Simon Fleming Music Collection

The bulk of the collection comprises musical scores - complete and parts - for all types of compositions including orchestral, concertos, chamber works, solos, operas, anthems, dances, songs, and glees, and printed ephemera of performances, particularly for the long eighteenth century period of his doctoral research. Composers who feature strongly include: Thomas Arne, Henry Bishop, William Callcott, Johann Cramer, Charle Dibdin, Jan Dussek, Handel, Haydn, T. Latour, Joseph Mazzinghi, Thomas Moore, Mozart, Ignace Pleyel, William Reeve, Rossini, William Shield, D. Steibelt, John Stevenson, and John Watlen. There are also texts on the theory of music, studies on music and some original manuscripts, dating back into the fourteenth century. The collection does also contain some non-music items, such as some local north-east history, some auction catalogues and postcards.

Born in Penrith, Simon Fleming's interest in antiquarian music was sparked when, as an undergraduate, he was given some by the widow of a Penrith organist. Being employed at the time of his MMus, gained from Liverpool University in 1999 for a thesis on the Newcastle composer Charles Avison, he began to collect such material seriously. The bulk of the collection however was built up when he was engaged upon his PhD at Durham University, awarded in 2009 for a thesis entitled 'A Century of Music Production in Durham City 1711-1811: A Documentary Study'. The first part of this detailed the historical background to the music and musicians, and the second part examined the musical compositions themselves. The collection grew into a major resource of original printed and some manuscript music material from the period. He has also been involved in the production of numerous CDs produced by the Avison Ensemble, including recordings of music by Charles Avison and John Garth. He continues to write with a focus on music in eighteenth-century Britain, and much of the collection reflects this interest. He has been deputy organist at Penrith parish church, and was later organist at Bishop Middleham Church and, most recently, St Nicholas's church in Durham. He himself plays a lot of the music he has collected, as does the Baroque Ensemble he runs as part of his job as Course Leader for Music at the Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College in Darlington.

The printed musical items are currently organised in three groups, roughly by size, with autograph letters and manuscripts in addition, and then the non-music material.

Open for consultation where possible.

Deposited by Simon Fleming in various tranches January to December 2016 (Acc Nos. Misc.2015/16:86 and 161, and Misc.2016/17:27 and 55).

Excel spreadsheet lists of the music - detailing author/composer, title and on occasion date - were provided with the collection. Details are not yet available online.

Online catalogue

Permission to make any published use of material from the collection must be sought in advance from the Sub-Librarian, Special Collections (e-mail PG.Library@durham.ac.uk) and, where appropriate, from the copyright owner. The Library will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.

The contents of the collection have not yet been fully appraised.