The Maxwell Davies Sketch Material in the British Library – an Appendix

Abstract

The following listing, originally intended as a footnote to my article published in the previous issue of Tempo, is designed to provide a guide, not to all 194 volumes of the Maxwell Davies Manuscripts in the British Library, but to those which contain compositional charts or sketches and drafts. It will be recalled that the collection is catalogued under the call numbers Maxwell Davies Manuscripts (Add Ms) 71252-71445. The British Library groups these as follows: Section A. Dramatic Works: 71252-71308 Section B. Orchestral works, with or without solo voice(s): 71309-71371 Section C. Instrumental works without voices: 71372-71403 Section D. Instrumental works with solo voice(s): 71404-71416 Section E. Choral works, with or without instrument(s): 71417-71434 Section F. Juvenilia, compositions and arrangements for Cirencester Grammar School etc.: 71435-71441 Section G. Unidentified sketches and drafts: 71442-71445 In The Music of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies: an annotated bibliography (Highgate Press, 1991) Colin Bayliss lists sketch material as available for works held at Salford and Glasgow. The British Library handlist cross-relates Bayliss's numbering with the manuscripts themselves. Since some indications of the availability of sketch material is discernible from Bayliss's book, and the handlist itself is readily available in the Manuscripts Room of the British Library, I have prepared the present listing of those works for which there is pre-compositional material (often referred to in the handlist as 'compositional charts'), since this is likely to be the area of greatest interest for analysts, and will help to point up places where gaps exist. The listing follows herewith, prefaced by a Key to the symbols used. For 71442 to 71445 I am particularly grateful to Peter Owens for a more precise description of the contents which I have included in detail, even though some material does not fall within the range of this summary, since it supplements the rather sparse remarks in the British Library handlist.