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Scope and Contents |
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Eric Walter White's papers, dating from 1913 to 1987, consist primarily of manuscripts,
correspondence, and research materials related to his works on English opera, including
his
books on Benjamin Britten, Igor Stravinsky, and Michael Tippett. Also present are
manuscripts and clippings of his poetry, short stories, reviews, articles, and lectures;
papers related to his involvement with various arts organizations; and his personal
correspondence, diaries, notebooks, photographs, and similar material. The collection
is
arranged in four series: I. Works and Subject Files (1913-1983 and undated, 30 boxes,
1
oversize box, 3 galley folders); II. Personal and Career-Related Material (1905-1983
and
1987, 18 boxes); Series. III. Correspondence (1923-1985 and undated, 5 boxes); and
IV. Music
Manuscripts (1920-1974 and undated, 6 oversize boxes). |
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White's file titles and contents have been maintained, although the files are now
arranged
alphabetically by title. Within files White usually placed materials in reverse
chronological order, with the most recent items at the front. While most of the material
is
in English, some letters, drafts, and clippings are in French, German, and Italian. |
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As an arts administrator, a noted musicologist, and a published poet and composer,
White
came into contact with and developed friendships with notable writers, poets and musicians
of the twentieth century, especially in England; these connections are reflected throughout
the archive. In particular, White became close friends with German silhouette artist
and
filmmaker Lotte Reiniger, publisher Bettina Hurlimann, composers Michael Tippett and
Benjamin Britten, and poets H. D., Ted Hughes (whom White assisted with an Arts Council
grant and with the sale of his manuscripts), and Adrian Stokes. Correspondence and
manuscripts by and about these individuals are a highlight of the White papers. |
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Manuscripts of most of White's own works are present, beginning with a poem written
at age
eight, “My Brother.” White's books The Arts Council of Great
Britain, Benjamin Britten: A Sketch of His Life and Works
(later revised and titled Benjamin Britten: His Life and
Operas), A History of English Opera, Images of H. D., A Register of First Performances of
English Operas, The Rise of English Opera,
Poetry Book Society: The First Twenty-Five Years, Stravinsky: A Critical Survey, Stravinsky: The Composer and His Works, and Tippett and His Operas are represented by research notes,
handwritten manuscripts, typescripts, proofs, and correspondence; however, only a
typescript
fragment of White's translation of Robert Siohan's Stravinsky, proofs of illustrations for his published scenario of
The Little Chimney Sweep, and proofs of Parnassus to Let, Stravinsky's Sacrifice to
Apollo, and Walking Shadows represent those works. Among
manuscripts of White's short stories are the published “The Honest Lovers,” “Marie
and the
Journeyman,” “Mourning Sunshine,” “No Accident,” “Off the Road,” “Opatrnostr!,” “Wander
Birds,” and “The Warm Brother.” White's numerous poems and his poetry collections
Beginnings, The Room and Other Poems, A Tarot Deal, and the unpublished Poems: After The Room, are present, as are reviews, lectures, essays, liner
notes, program notes, and reference entries, including his contributions to The Annual Register. An index of works by White and others provided
at the end of this finding aid identifies all locations of a particular work, including
the
drafts in White's notebooks in Series II. |
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Files documenting the activities of festivals and organizations with which White was
involved, such as the Arvon Foundation, Cambridge Poetry Festival, Consort of Musicke,
David
Jones Sociey, Ilkey Literature Festival, Little Missenden Festival, and the Society
for
Theatre Research, contain correspondence, agendas, meeting minutes, reports, and similar
material. These are found in White's Personal and Career-Related Material in Series
II.
