Publisher's Synopsis
This volume catalogues the 860 items which comprise the Shaw-Hellier music collection now housed in the Music Library of the Barber Institute of Fine Arts at the University of Birmingham. - - A foreword by Percy Young outlines the musical activities of the Worcestershire landowner, Samuel Hellier who began the collection in the middle of the eighteenth century. The collection includes sonatas by Corelli and Geminiani, and dances by Arne and Bach, as well as less commonly found works such as the Chinzer Symphonies and the complete published works of William Felton. - - As Ian Ledsham explains in his introduction, the collection was added to by Colonel Thomas Brandon Shaw-Hellier in the nineteenth century. He acquired some notable examples of military music, including the unique copy of The Young Drummer?s Assistant, an early treatise on military drumming. - - The catalogue entries include information on the content of the item, notes on watermarks and paper type, bindings, ownership marks, instrumentation, portraits and subscribers lists. Items are also cross-referenced to the British Library Catalogue of Printed Music and the relevant volumes of RISM. A musical incipit is provided for all items that have not been identified or which seem to be unique. - -
