Softcover vocal score as arranged by Arthur Oldham 8vo. [PN] B & H 16868. 124 pp. Cover with illustration by John Constable. Signed and inscribed to the title page by the composer, "To the boys of the city of Leeds who sang so brilliantly at the Festival of 1950 - from a grateful composer". Cover with light handling stains, some foxing to the early pages, else fine.
According to the consignor: "The back-story is that BB was due to conduct a performance of Spring Symphony at the Leeds Festival of Classical Music that year (Sept 1950) but had to back out at last minute due to illness. As part of his apology BB sent [this score with] a signed message congratulating those boys who sang the piece at the festival. [The score]came to me by virtue of them having been in the possession of Charles Hooper (the organist and lead chorister of Bradford Cathedral from 1938 to 1963) whose widow passed them on to me in the 1990s. One assumes that Charles had played a key part in the orchestration of the singing at the Leeds festival in 1950."
Spring Symphony, Opus 44 is a choral symphony scored for soprano, alto and tenor soloists, mixed choir, boys' choir and orchestra. Britten used texts of several poems related to spring, mostly from the 16th and 17th centuries and also one by W. H. Auden. Dedicated to Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the work received its premiere in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam on 14 July 1949 as part of the Holland Festival.
Softcover vocal score as arranged by Arthur Oldham 8vo. [PN] B & H 16868. 124 pp. Cover with illustration by John Constable. Signed and inscribed to the title page by the composer, "To the boys of the city of Leeds who sang so brilliantly at the Festival of 1950 - from a grateful composer". Cover with light handling stains, some foxing to the early pages, else fine.
According to the consignor: "The back-story is that BB was due to conduct a performance of Spring Symphony at the Leeds Festival of Classical Music that year (Sept 1950) but had to back out at last minute due to illness. As part of his apology BB sent [this score with] a signed message congratulating those boys who sang the piece at the festival. [The score]came to me by virtue of them having been in the possession of Charles Hooper (the organist and lead chorister of Bradford Cathedral from 1938 to 1963) whose widow passed them on to me in the 1990s. One assumes that Charles had played a key part in the orchestration of the singing at the Leeds festival in 1950."
Spring Symphony, Opus 44 is a choral symphony scored for soprano, alto and tenor soloists, mixed choir, boys' choir and orchestra. Britten used texts of several poems related to spring, mostly from the 16th and 17th centuries and also one by W. H. Auden. Dedicated to Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the work received its premiere in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam on 14 July 1949 as part of the Holland Festival.