C. 1866 - 1868 Album Formed By American Musical Composer John H. Cornell While Visiting Europe Including Autographs and Photographs of His Musical Associates, Related Ephemeral Material & Travel Photos.
European Origin: Not Published, 1866. F. Album of materials gathered by John Henry Cornell (1828-1894) American musical author, organist and composer, "...a solidly trained composer of church-music, part-songs and songs...an erudite and methodical student of theory, and an able author and translator..." (Grove); educated in New York, England and Germany, in 1866 he traveled once again to Europe, visiting historic sites and his musical peers, collecting photographs, autographic materials and ephemera along the way, that are preserved here; Approximately 100 pages, with items usually tipped-on to one side only; including photographs of composers, usually standard carte-de-visite size, of fellow musicians & others including: 3 Photos (on the same page) of musicians Carl Reinecke (1824 - 1910), Danish composer; Ferdinand David (1810-1873) German virtuoso violinist and composer; Alexander Dreyschock (1818-1869) Czech pianist and composer; trombone virtuoso Moritz Nabich (2, one with his instrument) and others of Madame and Fraulein Nabich; King John of Saxony; Fraulein Suvanny, Soubrette at the Leipzig Theatre; German actress Hedwig Raabe (1844-1905) with a clipped signature - and on the same page, a photo of Franz Buchner, Orchestral Director with a small inscribed card; German painter Peter von Cornelius (1784-1867); a cdv-size photo of A.J. Boekelman musical director from Utrecht with inscribed card; photo of Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor and arranger Károly (Carl) Thern (1817- 1886) with clipped signature; U.S. Consul Dickinson of Indiana (see below, in printed ephemera, for a bit more on this man); photo of Father Skelly, O.S.B. (Kilkenny, Ireland) - and almost 20 additional portrait photographs of (presumed) musical peers and their families, some of these with signed inscriptions (that have so far eluded identification); Also including and laid-into the album loosely or on pages trimmed from the album: Moritz Hauptmann (1792-1868) a small photo and two small clipped notes signed, a few inches square, one tipped-on below the image, another note on a tipped-on card 2" x 3", loose; below the image of Hauptmann is a photo of (Isaac) Ignaz Moscheles (1794-1870); on another sheet, Franz Wilhelm Abt (1819-1885) autograph 7-line note signed, with cdv-size photo with a clipped greeting on card tipped in below the image - another unidentified musician's image above, also with a signed photo & card and on the back of the sheet with the letter, another two images, one with signed card; Johannes Gijsbertus Bastiaans (1812-1875) and a photo of his wife, both inscribed; on a loose sheet, the obituary of Cornell, noting his musical career, marriage, education and travels and that he at one time had taken Roman Catholic religious orders in Baltimore and had died within the Episcopal Church, with selections of his compositions played at the funeral service held at Trinity Chapel in New York City - here are a signed card of W(illiam) R(eed) Huntington of Grace Church (1838-1900) and an autograph of Morgan Dix (1827-1908), both men prominent leaders of the Episcopal Church of the U.S. in the 19th century - Dix was one of the officiants at Cornell's funeral - on the back of this loose sheet is a cabinet card photograph of an image of W.A. Mozart; Printed ephemera including: A 3" x 5" card printed black on pink with humorous musical-themed imagery announcing "Klapperkasten Moscheles-Abend Leipzig d. 12 May 1866 im Schutzenhaus" with a small circular albumen photo image of the composer, at the side a younger cdv-size image of Moscheles and above another printed note accomplished in hand to John Cornell regarding Klapperkasten; a card printed black on blue stock "Soiree musicale von Nabich Posaunen-Virtuos," 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" - old fold line, good cond. (loose) and a "Groot Concert te geven door den heer Moritz Nabich...B. Van der Eijken...J. Hrimaly.." with the program below, in which 2 pieces are by Cornell - approx. 