SIBELIUS, Jean, letters, autographs, documents, manuscripts


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SIBELIUS, Jean (1865-1957). Finnish composer.
Typewritten Letter Signed (in pencil) to (Sir) Granville Bantock ('My old Friend'), 1 page 4to with envelope, Järvenpää, 12 December 1945. Thanking Bantock for eightieth-birthday wishes ('I have not forgotten how much I owe to you nor shall I ever forget our happy memories').
Bantock was one of the earliest conductors to perform the music of Sibelius in Britain, at a time when it was more or less unknown there (the privilege of being the first goes to Henry Wood, though, according to a Sibelius letter, it was GB who actually introduced him to his work). Obvious kindred spirits (though of very different temperaments), Sibelius and GB became great friends, and Bantock so generously entertained the Finnish master on one of his visits to Britain that he 'never made the acquaintance of English coinage'. In 1907, as a mark of gratitude, Sibelius dedicated to GB his Third Symphony, which Sibelius came to conduct in London in 1908.
[No: 20701]

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