Arnold Dolmetsch (1848-1940) - photo 1
Arnold Dolmetsch (1848-1940) - photo 2
Arnold Dolmetsch (1848-1940) - photo 3
Arnold Dolmetsch (1848-1940) - photo 4
Arnold Dolmetsch (1848-1940) - photo 5
Arnold Dolmetsch (1848-1940) - photo 6
Arnold Dolmetsch (1848-1940) - photo 7
Arnold Dolmetsch (1848-1940) - photo 8
Arnold Dolmetsch (1848-1940) - photo 9
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Arnold Dolmetsch (1848-1940) - photo 12
Arnold Dolmetsch (1848-1940) - photo 13

Arnold Dolmetsch (1848-1940)

Lot 220
15.12.2023 11:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
£ 100
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1109020
Lot 220 | Arnold Dolmetsch (1848-1940)
Estimate value
£ 3 000 – 5 000
Arnold Dolmetsch (1848-1940)
Series of 31 autograph letters signed ('Arnold Dolmetsch') to Herbert Percy Horne, London, 19 June [1890] - 20 July 1899 and 8 May - 6 June 1914
Together approx. 110 pages, various sizes; with a corrected proof for an article by Dolmetsch on 'The consort viols, the viola d'amore, the lyra viol, and the viola da gamba'; and four printed programmes for concerts given by Dolmetsch, and a printed prospectus for the sale of various keyboard instruments, 1892-1914. Provenance: Sotheby's, 12 May 1981, lot 139.

'I play the Clavichord and Harpsichord very much better than it has ever been played by anybody in recent times': a substantial series to the poet and antiquarian Herbert Horne (1864-1916), discussing the performance of early music and restoration of early instruments. The early letters discuss with excitement Dolmetsch's successful concerts of early music, including on 8 December 1892 in Liverpool and Chester: 'Really, our old music is getting popular'; the same letter gives Horne advice on the restoration of a keyboard instrument: 'No glass paper must be used – It drives dust in the pores of the wood, that spoils the tone and destroys the beauty of the wood ... The old bridge should be straightened, if warped, by heating; not planing'. A letter of 8 January 1894 reports on a 'lunch, yesterday, with Burne Jones and William Morris', who are planning to publish some music he has collected. A group of letters in July 1894 discuss plans for delivering a harpsichord to Lord Dysart at Ham House. On 29 December 1895, he expresses regret at not being able to join Horne in Florence because of financial difficulties, and defends 'Melody' (i.e. his future second wife Elodie Désirée) against criticism of her technique and tempos on the harpsichord in recent concerts. On 16 December 1896 he reports great success with concerts in Scotland and discusses plans to put on a dance and early music performance in Florence; he also reports on his progress on the lute: 'I have had great successes with it lately; I can get a much better tone out of it'. From 1897, after the visit to Italy, the letters are taken up with the purchase of early instruments in that country, including a violin which he believes to be an Amati and a square virginal from Parma. On 8 December 1897 he reports that 'Burne Jones has made an awful hash of the clavichord' (presumably in a decorative scheme). In a rare reference to his personal life, a letter of 20 July 1899 reports that he is setting off for Zurich to marry Elodie – 'It could not be done in England, for ... we are still, according to English law, brother and sister in law'. Three letters between 8 May and 6 June 1914 encourage Horne to purchase an Italian Clavichord for him ('I have only seen a few, and none for sale'), and after its arrival comment on its unusual mechanism; and mention recent music-making: 'I play the Clavichord and Harpsichord very much better than it has ever been played by anybody in recent times'.

The clavichord has arrived in good condition. It is very interesting – The movements you did not understand are a very clever contrivance to get 2 notes on each string in the bass, which could not be done in the usual 'gebunden' way on account of the length of the semitone – The whole construction of the instrument is reversed; it is like the English spinets where the Bass strings are at the back instead of the front as in the Italian instruments. I had never seen or heard of a clavichord made on that plan. I will restore it, and it might have an extraordinary quality of tone.

Some letters published in part in Margaret Campbell. Dolmetsch: the Man and his Work (1975).
Place of origin:France, United Kingdom
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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