for schoolchildren
Scope & Content:: Assorted material, including complete copies of unpublished works written while Birtwistle was a teacher at Cranborne Chase School (1960-1965): (1). ff. 1-6. 'Crescendo e diminuendo 'Nowell Nowell”, a complete short work for wind quintet (flute, oboe, clarinet, cor anglais, bassoon). Frequent ‘...
Collection Area:: Music Collections
Languages:: English
Date Range:: 1960-1965
Extent:: 1 volume (31 folios)

Search