Sorabji, Kaikhosru Shapurji.

the orchestral score of the complete work scored for 3 flutes, 3 oboes, 3 clarinets, 4 Horns, Celesta, 2 Harps and strings, with autograph title ("'Chaleur' [deleted and replaced by 'Poème de la Chaleur'] Poème pour Orchestre...Opvs V. (Partition d'Orchestre.)"), dedication ("To my Mother"), description of orchestral forces and programmatic note, autograph dating at beginning and end, notated in black ink, some later autograph entries in pencil, a few autograph deletions and corrections, an earlier version of the antepenultimate bar (violoncellos and double basses) contained on the inside lower wrapper



37 pages in all, large folio (c.47 x 30.5cm), 30-stave paper, no place, 26 August 1916-21 April 1917, staining and a few tears to outer leaves, central horizontal fold 

This is a striking and typically complex orchestral score by the composer-critic Kaikhosru Sorabji (1892-1988). Although this work has been published posthumously by the Sorabji Archive, the edition appears to have been made not from the autograph, but from the only hitherto known source, a copyist's manuscript.

An autograph note sets the scene for the work: "It is midday in a grove of tropical India. The sun does not succeed in piercing the thick roof of leaves overhead, its rays being transformed into a green mysterious light. The whole life of the grove seems suspended in the tense quivering heat: not a sound is to be heard but the hum of countless insects..."