Vincenzo Bellini: ‘Bianca e Fernando’, opera in two acts (libretto Felice Romani, after D. Gilardoni), 1828: autograph sketch for ‘O contento desiato’, the final section of Filippo’s aria in Act I
Scope & Content:
Vocal line only, written in ink on a single stave, with the words beneath for the opening section and at the end. The role is for basso cantante, and though here originally written without clef or key signature, is notated in G in the bass clef; a soprano C clef has been inserted before it in a ...
Alban Berg: ‘Lulu’, opera in three acts (libretto, the composer after Frank Wedekind), 1929-1935: Prologue, written out for presentation to Arnold Schoenberg, to whom the work is dedicated, on his 60th birthday
Scope & Content:
Autograph full score. Written in ink, with bar lines in pencil, on systems of up to 24 staves. Marked ‘Attacca [crochet] = 80-90’ (f. 3r). The Prologue, consisting of the opera’s first 85 bars, occupies ff. 3r-10v; f. 11r has the next four bars, after the rise of the curtain, in score in pencil,...
Luigi Boccherini: Thematic catalogue of 58 works ceded to the publisher Ignace Pleyel, with notarial certificate; Madrid, 14 November 1796
Scope & Content:
Autograph. Written in ink; on paper with legal stamps, showing the seal of Charles IV and the year, at the top of ff. 1r and 2v. As follows: f. 1r and v. Thematic catalogne, headed ‘Catalogo delle opere da me Luigi Boccherini cedute in tutta Proprietá al Sig[no]r Ignazio Pleyel’ (f. 1r), with,...
Johannes Brahms: Piano Concerto no. 2 in B flat, op. 83, 1881: reduction of tutti passages from movements II, III and IV, for the published solo piano score (issued July 1882)
Scope & Content:
Autograph. Written in ink on systems of two staves on both sides of a single leaf. The passages concerned are, on the recto: movement II, bars 200-203, apparently the conclusion of a passage begun on another leaf; movement III, bars 1-22; movement IV, bars 39-47; and on the verso:- movement IV, ...
Johannes Brahms: ‘Zigeunerlieder’, for four voices and piano (words translated from Hungarian folk-songs by Hugo Conrat), op. 103
Scope & Content:
Autograph score. Written in black ink, with frequent corrections, on systems of up to six staves. With additional annotations by the composer in pencil and blue crayon, mostly intended for the copyist. The songs are unnumbered, the order in which they are written, relative to the numbers in the ...
Johannes Brahms: Canon for four voices ‘Ans Auge des Liebsten’ (words Friedrich Rückert), op. 113, no. 9: on an album leaf
Scope & Content:
Autograph. Written in black ink. Headed ‘à 4’ and signed at foot ‘Wien, Jan: 1873. Joh[anne]s Brahms’. In C; the two parts together on a single line preceded by bass and tenor clefs. The date of composition of this work is not known.
Autograph. ‘Lilienthal 136, Baden-Baden’ (f. 2r); n.d., but endorsed ‘No. 1092. Baden-Baden d. 2/10.65. Brahms’ in another hand (f. 2v). Pencil numbers ‘524/2’ and ‘914’, in sequence with those on Zweig 22, added at foot of f. 1r.
Autograph. Written in ink; signed and dated on f. 1v. With envelope (f. 3) addressed by von Bülow, where Kerfack is described as ‘Generalagent der Londoner "Union"‘, [Berlin]; closed with seal impression depicting an eagle bearing a shield. The letter relates to Zweig MS 26. In the letter von ...
Ferruccio Busoni: ‘Indianisches Erntelied’ (Indian Harvest Song), for piano
Scope & Content:
Autograph. Written in ink on systems of two and three staves. Music on ff. 2r and 3r only; f. 2r. headed ‘Indianische Erntelied / Erster Versuch einer Verwerthung für das Clavier’. Tempo direction ‘Allegretto vivace’ (f. 2r). Against the end of the last system on f. 3r is the date ‘12 April 1911...
