MUSIC - A collection of 35 autograph and typed letters, signed, by Sir Adrian Boult, Sir John Barbirolli and Roger Quilter. [etc.]

MUSIC - A collection of 35 autograph and typed letters, signed, comprising: 13 letters by Sir Adrian Boult (1889-1983), dated between 1958 and 1973; 7 letters by Sir John Barbirolli (1899-1970), and one by his wife, Evelyn Barbirolli (1911-2008), dated between 1957 and 1964, and an inscribed programme; and 12 autograph letters and one telegram by Roger Quilter (1877-1953), dated between 1948 and 1949 [but many undated]; all addressed to Lionel Dakers. Sir Adrian Boult's letters are largely social although several touch on the technical side of conducting; for example, in one typed letter, dated February 28th 1967, he states: "... I suppose the only fool-proof way of conducting that passage [unidentified] is what I understand was done by the wife of a very great conductor, Felix Weingartner, who only gave one beat for two bars, but I cannot believe that she would have done it until after his demise. No, as soon as you have played it yourself a few times you will find it works all right beating one in a bar and one in every bar. You may find it a useful exercise to tap with your two hands on the table, two in one hand and three in the other; you then evolve a rhythm [arrow pointing to musical notation in the margin] with a gap which very soon becomes second nature. I am afraid otherwise the solution is, as is the solution for many other things, that it will not work at all well until you know the music. Once you do that it comes quite easy ..." Sir John Barbirolli's letters almost exclusively concern arrangements for his visits to see Lionel Dakers in Exeter, although in one, dated 12th July 1957, he suggests a detailed programme for a concert at Ripon, while remaining vague about which Brahms symphony to go for. Roger Quilter's letters are largely social and concerned with health problems and rarely trespass onto musical subjects, although in one, undated, he indulges in what is, presumably, an elaborate joke at his own expense, unless there was genuinely a student who shared his surname (which seems unlikely): "Do you happen to know of someone who could give some harmony lessons to a young fellow of 25, who wants to go to the RCM to study - he has [?]worked at piano, but has neglected harmony, which of course one has to know something about now. I thought perhaps you might know of someone. I don't imagine this young man can afford much! His name is Quilter, it appears - but I have never heard of him before. He wanted to know if I would give him lessons. Just off to the Wigmore Hall!" Lionel Frederick Dakers (1924-2003), the recipient of these letters, was a distinguished English Cathedral organist who served in Ripon and Exeter cathedrals. He was Director of the Royal School of Church Music between 1972 and 1990 and President of the Royal College of Organists from 1976 to 1978. (35)