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Add MS 60622
- Record Id:
- 040-001991565
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-001991529
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000393.0x0000fc
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100176883136.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Add MS 60622
- Title:
- Benjamin Britten: Incidental music for The Ascent of F6
- Scope & Content:
-
Incidental music for The Ascent of F6, a stage play by W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood.
Signed by Britten on ff 1, 1v, 3, and 47. The volume is not dated.
Full autograph score, in ink (with some additions in pencil and red crayon), for voices (SATB), percussion, ukulele, and two pianos, as follows:
- signed title page, in red crayon (f. 1);
- 'Music to Group Theatre production of Ascent of F6' (a numbered list, in ink, of the sequence of compositions), and a note in pencil of the published scores available, stamped 'Boosey & Hawkes Rental Library' (ff. 1v-2);
- 'I Overture', signed by Britten (ff. 3-11v);
- 'IIA' and 'IIB', 'Entr'actes for Mr & Mrs A' (f. 12);
- 'III Entr'acte & Gunn's Song' (f. 13-13v);
- 'IV Pantomime & Mother's Song' (ff. 14-17v);
- 'V Chant' (f. 18);
- 'VIA Climbing Music' (f. 19);
- 'VIB Climbing Music' (f. 20);
- 'VIC Funeral March and Chorus (off)' (ff. 21-23);
- 'VII Gunn's Song' (f. 24);
- 'VIII Caberet [sic] Jazz Song' (ff. 25-38);
- 'IX Mother's song with chorus' (ff. 39-42);
- text fragment, partly struck-through with red crayon (f. 42v);
- 'F6 Blues / ask the court to be cleared', beginning with Auden's text 'Stop all the clocks' (ff. 43-46v);
- 'Prelude to Act II' (ff. 47-48).
First performance: 26 February 1937, Mercury Theatre, London. First broadcast: BBC TV, 18 September 1938. First broadcast with complete score: BBC National, 5 December 1938.
- Collection Area:
- Music Collections
- Project / Collection:
- Additional Manuscripts
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-001991529
040-001991565 - Is part of:
- Add MS 60593-60626 : Britten Manuscripts: Musical compositions of Benjamin Britten
Add MS 60622 : Benjamin Britten: Incidental music for The Ascent of F6 - Hierarchy:
- 032-001991529[0021]/040-001991565
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Add MS 60593-60626
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- 1 volume (48 folios)
- Digitised Content:
- http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100176883136.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- English
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1937
- End Date:
- 1937
- Date Range:
- [1937]
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
- Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
-
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- Physical Characteristics:
- Folio dimensions: 360 x 260 mm, except for several small pasted down or hinged folios (ff. 22, 23, 26, 28, 30, 31, 32, 34, 35, 36, and 38. A number of folios have been repaired with clear adhesive tape.
- Information About Copies:
- Digitised copy available on British Library Digitised Manuscripts: http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_60622
- Publications:
- For the poem beginning 'Stop all the clocks' by W. H. Auden, from which the lyrics of 'Caberet Song' (ff. 25-38) are partly drawn, see Edward Mendelson (ed.), The English Auden: Poems , Essays and Dramatic Writings 1927-1939 (London: Faber and Faber, 1977), p. 163.
- Exhibitions:
- Discovering literature: 20th century, (online), 25 May 2016-
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)
- Notes:
- Benjamin Britten: Incidental music for The Ascent of F6. Exhibited: Discovering literature: 20th century (online), 25 May 2016-.