Edward Dent: Letters to him

The collection consists almost exclusively of letters received by Dent between 1914 and 1918, and probably sorted and weeded by him subsequently. Several letters have been endorsed by Dent with identifications and comments, and he has also supplied biographical notes on most of the correspondents, although these are not always reliable. The letters reflect Dent's heavy involvement in the teaching of music in Cambridge during the First World War, and his work on the translation of hitherto neglected Mozart operas and research into the music of Purcell and the composer's contemporaries. Another theme of the letters is his deep interest in the history and topography of Italy, which had developed during his extensive travels on the continent in the first decade of the century. Dent's wide circle of acquaintances in musical and literary circles is reflected in the correspondents who include establishment figures, such as Paul Dukas, E.M. Forster, Sir Hubert Parry and Ralph Vaughan Williams, as well as promising younger men, including Arthur Bliss, Rupert Brooke, Siegfried Sassoon, and the future Labour cabinet minister Hugh Dalton.

Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

Professor Dent presented the letters now forming Add MS 7973 to the University Library in 1943.

A catalogue of the collection can be found on ArchiveSearch.

A collection of papers of Edward Dent is held in the King's College Archive Centre, Cambridge, ref. GBR/0272/PP/EJD.