Ludwig van Beethoven: Letters to Dr. Johann Bihler; [1813, 1817]
Scope & Content:
Autograph. These letters consist of very brief notes, the first simply of greeting, the second giving Bihler the address in Vienna at which he might visit ‘this poor, persecuted and despised Austrian musical drudge’.
Richard Wagner: ‘Der fliegende Holländer’ (WWV 63), opera in three acts (libretto, the composer), 1840-1841: copyists’ full score of Overture with autograph annotations, revised ending to Overture and to Act III in autograph full score; 1853, 1860
Richard Wagner: ‘Das Liebesverbot’ (WWV 38), comic opera in two acts (libretto, the composer after Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure), 1834-40: draft libretto, and French translation, with draft of a letter to Giacomo Meyerbeer
Richard Wagner: Overture in D, ‘Rule Britannia’ (WWV 42): short and full scores, with sketches for incidental music to the play Die letzte Heidenverschwörung in Preussen (J. Singer) (WWV 41)
Scope & Content:
Autograph. In Mein Leben Wagner describes this work as ‘a further step in the direction of a type of composition calculated to make the most overwhelming effect; at the close ... a large military band was to be added to an already overmanned orchestra ...’. This is born out by his annotation ‘Hi...
Richard Strauss: Opera in three acts, ‘Die schweigsame Frau’ (libretto, Stefan Zweig, after Ben Jonson), op. 80
Scope & Content:
Autograph. Vocal score, the orchestral part in short and compressed score on up to five staves. Written in blue-black ink. Includes full stage directions and spoken dialogue; the scenes within each act, which mostly follow one another without a break, are not always indicated. Staves are frequen...