Archival Object of the Month - February in the Whittaker Library

Unrequited Correspondence ...

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February’s Archival Object of the Month showcases a series of letters between the twentieth century composers Kaikhosru Sorabji and Erik Chisholm.  Chisholm was an alumnus of the Conservatoire, a composer, conductor, educator and impresario who founded the Active Society for the Propagation of Contemporary Music in Glasgow in 1930, which was responsible for bringing composers such as Béla Bartók and Paul Hindemith to Scotland to perform and premiere their own works.

Love poems and a lock of hair

 

Around the same time, Chisholm established a correspondence with the Avant-garde composer Kaikhosru Sorabji.  Initially they discussed musical theory and analysis, however soon a bond of friendship developed.  By 1933 the exchange had become more personal and Sorabji’s romantic feelings toward Chisholm began to emerge.  On display in the Whittaker Library are examples of this unrequited correspondence (Chisholm was married), including two love poems written by Sorabji to Chisholm and a lock of Sorabji’s hair.

 In the 1930s homosexuality was illegal in the United Kingdom, and these letters would have been enough to convict Sorabji of indecency as some of the content is particularly revealing.  The complete correspondence from Sorabji to Chisholm is held by our Archives & Collections (archives@rcs.ac.uk). 

 

A complete catalogue of the Chisholm collection can be found here.

 

Stuart A. Harris-Logan
Archives Officer