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University of Texas at Austin

Richard A. Northcott:

An Inventory of His Musicians and Composers Collection at the Harry Ransom Center

Creator: Northcott, Richard A., 1871-1931
Title: Richard A. Northcott Musicians and Composers Collection
Dates: circa 1737-1892
Extent: 1 box (.21 linear feet)
Abstract: Seventy-three music-related letters, notes, autographs, music manuscripts, and small portrait prints.
Call Number: Manuscript Collection MS-05154
Language: Most of the manuscripts are written in either French or Italian, but others are written in English, German, or Spanish.
Access: Open for research


Administrative Information


Acquisition: Transfer, 1973; originally received with books in the T. E. Hanley Collection.
Processed by: Joan Sibley, 2009
Repository:

Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin

Scope and Contents


The seventy-three items in this small collection include music-related letters, notes, autographs, music manuscripts, and small portrait prints, circa 1737-1892, that were originally acquired with and/or tipped into an extra-illustrated, multi-volume set of Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique (1861-1866) by François-Joseph Fetis (1784-1871). All items are arranged alphabetically by creator name. Most of the manuscripts are written in either French or Italian, but others are written in English, German, or Spanish.
According to information supplied by dealer Chas. J. Sawyer Ltd., the set was from the library of Richard A. Northcott (1871-1931), archivist of the Covent Garden Opera, and was extra-illustrated with over 1,100 engraved portraits (some colored) plus original handwritten items by various composers, musicians, and singers. The Ransom Center received the extra-illustrated set in the T. E. Hanley Collection.
Among the notable items are letters or notes written by César Cui, César Franck, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, André Messager, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Joachim Raff, and Wilhelmine Schroöder-Devrient. As many as five of the letters in this collection may have originated from the same source as they are all addressed to "mon cher Montaubry" in the 1860s.
Four of the manuscript items described in this finding aid remain tipped into the volumes; archival photocopies of these items were made and added to this collection. The following folder list includes asterisks next to the folder number for these items, and the description indicates the particular volume in which the original still resides.

Related Material


Four manuscript items remain tipped into Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique, call number ML 105 F416 1861.

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