Archival Object of the Month - February in the Whittaker Library

Unrequited Correspondence ...

.
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 

Links with Scotland's Musical Past - Lillias Scott Forbes with Tom Hubbard

Nonagenarian poet Lillias Scott Forbes talks to Tom Hubbard at the Whittaker Library's next event tomorrow, Tuesday 18th June at 4 pm.

Lillias is the daughter of composer Francis George Scott, whose compositions are represented in our Library.  (He was active between the First and Second World Wars - read more about him in John Purser's Scotland's Music.)  And Lilias was married to Erik Chisholm, a twentieth century Scottish composer who spent much of his adult life in South Africa.  

You can read more about this epoch in Scotland's musical history in further books by Purser, but our poetry reading focuses on the work of Lillias and another poet published by Grace Note Publications, Tom Hubbard.

Lilias Scott Forbes - Views from the Bench
Tom Hubbard - The Chagall Winnocks

There will be musical input nonetheless, with high tenor James Lee Slimings singing, and playing a piano solo by Francis George Scott and Erik Chisholm.

Free admission, with light refreshments.  Don't miss it!