This is an interim version of our Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue while we continue to recover from a cyber-attack.
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Léo Delibes: ‘Lakmé’, opera in three acts (libretto by Edmond Gondinet and Philippe Gille), 1883: duet ‘J’ai marché sous les hautes fougères’ for Gèrald and Frédéric
Scope & Content:
Autograph. Vocal score. Written in ink on systems of four staves. Corrections in ink throughout. Tempo direction (at bar 3) ‘Moderato’. Comprising an additional scene, replacing spoken dialogue, headed (f. 1r) ‘No.18 (Nouveau) Scène (G)’, with a note that the first bar replaces the last bar of t...
Autograph full score. Written in ink on systems of up to 18 staves. Contains the four numbers first performed by Grieg at Kristiania, 14 Nov. 1891, but with the revised ending to no. 3. As follows: ff. 3v-8r. ‘Der Brautraub (Ingrids Klage)’, tempo directions ‘Allegro furioso - Andante - Allegro ...
Ruggero Leoncavallo: ‘Cortège de Pulcinella’, ‘marche humoristique’ for orchestra
Scope & Content:
Autograph full score. Written in violet ink on systems of 24 staves. Scored for piccolo, flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, percussion (tambourine, castanets), 3 trombones, tuba, harp and strings. Calligraphic title-page (f.1) in French, perhaps in another han...
Jacques Offenbach: ‘La belle Hélène’, operetta in three acts (libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy)
Scope & Content:
Autograph full score. Written in ink on systems of 15 to 24 staves. With corrections and additions in ink, some on inserted leaves, and a few pencil annotations also in autograph. Repeated passages are usually not entered in full and are instead indicated by numbered or lettered bars. In some nu...
Jacques Offenbach: Sketches for unidentified works
Scope & Content:
Autograph. Written in ink, with some pencil, mostly on single staves but with some sections in score on up to four staves. In a sketch-book made from leaves or bifolia roughly sewn. Apparently first used, in what is now reverse order, for a sequence of instrumental waltzes, very incompletely ske...
Maurice Ravel: ‘Boléro’, ballet for orchestra, 1928: version for piano duet
Scope & Content:
Autograph score. Written in ink, on systems of five staves (centre stave blank). Headed ‘Bolero’, with tempo direction ‘Tempo di bolero moderato assai [crotchet] = 76’ (f. 1r). The Secondo part is marked ‘Sordina’ at the beginning, and ‘senza sord.’ two bars after cue no. 4 (f. 2v). There are ma...
Autograph. Written in ink, on systems of two staves. Tempo direction ‘Moderato, con moto [quaver]’. Title and ‘composé pour l’Album Bellini par Ant. Rubinstein’ at head of recto. The first 15 bars are numbered by the composer, and the numbers used to indicate a repeat of the passage towards the ...
Franz Schubert: Folder in which Zweig MS 81A (Schubert’s autograph of ‘An die Musik’) was mounted before its presentation to the British Library
Scope & Content:
As follows: f. 1. Portrait of Schubert, lithograph by Josef Teltscher, 1826, published by Mansfeld & Co.; [1829]. The first of the two versions issued by Mansfeld & Co., with below the image a reproduction of Schubert’s signature and the words ‘Ehrenmitglied der Musik-Vereine zu Grätz un...
Gaspare Spontini: ‘Olympie’, opera in three acts, second version (libretto by Dieulafoy and Briffaut after Voltaire, revised by E.T.A. Hoffman), 1821: chorus ‘Ciel! Il expire’ with following recitative for the Hièrophante and Cassandra, from Act III, scene viii
Scope & Content:
Autograph full score. Written in ink on systems of up to 16 staves. Tempo direction ‘Andante un poco sostenuto’ (f. 1r). Staves extended into the right margin by the composer on f. 2r. The recitative is given in a shorter version than that found in the published score, and the parts for the two ...
Igor Stravinsky: ‘Pulcinella’, ballet with song in one act (music after Pergolesi and others, scenario Serge Diaghilev, Leonide Massine and the composer), for small orchestra and soprano, tenor and bass soloists: notebook containing drafts and sketches
Scope & Content:
Autograph. In short, condensed and full score. Written in black ink and pencil, with additions and annotations in red ink and blue crayon, on systems of two to twelve staves; staves are ruled individually as required on each page. Where pages contain more than one system the music is often writt...