Other items located in the series include diaries, notebooks, scrapbooks, photographs,
travel files, and files on Ted Hughes, Ninette De Valois, Bettina and Martin Hurlimann,
among others. White's notebooks cover the years 1938 to 1980 and contain research
notes,
journal entries, and drafts of works and correspondence; the drafts and letters are
accessible through the index of works and index of corresponents at the end of this
finding
aid. |
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Series III is made up of White's correspondence files. Major correspondents in White's
papers include Benjamin Britten, H. D., Ted Hughes, Bettina Hurliamann, Lotte Reiniger,
Adrian Stokes, Michael Tippett, Denis White, and Dodo White. In addition, there are
one or
more letters from W. H. Auden, Samuel Beckett, Patricia Beer, Edmund Blunden, Ronald
Bottrall, James Bridie, Bryher, Basil Bunting, Charles Causley, T. S. Eliot, E. M.
Forster,
Christopher Fry, Roy Fuller, Eric Gill, Robert Graves, Thom Gunn, Hilda Doolittle,
Seamus
Heaney, Barbara Hepworth, David Jones, James Kirkup, Philip Larkin, Brian Patten,
Peter
Pears, John Piper, Sylvia Plath, William Plomer, Peter Porter, Peter Redgrove, Edgell
Rickword, Siegfried Sassoon, George Bernard Shaw, Stevie Smith, Stephen Spender, Igor
Stravinsky, Dylan Thomas, R. S. Thomas, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Vernon Watkins, Egon
Wellesz, Johnathan Williams, Angus Wilson, Virginia Woolf, and many other significant
poets,
artists, and musicians of the twentieth century. While some correspondence is separated
in
White's correspondence files in Series III., much is scattered throughout his papers.
A
complete index of correspondents at the end of this finding aid contains locations
for all
correspondence in the collection, including drafts of White's outgoing letters found
in his
notebooks in Series II. |
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Series IV. Music Manuscripts consists of White's own compositions; original scores
by
Michael Tippett, John B. Cheshire, Julian Fuchs, Hans Gellhorn, John Guthrie, and
Kerreth
Quinn-Kinney; facsimiles of scores by Alan Stout; and transcriptions made by White
of scores
by Benjamin Britten, Igor Stravinsky, and Kurt Weill. The music manuscripts are included
in
the index of works located at the end of this finding aid. |
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Series Descriptions |
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Series I. Works and Subject Files, 1913-1983, undated (30 boxes, 1
oversize box, 3 galley folders) |
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White's works and subject files are arranged alphabetically. White's books The Arts Council of Great Britain, A History of English Opera, A Register of First Performances of English Operas, The Rise of English Opera, and Poetry Book Society: The First Twenty-Five Years are represented by
research notes, handwritten manuscripts, typescripts, proofs, and correspondence.
A Register of First Performances of English Operas was published
separately by the Society for Theatre Research, but because it was intended to be
an
appendix in A History of English Opera, drafts of the Register
are also found with that work. |
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White's files on Benjamin Britten include his correspondence
with Britten from 1946 to 1972; correspondence with others about Britten and his work;
and
research material, drafts, and publishing information from White's major work on Britten,
Benjamin Britten: A Sketch of His Life and Works (later revised and
titled Benjamin Britten: His Life and Operas), as well as his essays,
reviews, program notes, and reference entries about Britten. Among the files on Britten
are
photographs, transcripts of radio broadcasts, clippings, tearsheets, and programs,
all
dating from 1934 to 1983. |
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Files on Igor Stravinsky include some correspondence with
Stravinsky, correspondence about Stravinsky, and handwritten manuscripts of White's
books
Stravinsky: A Critical Survey and Stravinsky: The Composer and His Works; only page proofs of
Stravinsky's Sacrifice to Apollo and a typescript fragment of
White's translation of Robert Siohan's Stravinsky are present. The
majority of the files contain material relating to White's numerous lectures, reviews,
articles and essays, reference entries, and program notes about Stravinsky and his
work. |
