Carnegie Collection of British Music

The song cycle Ludlow and Teme by Ivor Gurney setting A.E. Housman, published in 1919

The Carnegie Collection of British Music was founded in 1917 by the Carnegie Trust to encourage the publication of large scale British musical works. Composers were asked to submit their manuscripts to an anonymous panel. On the panel at various times were Hugh Allen, Granville Bantock, Arnold Bax, Dan Godfrey, Henry Hadow and Donald Tovey.[1][2] Up to six works per year were chosen for an award – publication at the expense of the Trust, in conjunction with music publishers Stainer & Bell. Unfortunately the war delayed things for the earliest prizewinners. The first to be published (in 1918) was the Piano Quartet in A minor by Herbert Howells. (It caught the attention of the young William Walton, who successfully submitted his own Piano Quartet to the panel six years later).[3] By the end of 1920 some 13 works were available. 30 were out by the end of 1922,[4] and when the scheme finally closed in 1928 some 60 substantial works that might not otherwise have seen the light of day had been issued under the Carnegie Collection of British Music imprint.[5]

Not all the works published were new and unknown. Some, such as Vaughan Williams' London Symphony and Rutland Boughton's opera The Immortal Hour were already long established pieces.[6] Stanford's Fifth Symphony, composed almost 30 years before, hadn't kept its place in the repertoire, but was published in recognition of the influential composer and teacher at the very end of his life.[1] Ernest Farrar, who died in 1918, was posthumously awarded publications in 1921 and 1925. However, many of the lesser known works and their composers have been all but forgotten today. A collection of most (over 50) of the scores is held at the Maughan Library (part of King's College London) on the Strand.[7]

In 1995 the BBC broadcast three programmes on the Carnegie Collection, providing the first modern recordings of some of the most neglected works. These included Edgar Bainton's Before Sunrise,[8] Norman Hay's String Quartet in A,[9] Ina Boyle's The Magic Harp, R O Morris' Quartet in A, Lawrence Collingwood's Poeme symphonique, Edward Mitchell's Fantasy Overture and John McEwen's Solway Symphony.[10]

  1. ^ a b Dibble, Jeremy. Charles Villiers Stanford: Man and Musician (2002) p 262
  2. ^ Craggs, Stewart R. 'Felix White, a centenary note' in Musical Times, April 1984, p 207-8
  3. ^ Lloyd, Stephen. William Walton: Muse of Fire (2002) p 25
  4. ^ 'Carnegie Trust' in Musical Times June 1922, p 420-1
  5. ^ Erpelding, Matthew William. The danger of the disappearance of things: William Henry Harris' The Hound of Heaven, University of Iowa dissertation (2014), Chapter 2
  6. ^ Letter from Adeline Vaughan Williams to the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust, 9 April 1917
  7. ^ King's College, London. Carnegie Collection of British Music
  8. ^ Radio Times Issue 3742, 5 October 1995, p 134<
  9. ^ Radio Times Issue 3743, 12 October 1995, p 122
  10. ^ Radio Times Issue 3744, 19 October 1995, p 128