8" x 4", Joh. Enschede en Zonen Haarlem imprint below - on the back of this (loose) sheet are two photographs of architecture, one identified as the "House of W. Vorschuur", and three cdv-size photos: one of Dutch painter W(outerus) Verschuur (1812 -1874) and his son W. Verschuur Jr., also a painter - both signed directly below their portraits on the photos, and one of the performers on the concert program, Czech violinist Jan Hrimaly (1844-1915); a broadside announcement for a "Musikalische Soiree" Im Saale des Hotel de Prusse, with the program printed by Julius Krampe, with 2 Cornell pieces played, 8 1/2" x 5" (one edge with some creasing, wrinkling, still very good); a Soiree Musicale with Moritz Nabich and Mejufvrouw Boekelman and list of works, printed by Van Munster & Zoon, 8" x 5" and with 2 Cornell works played too, with a couple closed edge-tears and creases, good; another loose piece of ephemera 4 1/2" x 3 1/4" a menu-card, dinner-choice text handwritten and the rest printed by Friedrich Daehne and noted below by Cornell as "Bill of fare of our 4th of July Dinner..." - on back is noted "...with U.S. Consul T. Y. Dickinson, Jas. Wilson of Newport, R. I. and others Leipzig"; an announcement of a concert 10" x 7 1/2" "Jena. Montag, den 19. Februar 1866 im Rosensaale Concert des Academ. Gesangvereins..." with the program of music, tipped-on is most of a map published by C.H. Wogan, "The Strangers Guide to Dublin" approx. 6" x 8", one side trimmed close with loss to two of the corner vignettes; also a folding 12" x 15" map of Berlin by Baldwin & Cradock, trimmed close to the neat line all around; a curious advert for a moisturizing, rejuvenating apparatus (not illustrated) clipped from a periodical, for "Regenerators" of Leo Bohlius, a hairdresser in Germany; with some additional newspaper clippings of the time and a few later, also tipped-in or loose; with approximately 150 additional architectural, scenery & art photos from the time, averaging 3" x 3" size, with a few larger images; the photos are of locales in Kilkenny, Quenstown, Ireland; various places in Wales & England; Altenburg, Leipzig, Dresden, Hanover Germany; Brussels Belgium and other places; including a small photo of the Kristallnacht-destroyed synagogue of Leipzig; and another noted as the "Old Opera-House (in Dresden) as I saw it. Burnt down..."; among these are about 10 ethnic European costume photos, in cdv size also; the album approx. 13" x 11" size; the sheets only, no covers; still loosely bound; many pages edge-chipped and the paper quality good; the first page with old discoloration and the "Ireland" scenery photos on that page chipped, torn and worn; as noted above, there are many loose and cut-out pieces - the evidence is within the album of where some of these may originally have been located - all this seems to be done by a very unskilled hand, perhaps a childish effort; some leaves obviously and crudely excised at some time; by and large, the photographs & ephemeral items in good condition; good also to have included here the final materials recording his obituary & death; a very interesting compendium of visual and textual information, especially regarding the Romantic composers of Europe and their association with their American counterpart; we note that one of the loose albume pages contains a group of material regarding the wife of Martin Luther; including a photographic reproduction of an engraving depicting the ruins of the Kloster Nimbschen, by Selbstverlag V. Peters Leipz., approx. 3" x 4" in black and white, identified below as "Ruins of Nimbshcen Convent, of which Katharine Bora was a member."; with an unknown gentleman's carte-de-visite-sized photo-portrait, circa 1860s; with an albumen photograph, also carte size, approx. 2 1/4" x 3" of a portrait identified below, of Katharina von Bora Luther (1499-1552) wife of Martin Luther, the German leader of the Protestant Reformation; and tipped-on is a 1" x 1 3/4" thin beige leather fragment, having evidence of tiny stitching and some threading around 3 edges, of a "Piece of Katharine Bora's slipper" identified in the same handwriting as the above items; "...According to Dr. Stefan Rhein, Director of Luther monuments in the state of Sachsen-Anhalt...Katharine von Bora was Luther's companion and equal partner…the picture of a self-assured, self-confident, liberated woman at the side of her husband. But this most important woman of the Reformation period of the 16th century is relatively unknown, for she lived in the shadow of her powerful husband..." (Erwin Weber, Lutheran Journal 1999); for the future of the Protestant Christian faith, Luther's marriage established the validity of marriage within the clergy as well as focusing attention on the importance of inspirational, strong women in early Protestantism; the items with some ageing, darkening; the old backer paper with some tears, cutouts from paper, probably from a larger sheet; list of items on the page written in a later hand in top left corner; the items in very good condition and an interesting fragment of the life of this important Lutheran woman. Item #21446
Price: $2,500.00