"To Love or Not to Love" - Autograph Musical Quotation on a Postcard

Original postcard of Copenhagen with an autograph musical quotation and note from the great composer and lyricist to Albert "Doc" Sirmay, head of the music publisher Chappell. On a postcard of Kronborg Castle, Porter has written in pencil: "From the spot marked X Hamlet sang: 'To love or not to love.' / Cole. / The clippings are so welcome." The musical quotation, referencing Hamlet's famous soliloquy, is from Porter's song of the same name, written for the 1937 film Rosalie. Dated August 27, Elsinore, and postmarked Copenhagen, August 28, 1937. Stamp removed; some light toning; overall in fine condition. 5.5 x 3.5 inches (14 x 9 cm). Autograph musical quotations by Porter are of the utmost rarity.

Composer, arranger and editor Albert "Doc" Sirmay was the music director of the leading music publishing firm Chappell. According to Mark Eden Horowitz, Sirmay can be considered a collaborator with Porter: he "worked closely with [Chappell's] roster of composer, including Kern, Gershwin, and especially Porter. Many of the published piano-vocal scores of standards of the mid-1920s to the mid-1960s owe their elegance, clarity, and playability to Sirmay. He could convert a lead sheet to a richly accompanied song; he could wed melodies to accompaniment figures to make the totality of a song playable on the piano; he was a master of chord voicings. Many of the Porter music manuscripts in both the Library and Yale collections are in Sirmay's clear and flowing hand." ("Cole Porter's Papers," in A Cole Porter Companion, p. 310.)

Rosalie, an MGM film adaptation of the 1928 stage musical of the same name, was released in December 1937. The film follows the story of the musical, but replaces most of the Broadway score with new songs by Cole Porter. The story involves the romantic entanglements of a princess in disguise and a West Point cadet. "To love or not to love" was sung by musical star Nelson Eddy. (15246)

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