Caractacus. Autograph manuscript leaf, draft sketch, with a note in W.H.Reed’s hand, ‘See p.88 of the vocal score of Caractacus (W.H.Reed)’. Elgar has drawn a blue pencil line diagonally through the page indicating that the text has been copied into the fair-copy autograph score so that the sketch could be discarded. Why this leaf was kept among Elgar’s papers is a mystery. After his death, Elgar’s daughter Carice asked Reed to go through her father’s papers and determine which were worth keeping, hence Reed’s note. It appears that Reed decided that this leaf should be preserved as an illustration of one step in Elgar’s composing process.
William Henry Reed (1875-1942) was a composer, violinist, conductor and biographer of Elgar. For Reeds' performance history with the Hallé please explore here
archive.halle.co.uk/composer/reed-wil...
Date is approximate.
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