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White's files on Michael Tippett contain significant
correspondence and manuscripts by Tippett, along with photographs, programs, clippings,
and
exhibition catalogs. White's book Tippett and His Operas is
represented by correspondence, royalty statements, a bound handwritten manuscript,
bound
proofs, and photographs used as illustrations; typescripts of several of White's essays
about Tippett are also present. Correspondence between Tippett and White dates from
1948 to
1981 and chronicles the composer's career; among noteworthy letters are those documenting
Tippett's composition of his opera The Midsummer Marriage. Also
present are typescript drafts of librettos, some with handwritten revisions, for The Midsummer Marriage, The Ice Break, The Knot Garden, and The Vision of Saint Augustine. Typescript synopses of The Knot Garden and King Priam are included. White arranged the commission of the
cantata Crown of the Year for the centenary of Badminton
School, and a program, advertising flyers, review clippings, and a printed text of
that work
are present. Other Tippett manuscripts in White's files include page proofs of Tippett's
book Moving into Aquarius and a script of Tippett's 1972 contribution
"Poets in a Barren Age" for the BBC's One Pair of Eyes documentary series. White served on the committee
for the "Michael Tippett: A Man of Our Time" exhibition
at Covent Garden Gallery in 1977, and his files relating to that exhibition include
copies
of the exhibition catalog. |
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An inscribed first page of Tippett's handwritten music manuscript of The Midsummer Marriage and his handwritten music manuscripts of
Lullaby for Six Voices, Songs for Achilles, and Songs for Dov are located in Series IV. Music Manuscripts. |
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Files regarding Lotte Reiniger include her correspondence with
White; handcut silhouettes, including moving figures; sketches and watercolors of
Pygmalion
designs and other subjects; watercolor postcards of Carmen and Papageno; film frames and
photographs from many of her silhouette films; a handwritten alphabet book of poems
and
sketches Reiniger made for White when they travelled to Greece in 1936; printed postcards
and greeting cards with Reiniger's illustrations; photographs of Reiniger and her
husband
Carl Koch; clippings about Reiniger; White's correspondence about setting up a trust
for
Reiniger; and her memorial service program. In addition, there are correspondence
and proofs
of White's book about Reiniger's work, Walking Shadows, and proofs of
illustrations for his published scenario of The Little Chimney Sweep. A handwritten manuscript and a typescript
of Arlequino: A commedia dell'art are filed separatedly in the Works series and are
accompanied by a handwritten music manuscript and Reinger's summary and introduction. |
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A “Cinema” file contains correspondence and manuscripts related to film projects,
as well
as one typescript page of White's book Parnassus to Let, various
articles by White about the cinema, and a typescript memoir by Lotte Reiniger about
the
development of the film industry in Berlin during the early twentieth century. White
was
originally chosen to compose the musical score for Bertold Bartosch's anti-war film
St. Francis, and his notes and draft scenario are also located in
this file. |
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White's friendship with H. D. began in Berlin in 1931; his files
include correspondence with her, her companion Bryer, her daughter, Perdita Schaffner,
and
her literary agent Norman Holmes Pearson, as well as a typescript, proofs, and other
material relating to White's book Images of H. D. Partly a
literary biography, Images of H. D. also published an extract of her
novel The Mystery for the first time; a photocopy typescript of that work
is present. |
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Other subject files contain materials on Bertolt Brecht, Thomas Chatterton, English
Farce
Jigs, and Moravian Music, specifically John Antes. |
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White collected manuscripts of his essays and articles together; dating from 1925
to 1980,
they are filed in reverse chronological order and are accompanied by his list providing
publication citations. Files of “Reviews and Sketches” include typescripts of White's
“reviews, notices, reports, programme notes, etc.” written between 1935 and 1960.
