| Description | Collection of letters arranged in alphabetical order of sender, addressed mainly to Helen Matilda, Countess of Radnor (1846-1929) (sometime Lady or Viscountess Folkestone) by leading musicians, on a number of musical subjects, including a request from Sir George Grove for an audition of one of his students for Helen Matilda's Ladies' Orchestra, and Elgar's reply to her congratulations on him being appointed Master of the King's Musick, reminding her of previous letters she had written to him (for an account of this see pp 100-101 of her autobiography "From a Great-Grandmother's Armchair", in which book are mentioned many other of the correspondents); these letters were purchased on 27 January 1987 at Sotheby's and there is correspondence between Harriott of Richard Macnutt Ltd and Oliver Davies of the Royal College of Music about the letters and their purpose, with a list of all the letter writers and a short appreciation of the influence of Helen Matilda on the Victorian music scene; in this correspondence two letters from Elgar are mentioned, whereas only one is present in the collection;
Emma Albani, Walter G. Alcock, Max Alvary, Ambrose Austin, Joseph Barnby, Sir Julius Benedict, David Bispham, Henry Blackburn, Jacques Blumenthal, Claude Bonnard, Leonard Borwick, Marie Brema, John Frederick Bridge, Sir Frederick Cowen, Emily Daymond, Edward Elgar, Wilhelm Ganz, Alfred Scott Gatty, Edward German, Richard Corney Grain, Alan Gray, Harry Plunket Greene, Sir George Grove, Charles Halle, Sir Augustus Harris, Hamilton Harty, George Henschel, Joseph Hollman, Francis Hueffer, C.W.Hulse, Alwina Valleria Hutchinson, Francis Korbay, Wilhelm Kuhe, Henry Leslie, Irene Scharrer Lubbock, J.A.Fuller Maitland, August Manns, Theophile Marzials, Philip Napier Miles, James Lyman Molloy, Nita Gaetano Moncrieff, Charles Morley, Wilma Norman Neruda, Christine Nilsson, Sir Herbert Oakeley, Sir Frederick Onseley, Esther Palliser, Roger Quilter, Emily, Lady Tennyson, Arthur Goring Thomas, John Thomas, Paolo Tosti, Maude Valerie White, Johannes Wolff, Raimund von Zur Muhlen - also, one letter with indecipherable signature
also included is a letter from Lady de Grey about fundraising to purchase the lease of the Royal Opera House in 1898 with a list of subscribers |