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Lot 10
MUSIC – BEATRICE HARRISON Archive of material relating to cellist Beatrice Harrison, famed for her duets with nightingales, comprising notebooks, diaries, press cuttings, programmes and ephemera (quantity)
1 December 2021, 12:00 GMT
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £4,080 inc. premium
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MUSIC – BEATRICE HARRISON
Archive of material relating to cellist Beatrice Harrison, comprising:
i) Manuscript notebooks: including her reminiscences of Delius beginning "...Delius is able to express through the medium of his music the sight, the sound and even the very scent of Nature perhaps more exquisitely than any other composer... he said our performance has inspired him to write a Double Concerto which he did!... Delius had a wonderful charm...", 7 pages, 230 x 180mm.; album titled 'Manuscripts', including poems and notes on a visit to Sandringham in September 1918 ("...The queen showed us her boudoir & bedroom. A perfect dream, all is lovely... the spirit of King Edward pervades all. Terrible news from Russia. Played with dear Princess in the sunset... Princess M sang. Curious voice!..."), 74 pages, 163 x 200mm., 1908-1919; "Cello Notes", written in pencil, describing a busy schedule, with notes on performances, venues and pieces played, including her American tour taking in New York, Boston and the White House ("...White House/March 1st/L'Amor de May-/Serenade Delius/Allemande Senaille"), various dates in the UK ("...Bax came down & I played him his concerto he was delighted... July 23/Promenade/Concerto-Elgar/Conductor Wood..."); c.100 pages, 8vo, 1935-1942; notebook containing handwritten copies of reviews of May Harrison's performances in Spain, 1906; and two others
ii) Diaries: unbound diary from 1907 including notes for May 29th "...I am making my debut as a 'cellist at the Queen's Hall under the conductorship of Mr Henry J. Wood. I am playing the Saint Saens Concerto... I do hope it will go well..."; with four memorandum diaries belonging to Beatrice and her sister May Harrison, noting appointments, pupils and hours practised ("...went to my boring lesson with little Renaud... he is too killing & looks like an owl in spectacles! Only did 4 hrs cello..."), including May Harrison's European tour of 1908, 8vo, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1916 and 1962
iii) Albums, scrapbooks and ephemera: ten albums containing newspaper cuttings and printed programmes, many annotated, illustrating her career from 1901 to the 1930's, folio (410 x 290mm.) and smaller; with other ephemera including photographs, an autograph letter signed "Percy Grainger", 13 January 1930, concert poster for the Wigmore Hall, and much else
i) Manuscript notebooks: including her reminiscences of Delius beginning "...Delius is able to express through the medium of his music the sight, the sound and even the very scent of Nature perhaps more exquisitely than any other composer... he said our performance has inspired him to write a Double Concerto which he did!... Delius had a wonderful charm...", 7 pages, 230 x 180mm.; album titled 'Manuscripts', including poems and notes on a visit to Sandringham in September 1918 ("...The queen showed us her boudoir & bedroom. A perfect dream, all is lovely... the spirit of King Edward pervades all. Terrible news from Russia. Played with dear Princess in the sunset... Princess M sang. Curious voice!..."), 74 pages, 163 x 200mm., 1908-1919; "Cello Notes", written in pencil, describing a busy schedule, with notes on performances, venues and pieces played, including her American tour taking in New York, Boston and the White House ("...White House/March 1st/L'Amor de May-/Serenade Delius/Allemande Senaille"), various dates in the UK ("...Bax came down & I played him his concerto he was delighted... July 23/Promenade/Concerto-Elgar/Conductor Wood..."); c.100 pages, 8vo, 1935-1942; notebook containing handwritten copies of reviews of May Harrison's performances in Spain, 1906; and two others
ii) Diaries: unbound diary from 1907 including notes for May 29th "...I am making my debut as a 'cellist at the Queen's Hall under the conductorship of Mr Henry J. Wood. I am playing the Saint Saens Concerto... I do hope it will go well..."; with four memorandum diaries belonging to Beatrice and her sister May Harrison, noting appointments, pupils and hours practised ("...went to my boring lesson with little Renaud... he is too killing & looks like an owl in spectacles! Only did 4 hrs cello..."), including May Harrison's European tour of 1908, 8vo, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1916 and 1962
iii) Albums, scrapbooks and ephemera: ten albums containing newspaper cuttings and printed programmes, many annotated, illustrating her career from 1901 to the 1930's, folio (410 x 290mm.) and smaller; with other ephemera including photographs, an autograph letter signed "Percy Grainger", 13 January 1930, concert poster for the Wigmore Hall, and much else
Footnotes
'I AM MAKING MY DEBUT AS 'CELLIST AT THE QUEEN'S HALL': ARCHIVE OF THE CELLIST FAMED FOR HER DUETS WITH NIGHTINGALES.
Beatrice Harrison (1892-1965), '...the leading British cellist of her generation...' (Anne Pimlott Baker, ODNB), is perhaps best known for her hugely-popular performances accompanied by nightingales, first broadcast from her Surrey garden on 19 May 1924, one of the BBC's first live outside broadcast recordings and a tradition she continued for the next twelve years.
A musical prodigy, at the age of twelve she won a cello exhibition to the Royal College of Music, making her debut at the Queen's Hall with Henry Wood in 1907, as noted in her diary here, and embarked on a busy solo career undertaking tours of Europe, North America and the UK. She became a good friend of Princess Victoria after playing to Edward VII at a dinner party, and visited the Royal family at Sandringham. Her illustrious career embraced many 'firsts'; she was the first to perform several important works on the cello, in particular those of Frederick Delius, who wrote his double concerto of 1915 for her and her sister, the first to make standard recordings of other pieces such as Elgar's cello concerto in 1920, conducted by the composer, the first woman cellist to play at Carnegie Hall and the first British cellist to enjoy an international reputation. She was much admired by, and friends with, composers such as Delius, Elgar and Arnold Bax, who all wrote for her. This archive was used in compiling her autobiography The Cello and the Nightingales edited by P. Cleveland-Peck, 1985.