Individual
titles may be accessed via the Index of Works at the end of this finding aid. |
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White's poetry files include his privately printed greeting cards, memorials, and
tributes
from 1929 to 1973, some with illustrations by Lotte Reiniger and Terry Durham. A “Register
of Poems” consists of his typescript and handwritten drafts of poems, accompanied
by a list
of the poems and their publication information. Handwritten manuscripts of White's
published
collection of poems Beginnings and his unpublished collection Poems:
After The Room are present, as are proofs of Beginnings and The Room and Other Poems
1921-1926. |
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Because White compiled his drafts of short stories into a proposed collection titled
“Mourning Sunshine and Other Stories,” all of his short stories are filed under that
title
in the Works series. In addition, a prospectus of Wander Birds is filed under that title, printed copies of the short
story Mourning Sunshine are filed separately, and galley proofs of "The Warm Brother" are housed in galley files. |
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White also gathered proofs and some drafts of various of his published works into
a “Proofs
and Drafts” file. Larger galley proofs have been removed and housed with the Center's
oversize galley files. |
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In 1979, White wrote several autobiographical essays as a proposed collection titled
"Let Me Tell You a Little Story"; notes and handwritten manuscripts
may be found under that title. |
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An index of works and titles provided at the end of this finding aid identifies all
locations of a particular work, including the drafts in White's notebooks. |
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Series II. Personal and Career-Related Material, 1905-1983, 1987 (18
boxes) |
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White's personal and career-related materials include his account books, address books,
commonplace books, datebooks, diaries, and notebooks; files relating to poets such
as Ted
Hughes and Ninette De Valois; files on Bettina and Martin Hurlimann; files relating
to
organizations and festivals with which White was involved; and personal files regarding
White's wedding, the receipt of his CBE, his retirement from the Arts Council, his
75th
birthday celebration, books White read and commented upon, lists of White's compositions
and
other works, family papers, a guest book, photographs, programs, scrapbooks of press
cuttings, and travel files. Dating from 1905 to 1987, all of these materials are filed
alphabetically using White's subject titles when present. |
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White's diaries date from 1921 to 1934 and encompass his time at Oxford University
and in
Germany, Switzerland, and the U.S.S.R.. His notebooks include drafts of various works
as
well as some journal entries and drafts of outgoing correspondence; they date from
1938 to
1980 and are filed chronologically. |
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Among White's “Poets and Poetry” files are those pertaining to Ted Hughes and especially
his Cave Birds (White helped arrange its commission by the Ilkley
Literature Festival); correspondence with and manuscripts by various poets, such as
Martin
Booth, Ronald Bottrall, Oliver Bradbury, Zulfikar Ghose, Anthony Smith, Jack Sweeney,
and
Shirley Toulson; and an autograph notebook containing poems written for White by friends
at
Oxford from 1926 to 1927. Perhaps of most significance among the Hughes manuscripts,
in
addition to the numerous and lengthy letters from Hughes (1961 to 1983), are a file
relating
to the publication of the Scolar Press limited edition of Cave Birds and its performance at the 1975 Ilkley Festival of
Literature, a handwritten manuscript of "Wodwo", handwritten and
typescript drafts of "Song for a Phallus", and a handwritten early
version of "Conjuring in Heaven". Other Hughes manuscripts
include photocopy typescripts of Cave Birds, Moortown, Remains of Elmet, and Seneca's Oedipus and photocopy drafts of various poems. General
files of poetry-related correspondence also contain notes for the 1974 Stratford Poetry
Festival and in particular White's “Personal Anthology” program, with his transcriptions
of
poems by other poets and photocopies of handwritten poems from what appears to be
another
autograph notebook used by White for poets he encountered. White and his family vacationed
in Scilly, and typescripts of Michel Velmans' Les Iles de Scilly are present, as are poems by Ninette De
Valois. |
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White met and dated Bettina Kiepenheuer while living in Germany in the 1920s; they
remained
close until her death in 1983, and numerous letters from both Bettina Kiepenheuer-Hurlimann
and her husband, Swiss photographer and publisher Martin Hurlimann, are present throughout
the archive as well as in White's specific files on the Hurlimanns. The Hurlimanns
founded
the publishing firm Atlantis Verlag, and publications by that company are present.
