Arundell, Dennis

an important resource for the study of English theatrical and musical life from 1920s to 1960s, housed in 16 boxes, including extensive correspondence from 1920s onwards with Edward J Dent, A P Herbert, Arnold Bennett, G B Shaw, Beecham, Elgar and other figures in English cultural life, Arundell's working typescripts of some 65 opera libretti, his scholarly  notes on Mozart operas and Purcell editions, photographs and further memorabilia

i) correspondence: main sequence of c.3500 letters discussing a huge range of subjects relating to the performing arts, including many relating to the dozens of productions in which Arundell was directly involved, and scholarly matters, including a long series of around sixty letters by Edward Dent about Purcell, opera, Arundell's career  and music in England, with Arundell's replies, together with letters by Elgar (about music in the Royal Music Library), Sibelius (authorizing him to use the music for The Tempest  in a BBC production of the play), Vaughan Williams, Patrick Hadley, Reynaldo Hahn, Gordon Jacob, Thomas Dunhill, Arthur Bliss, Beecham (about The Bohemian Girl), Adrian Boult (about the BBC), Boris Ord, Maggie Teyte, Eva Turner, Anton Dolin, Leon Goossens, John Coates, George Dyson, Jack Westrup (about his Purcell biography and Purcell's parentage), G E P Arkwright, Edwin Evans, Barclay Squire, HC Colles, Fuller Maitland, Cyril Rootham, Hugh Allen, W W Cobbett, Eric Blom, Gratton Flood, and others, and many letters from the BBC (Edward Clark), and music publishers, Boosey & Hawkes (Roth and Leslie Boosey (about Britten)), Chester's, Novello's, O.U.P, and a series of letters from the Finnish Opera company in Helsinki (where Arundell produced Peter Grimes  in 1949), including from Jussi Jalas



also including letters from writers such as Arnold Bennett, J B  Priestley, G. Bernard Shaw (4, about early opera and the music for Saint Joan), A.P. Herbert, George Moore, Dodie Smith, Dorothy Sayers (including one letter in 1936 addressed to Arundell as 'Lord Peter [Wimsey]'), Baroness Orczy (praising his "exquisite music" for The Scarlet Pimpernel in 1945) J.M. Keynes, R.A. Butler, Hilaire Belloc, Enid Blyton, Christopher Hassall,



actors and theatrical figures such as James Mason, David Niven, John Gielgud, Michael Redgrave, Ellen Terry, Lilian Bayliss, and Sybil Thorndike; Lord Harewood, Winnington-Ingram, Allardyce Nicoll, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch; and film directors, Michael Powell and Humphrey Jennings;  loosely arranged by year in manila envelopes, in four archive boxes, 1921-88
[together with:] several hundred additional letters bundled according to subject, such as Arundell's work with Australian opera companies, the Royal Northern College of Music, the BBC, and specific theatrical productions, in one archive box, chiefly 1950s-70s



ii) libretti and other works: typescripts of more than 65 opera libretti, play scripts, and film scripts, many in multiple copies with revisions, with copious associated correspondence, in five archive boxes



iii) broadcasting: typescript radio broadcasts and related correspondence, in one archive box, chiefly 1950s



iv) Mozart: Arundell's research notes on Mozart, also including typescripts and drafts of published articles, in one archive box



v) photographs and memorabilia: over 100 photographs of productions in Cambridge, Sadler's Wells, Finland, and elsewhere, a small number of signed photos of Ellen Terry, Eva Turner, and others, six cassette tapes of 1930s radio productions (including 'Gaslight') and lectures, in one archive box



vi) theatrical ephemera and printed books: several hundred programmes and related material, mostly in scrapbooks, and also printed books and music including inscribed volumes by Dorothy Sayers, Patrick Hamilton, and Zoltan Kodály, in three archive boxes, c.1910-60s



Box listing available on request

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This is a major archive, covering music and theatre over a period of over fifty years, documenting Dennis Drew Arundell's pioneering productions of major operas and plays, during which time he corresponded with major musical and literary figures.   Arundell was active in the world of the performing arts for over sixty years. He was the producer of several important British premieres of opera and masques, included works by Handel (the first  modern production of Semele, 1925), Purcell (Fairy Queen, 1927, which he also conducted), Stravinsky (the British premiere of The Soldier's Tale, a remarkable production in 1927, where he also played the narrator), Honegger (the British premiere of Le Roi David, 1929), Locke (Cupid and Death, 1929), Mozart, Britten (Peter Grimes in Helsinki in 1949), Janácek (the British premiere of Kat'á Kabanova, 1950), Balfe (The Bohemian Girl with Beecham in 1951) and Delius (the premiere of Irmelin in 1953.  Arundell edited Purcell 's King Arthur (1928) and his Odes for the scholarly complete edition, and corresponded at length with E J Dent on Purcell, wrote scholarly articles on Purcell and Mozart, including  his monograph Henry Purcell (1927) and culminating in the well-known popular work , The Critic at the Opera (1957).  Arundell was also a composer, writing much incidental music, including to Shaw's Saint Joan, Dodie Smith's Touch Wood  (1934), A P Herbert's King of the Castle,  and  Fat King Melon (1927), and to Priestley's Ever Since Paradise (1946).  Much of Arundell's incidental music remains unpublished.

There is an important series of c.60 letters from Edward J. Dent from 1923 until 1951, particularly about the music of Purcell.  He reports assisting at productions of Dido & Aeneas  at Frankfurt and Stuttgart (describing the conducting of Wilhelm Kempff) and the Fairy Queen at Göttingen. Dent also discusses more modern works, including perceptive analyses of early performances of Turandot, Les Noces, The Soldier's Tale at Cambridge,  Façade (praising Arundell's conducting), Honegger's Le Roi David (getting Arundell to do the translation), Busoni, Diaghilev, Pfitzner ("tedious like all Pfitzner, but interesting"). Copland and Sessions.  Dent writes a remarkable letter about Peter Grimes in 1949, making suggestions for Arundell's production in Helsinki, comparing the Budapest production favourably with those at Covent Garden and Sadlers Wells.  Edward Dent points out Arundell's "very remarkable versatility" and his skills in opera production and conducting, scholarship, his work as a composer of incidental music to plays and his published vocal arrangements.  Arundell lectured in music at Cambridge, where he was a fellow at St John's College from 1923-9, before turning to the stage as a professional actor and director.