75/1741 [Autographs and manuscripts]. Lot of 22 AUTOGRAPH SIGNED LETTERS and (POST)CARDS by flutists, mostly addressed to the flutist and musicologist Capt. H. Macauley FitzGibbon, by JOHN AMADIO (1883-1964) (autograph letters signed w. envelope), W.T. BARRETT (early 20th cent.) (2 autograph letters signed w. one envelope, and an autograph note on a patented adaptation of the flute by him), JEAN FIRMIN BROSSA (1839-1915) (2 autograph letters signed w. one envelope), ALBERT FRANSELLA (1865-1935) (2 autograph letters signed and a biographical sketch (prob. autograph), w. envelope), ELI HUDSON (1877-1919) (autograph letter signed w. envelope and biographical sketch possibly by FitzGibbon), EDWARD DE JONG (1837-1920) (autograph letter signed w. envelope), JOHN RADCLIFF (1843-1917) (2 autograph letters signed, w. one envelope), RENÉ LE ROY (1898-1985) (autograph letter signed w. envelope and autograph postcard signed (stamp cut off)), JOSEPH SLATER (early 20th cent.) (two autograph letters signed, w. one envelope), OLAF SVENDSEN (1832-1888 (autograph letter signed w. envelope) and DANIEL S. WOOD (1872-1927) (autograph letter signed w. envelope).

- A few letters incomplete (sections torn off, affecting the letters of i.a. Brossa, Radcliffe; envelopes partly dam. from (sometimes) careless opening.

= A fine collection of letters addressed to the flutist H. Macauley FitzGibbon (of Dublin) shedding light on history of the 'modern' flute. Joseph Slater writes for instance in detail about the flutes that he uses and their advantages in use. In his second letter he discusses various contemporary composers, i.a. Patrick Hadley, Kenneth Walton, Olga Mills and Phyllis James [?]. Jean Firmin Brossa writes an extensive autobiography in English, i.a. mentioning his admiration for Walckiers and describing the manner in which he was signed up as flutist by Mr Costa for the Italian Opera, also relating the manner in which the director Hans Richter brusquely reduced the payment of the instrumentalists. Brossa's second letter contains a fine anecdote about the one-handed player Chevalier Rebsomen, who impressed Berbiguier so much with his performance that B. decided to dedicate the duet that they had played together to him. W.M. Barrett writes in a long letter (15p. and 1 added page w. a newspaper clipping to illustrate the "difficulties of rehearsing sometimes"), apparently in answer to a request by FitzGibbon for biographical information for an article, that he is "too modest to tell you" about "the compliments paid to me - principally about my tone (its sweetness & purity they all seem to say)" and goes on to write: "Our dear late Queen paid me the highest compliment I ever had, when she told me that my tone & solo playing reminded her of the late Mr Joseph Richardson". Also stating his admiration for the conductor Sir Michael Costa. Henry Macauley Fitzgibbon, the recipient of these letters, wrote a History of the Flute, was a collector of flutes and as such interested in the various improvements that flutists had made on the flute.