Of note
besides artwork and printed texts by Bettina Hurlimann are a typescript of her "Aladin: In Memory of Berthold Bartosch" and a bound handwritten
manuscript of Hermes vom Penthelikon. White wrote the introduction to Martin Hurlimann's
book of photographs London, and correspondence about that work is
present. |
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White was involved with numerous festivals and organizations, and files relating to
the
Arvon Foundation, Cambridge Poetry Festival (including its founding), Consort of Musicke,
David Jones Sociey, Ilkey Literature Festival, Little Missenden Festival, and The
Society
for Theatre Research include correspondence, reports, agendas, meeting minutes, and
similar
material. White worked with Vivian Ridler to establish the Perpetua Prize, and
correspondence between the two men documents that award. White was instrumental in
founding
and served on the National Manuscript Collection of Contemporary Writers Committee;
papers
relating to that committee from 1975 to 1978 are filed under the heading of “Manuscripts.”
White's interest in preserving the manuscripts of British poets and writers within
England
is also reflected in his correspondence with and about Ted Hughes, whose Cave Birds manuscripts White arranged for the Arts Council to
purchase and then sell to the University of Exeter. |
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Doodles made by fellow attendees during committee and other organizational meetings
were
gathered by White in the hope of publishing them. Of special note are doodles by Laurie
Lee
and John Hayward. |
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Scrapbooks dating from 1927 to 1973 contain reviews and other clippings relating to
White's
own writings and musical performances, as well as those of Benjamin Britten and Michael
Tippett. |
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Series III. Correspondence, 1923-1985, undated (5 boxes) |
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White's correspondence files include general correspondence, bound correspondence
(some
with explanatory notes by White), family and personal correspondence, correspondence
regarding general literary matters, miscellaneous correspondence (both sorted and
unsorted),
and correspondence with publishers and editors, all dating from 1923 to 1985. |
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Significant correspondents in these files include Patricia Beer, John Betjeman, Steve
Harris Brown, Roy Fuller, Seamus Heaney, David Jones, Andrew Kennedy, James Kirkup,
Philip
Larkin, Walter Lubar, John Moat, Brian Patten, Sylvia Plath, William Plomer, Stevie
Smith,
Stephen Spender, Adrian Stokes, Geoffrey Tillotson, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Vernon
Watkins,
Denis Naldrett White, Dodo (Dorothy) White, and Jonathan Williams, among many other
notable
literary and music figures. |
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An index of correspondents at the end of this finding aid contains locations for all
correspondence in the collection. |
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Series IV. Music Manuscripts, 1920-1974, undated (6 oversize
boxes) |
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The final series in the archive is comprised of music manuscripts by Eric Walter White,
as
well as musical works by Benjamin Britten, John B. Cheshire, Julian Fuchs, Hans Gellhorn,
John Guthrie, Kerreth Quinn-Kinney, Alan Stout, Igor Stravinsky, Michael Tippett,
and Kurt
Weill; while some of these are original works in the hand of the composer, many are
transcriptions made by White. Notable original manuscripts by other composers include
Tippett's Lullaby, Songs for Achilles, Songs for Dov, and the title page and first page of his The Midsummer Marriage; John B. Cheshire's To My Heart; a full score
of Julian Fuchs' 2 Baritone Songs; Hans Gellhorn's music for Lotte Reiniger's film
Puss in Boots; and John Guthrie's compositions from the song cycles
The Mandrake Heart and Poema de la Saeta. White's manuscripts of his own musical works
include his scores for Rieniger's Arlequino, her film Harlekin, and her ballet Pygmalion; scores for puppet shows written with Barry Thatcher;
The Charm: A Comic Opera; Eva Dear and Willie; The Japanese Lover; A Kiss, I Begg'd; The Man Who Married a Dumb Wife;
Sahara; Le Serment; Three Songs from Cyprus; Toy Suite; and many others. White encountered Gioachino Rossini's
last composition, Une Réjouissance, in a library in Rome and edited
the piano score for publication by Faber in 1966; while White's original transcription
is in
his 1966A notebook, two copies of his score are housed with music manuscripts. |
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White's scrapbooks, located in Series II. Personal and Career-Related Material, provide
reviews, programs, and more detailed information about his musical compositions. |
