English Composers - Bound Collection of Signed Scores 1840s

Bound volume with individual scores for voice related to the Manchester Gentlemen´s Glee Club, from the 1840s. Founded in 1830, the Manchester Glee Club was a promoter of Glee composers and singers for over 50 years.

Glee is a song for male voices in 3 or more parts, popular in England between 1750s and 1830s. A Glee Club was a musical group that specialized in singing short songs - these clubs started to disappear in England after the 1850s.

The present volume is a bound collection of individual printed scores, most signed or inscribed by composers on the first page of each score, including: 1) William Hawes (1785-1846), 2 inscribed scores, 2) Thomas Forbes Walmisley (1783-1866), 2 initialized scores, 3) William Horsley (1774-1858), two inscribed score, 4) Vincent Novello (1781-1861), 2 signed and inscribed scores, 5) Thomas Atwood (1765-1838), one initialized score, 6) Thomas Welsh (c.1780-1848), 1 signed score, 7) Charles Child Spencer (1797-1869), one inscribed score, 8) William Shore (1790-1877), one signed score. Some are inscribed to John Capel (1766-1846), first president of the Manchester Glee Club.

Original hardcovers with lots of wear and some damage on corners, repaired spine, in very good condition inside. Size is 10 x 13.75 inches, this is a thick volume with 1.6 inches of thickness. See scans.

A rare witness of a past era in amateur singing!.