Papers of Sir Granville Bantock

Original autograph scores of most of Bantock's compositions. The collection comprises Choral Music, 1900-1914, including music for solos, chorus and orchestra, part-songs and unison songs; Music for Solo Voice, 1888-1946, with orchestra and piano and recitation music; Dramatic Music 1888-1921, including vocal dramatic music and dance, incidental music for plays; Instrumental Music, 1895-1920, including orchestral and chamber music, piano and other solos; Miscellaneous Manuscripts including unidentified pieces of music and sketches and fragments of work and sketches, 1888-1912 ; Printed Works including large numbers of short printed pieces, no dates.

Administrative/Biographical History

Sir Granville Ransome Bantock (1868-1946) was Edward Elgar's immediate successor to the Chair of Music at University of Birmingham in 1900. Before coming to Birmingham he was musical director at The Tower, New Brighton where he astonished the holiday-makers of Wallasey with avant-garde music and gave Sibelius his first English performances. There was a close friendship between Bantock and Elgar and Elgar recommended him for the post of first Principal of the Birmingham and Midland Institute's School of Music (now the Birmingham Conservatoire). Bantock was particularly interested in oriental themes; his masterpiece was a complete setting of The Ruba'iyat of Omar Khayyam . He was distinguished for his instrumental mastery and he brought a community of progressive musicians to Birmingham, including Delius, Holbrooke, Ernest Newman, Sibelius, Prokofiev.

Reference: Deposit file.

The collection is arranged by music type in the following series: choral music; music for solo voice; dramatic music; instrumental music; miscellaneous manuscripts, printed works.

Access Conditions

Open. Access to all registered researchers.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

This collection was presented to University of Birmingham by Bantock's son.

See full catalogue for more information.

Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing from the University Archivist, Special Collections. Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult. Special Collections will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.

Further deposits are not expected.

Nearly 200 of Sir Granville Bantock's letters in Letters Additional (a separate collection of letters (GB150LAdd)) are held in the University of Birmingham Information Services, Special Collections Department.

The papers of Herman Sutherland Bantock, a cousin of Sir Granville Bantock (GB 150 MS33), and the diaries and selected letters of Sir Edward Elgar (GB 150 EE) are also held in the University of Birmingham Information Services, Special Collections Department. Other papers of Granville Bantock are located at the Worcestershire Record Office.