IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 1249 MS 6961-6966
Held at: Royal College of Music
Title: LAMBERT, Constant (1903-1951)
Date(s): 1929-1955
Level of description: Collection (fonds)
Extent: 7 files
Name of creator(s): Lambert | Constant | 1903-1951 | musician and composer
Morrison | Stuart Angus | b 1902 | pianist and music editor
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Following the death of the composer Constant Lambert in 1951, the publisher and writer Hubert Foss was commissioned by George Harrap and Co to write a biography of Lambert. This work was curtailed by Foss's final illness and death in 1953, and thereafter the family of Lambert and Foss's widow Dora Foss attempted to find other suitable authors to undertake the biography. Angus Morrison accepted the task (he was also brother-in-law to Lambert). Born in 1902, he had studied the piano and composition at the RCM and joined the teaching staff there in 1926. Although his biography of Lambert was never published, he provided valuable source material for the biography Constant Lambert by R Shead (London, 1973).
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Correspondence of Constant Lambert (personal and business in relation to music), 1930-1950; papers relating to a proposed biography of Constant Lambert by Angus Morrison, comprising unfinished drafts for the book and related correspondence from Angus Morrison, Dora Foss, Edward Sackville-West, J McKay Martin, Maurice Lambert, Kit Lambert, George G Harrap & Co, 1953-1955; notes on Constant Lambert by Angus Morrison; letters from friends, acquaintances and musical organisations about Constant Lambert, principally to Angus Morrison in response to Morrison's requests in the national press for information on Lambert, 1954-1955; miscellaneous biographical notes, sketches and articles on Constant Lambert (articles etc), 1929-1951; Constant Lambert: various verses and poetry.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English.
System of arrangement:
In seven files as follows: Drafts and related correspondence (MS 6961); notes by Morrison (MS 6962); letters about Lambert (MS 6963); letters to and from Lambert (MS 6964); misc typescript material on Lambert (MS 6965 i); published articles and obituaries on Lambert (MS 6965 ii); various verses (MS 6966).
Conditions governing access:
Usual conditions of the Library of the Royal College of Music apply. See the RCM website or contact the RCM Library for details.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Photocopying is permitted at the discretion of the Archivist for research purposes only.
Physical characteristics:
Finding aids:
The collection is uncatalogued; an entry is given in the supplement to volume 3 of the Manuscripts catalogue in the library of the Royal College of Music.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
Accruals:
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Presented to the RCM by the daughter of Angus Morrison, Mrs Elizabeth Panourgias, 31 July 1990.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
Related material:
Publication note:
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Archivist's note: Compiled by Robert Baxter as part of the RSLP AIM25 Project. Source: Grove Dictionary of Music.
Date(s) of descriptions: Apr 2002