MS Mus. 1221

MS Mus. 1221. Miscellaneous 19th century letters and music.

ff. 122. Largest size 36 x 26mm.

A. William Croft (b.1678, d.1727): ‘O Lord thou hast searched me out’, for mixed voices; [after circa 1720]. Copy. Caption title (f. 1r) reads ‘This is a Verse which has originally been a part of Dr Croft’s Anthem...but this verse has never been printed’. On ruled twelve-stave paper. Purchased from Lisa Cox, cat. 45, no. 19, 23 June 2004.

ff. 1-9v.

B. ‘Trois Simphonies Violino Primo Composees par Messieurs Hayden et Pichl’; [after circa 1774]. Copies. The first violin part only. Purchased at Sotheby’s, 7 December 2004, part of lot 49.

ff. 11-18v.

1. ff. 11v-14r. [Attributed to] Haydn, [in fact by Johann Baptist Vanhal]: ‘Simphonia’; [after 1775]. Symphony in C major, Hob. I:C8. Published by Bureau d’Abonnement, 1775.

2. ff. 14v-16r. [Wenzel (or Václav)] Pichl (b.1741, d.1805): ‘Sinfonia’; [end of the 18th century]. Symphony in E flat major; Allegro assai, Scherzante poco Allegretto, Presto.

3. ff. 16v-18v. [Franz Joseph] Haydn: ‘La Distraitte’; [after circa 1774]. Symphony in C major, Hob. I:60. Instructions regarding scordatura are written (in French) at the beginning of the Finale.

C. Receipt signed by Domenico Dragonetti; [before 1794?]. A receipt for payments made to named orchestral players, soloists and directors, signed by Dragonetti and Giovanni Battista Belaj. In Italian; possibly dating from before Dragonetti’s move to England in 1794. Purchased from Otto Haas, 28 February 2007 (cat. 42, no. 32).

ff. 19-20r.

D. Letter from the Italian violinist and composer Giovanni Battista Viotti to Domenico Dragonetti; 1804. Italian. Purchased from Lisa Cox, 23 January 2007 (cat. 54, no. 123.)

ff. 21-22.

E. Letter from Irish poet and musician Thomas Moore to the publisher James Power; 1816. Purchased from Otto Haas, 18 July 2007.

f. 24.

F. Letter from the Italian violinist François Vaccari (b. 1775) to Charlotte Papendiek (b. 1765), assistant Keeper of the Wardrobe to Queen Charlotte; 1816. English. Purchased from J. L. M. Gulley, April 2007, and transferred from the Department of Manuscripts, 2 May 2007.

ff. 25-26.

G. Letter from the composer Mortellari to publisher Christopher Lonsdale; [after 1819]. English. From either M. C. Mortellari or his brother Antonio Mortellari, both of whom composed songs and duets which were published in the first years of the 19th century by M. C. (or C. M.) Mortellari at 51 Oxford Street, London.

ff. 27-28.

H. Letters relating to English musical theatre; 1811-1825, n.d.. Purchased at Sotheby’s, 3 December 2008, lot 31.

ff. 29-84.

1. ff. 29-64. Letters mostly from the writer, critic and agent Edmund Bellchambers to theatre manager James Winston, on various subjects including the singers Miss Singleton and Miss Bellchambers; 1811-1822, n.d. Includes one letter to the same recipient probably from Miss Bellchambers, Edmund Bellchambers’s sister, and one from B. Bellchambers, their mother, an actress in the Theatre Royal, Bath. With a playbill for The Rivals and The Poor Soldier, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, 13 September 1817 (Mrs Bellchambers played the part of Patrick in the latter), and a collection of press cuttings and brief manuscript biographical notes on members of the Bellchambers family.

2. ff. 65-84. Letters mostly from Edmund Bellchambers in Paris to R. W. Elliston, manager of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane; 1824-1825, n.d. Bellchambers acted as Elliston’s agent in Paris during the coronation of Charles X, and sent him information and drawings on which to base the design of the Drury Lane production The jealous wife (first performed 5 July 1825), a vehicle for a reconstructed ‘Coronation Pageant’. The letters mention Mr Stanfield, one of the designers, and also James Robinson Planché, the designer of Covent Garden Theatre’s rival production. See B. Walton: ‘“Quelque peu théâtral”: The Operatic Coronation of Charles X’, 19th-Century Music, Vol. 26, No. 1, p. 6 and footnote, and the review of the production in The Morning Chronicle (London), 6 July 1825.

I. Letters to Vincent Novello from the pianist and composer Pio Cianchettini and his father, the music publisher Francesco Cianchettini; 1844, n.d. Purchased from Bernard Quaritch, 22 February 2007.

ff. 85-87.

J. Letters from composer and conductor Julius Benedict letters; 1823-1874. f. 88. A letter to an unknown recipient, Dresden, 29 June 1823. German; - f. 89. A letter to the publisher Giovanni Ricordi, London, August 1838. Italian; - f. 90. A contract with the Schlesinger’schen Buch- u. Musikhandlung (Rob. Lienau) in Berlin, for his Symphony in G minor, op. 101; 1874. German.

ff. 88-90.

K. ‘“The Octoroon” Overture’, by Julius Benedict; [1861]. Copy, full score in ink. Overture to the play The Octoroon, or, Life in Louisiana, by Dion L. Boucicault, first performed at the Adelphi Theatre, London, on 18 November 1861. Signed on the front cover ‘S. R. Platt’. With stamps ‘S.R.P. Werneth Park Oldham.’ Purchased from Travis and Emery, 26 July 2006.

ff. 91-108.

L. ‘“The Boatswain’s Mate” for Broadcasting’; [between 1920 and 1930?]. Text of the opera by Ethyl Smyth, after W. W. Jacobs, in a version for radio broadcast. Typescript of the spoken dialogue only. The adaptation includes some text based on the stage directions, to be read by an announcer, and there are other slight differences between the dialogue here and as it appears in the printed vocal score of circa 1915. The work was composed in 1913 and 1914 and revised in 1921. Presented by Lisa Cox, 20 April 2005.

ff. 109-122.