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The most important single source of information about orchestral music in nineteenth and early twentieth century Britain, the archive of The Royal Philharmonic Society, has been purchased by the British Library for one million pounds, following an appeal supported by Classic FM, with Sir Colin Davis and Japanese-born pianist Mitsuko Uchida as patrons. The UK Heritage Lottery Fund allocated an additonal 150,000 pounds. The Royal Philharmonic Society Archive will be housed in the music and rare books library at the British Library.

The archive of music scores and business papers and correspondence is key to the study of the role of music and concert-giving in London society during the nineteenth and much of the twentieth centuries. The collection, which contains 250 manuscript scores, includes the original manuscripts of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Mendelssohn's First Symphony (which were both written for the RPS) and Edward Elgar's score of The Dream of Gerontius, together with many letters from leading composers to the RPS. Original correspondence from Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Mendelssohn, Wagner, Berlioz, Liszt and Vaughan Williams all feature, alongside letters from Beethoven (including one which announces his intention to write a Tenth Symphony in honour of the Society, written just eight days before his death in 1827).

The RPS is Britain's oldest (and the world's second oldest) music society, founded in 1813. During much of the nineteenth century, the RPS built up a library of manuscripts and printed musical scores for use in its own concerts. In addition, since its inception, the Society has accrued a working archive of minutes of its meetings, correspondence and financial and other papers. Together they embody the history of the RPS and illuminate the leading role it has played in British musical life for more than 150 years.

The British Library will be exhibiting some of the outstanding items from the Archive (including Beethoven's Choral Symphony) in its free public galleries. An inventory of the scores in the archive can be found in the British Library's Manuscripts Online Catalogue, and a detailed catalogue will be created over the next two years.

The RPS has commissioned a new setting of three poems of William Carlos Williams for soprano and orchestra by Elliott Carter, himself a former winner of the RPS gold medal, entitled Of Rewaking. The new work will receive its world première by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Barenboim in May 2003 and plans are underway for New York and London premières.

Information: www.royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk

Posted: 17 December 2002

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