Finding Aid for Nicholas Temperley Music and Papers, 1786-2019 | The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music

By Nolan Vallier and Carol Berthold

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Collection Overview

Title: Nicholas Temperley Music and Papers, 1786-2019

ID: 12/5/80

Primary Creator: Temperley, Nicholas (1932-2020)

Extent: 19.95 cubic feet

Arrangement:

Temperley's materials have been arranged into five series, which are as follows:

Series 1: Secular Music Reseach is arranged into six sub-series: 1) Publications and Published Scores, 2) Unpublished Edited Scores and Materials Related to Score Editing, 3) Unpublished Lectures and Liner Notes, 4) Research Files, 5) Photographic Slides and Prints, and 6) Historic Opera Scores, Libretti, and Music Catalog Collection. Sub-series 1 is arranged by a numeric code derived by Temperley, which is roughly chronological. Sub-series 2 is arranged chronologically and by material type. Sub-series 3, 4, 5, and 6 are arranged alphabetically by title.

Series 2: Hymn Tune and Sacred Music Research is arranged into four sub-series: 1) Publications and Published Scores, 2) Unpublished Lectures and Edited Scores, 3) Research Files, 4) Photographic Slides and Prints. Sub-series 1 is arranged by a numeric code derived by Temperley, which is roughly chronological. Sub-series 2, 3, and 4 are arranged alphabetically by title.

Series 3: Personal Files is arranged into three sub-series: 1) Personal Papers, 2) Original Published Compositions and Unpublished Music Manuscripts, and 3) Choral Ensemble Files and Arrangements for Choral Ensemble. Sub-series 1 is arranged alphabetically. Sub-series 2 is arranged using two alpha numeric codes given by Temperley, and chronologically thereafter. Sub-series 3 is arranged alphabetically.

Series 4: Teaching and Service Files is arranged alphabetically by title or institution and chronologically therein.

Series 5: Audio Recordings and Digital Research Files is arranged in two sub-series: 1) Audio Files and 2) Digitial Research Files. Sub-Series 1 is arranged by type of material and alphabetically by title therein. Sub-series 2 is arranged alphabetically by title.

This arrangement maintains his original order while applying a new intellectual order around his predominant research areas.

Date Acquired: 08/11/2021. More info below under Accruals.

Subjects: Church music, Church of England, English History, Music Composition, musicology, Opera, Victorian Music

Formats/Genres: Sheet music

Scope and Contents of the Materials

Contains published books, articles, reviews, and scores by Nicholas Temperley; unpublished research files; a collection of 18th and 19th century scores, libretti, and music publishing catalogs; teaching files, including copies of bound preliminary and final exams from Cambridge University; unpublished music manuscripts; audio recordings; and personal files related to choral music concerts staged by Temperley and his wife. Of particular note are early research files related to Temperley's work on the Hymn Tune Index and collected ephemera from the premiere of Temperley's revival of Raymond and Agnes. In addition, these papers contain Temperley's collection of rare 18th and 19th-century scores and libretti, used throughout his career.

Biographical Note

Nicholas Temperley (1932-2020) was born in Beaconsfield, England on August 7, 1932. His parents were Arthur Cecil Temperley, a Major-General of the British Army who served as a representative at the League of Nations, and Joyce van Oss, a Dutch musician and author. Temperley began his musical studies at the age of five, performing on piano and studying composition. After his father died in 1939, he was admitted to an all-boy's boarding school. In this same year he published his first composition entitled "Elegy," which appeared in a British publication called The Young Musician. In 1945, Temperley won a Foundation Scholarship to study at Eaton College, where he received further musical instruction until 1951. In 1948, his mother married a German refugee named Donald von Hirsch, who would go on to lead the German Institute in London. Temperley then earned his associate degree in piano performance at the Royal College of Music in 1952 as well as a certificate in organ performance at the Royal College of Organists in 1954. Following this, he earned another Foundation Scholarship to study music at King's College, Cambridge University where he earned a bachelor of arts degree (Double First in Music) in 1955, a bachelor's of music degree in 1956, and both his master's and doctoral degrees in 1959. While at King's College, Temperley specialized in the history of English music during the Classical and Romantic periods and he took additional courses in composition and organ performance.

Following his graduation from King's College, Temperley moved to the United States, becoming a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. It was here that Temperley met Mary Dorothea Sleator, an assistant professor of English who was also an active singer in Urbana. The two were married a year later in Ann Arbor, Michigan. While in Urbana, Temperley published several early articles on the influence of Handel, Beethoven, Mozart, and Mendelssohn upon English composers; founded an amateur carol group called the "Temperley Singers"; and served as a music critic for the Champaign-Urbana Courier.

In 1961, he and Mary moved to the UK, Temperley having accepted a position as an assistant lecturer at Cambridge University and the Director of Studies in Music at Clare College, Cambridge. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Temperley edited and revised both the entrance exams and the "Musical Tripos" final exams for graduate students. Two of Temperley's children were born during this time, Lucy (1962) and David (1963). During this period, Temperley began publishing short articles on the history of English Parish Church music and Victorian opera. He also combined his historical research with his interest in composition, arranging new editions of Victorian operas. While at Cambridge in 1966, he resurrected the Victorian-era composer Edward Loder's opera Raymond and Agnes. Soon after, Temperley accepted a position as an assistant professor at Yale University, where he taught for a year.

In 1967, Temperley returned to the University of Illinois as an associate professor in musicology. On the first day of school, his third child, Sylvia, was born. Temperley was promoted to full professor in 1972, at which point he had already written nearly two dozen articles about English music in the Victorian era. Temperley published his first book, Jonathan Gray and Church Music in York, 1770-1840 five years later in 1977. Two years later he received the Otto Kinkeldey Award from the American Musicological Society for his book, The Music of the English Parish Church. Building upon his research on hymns and church music, Temperley founded the Hymn Tune Index at the University of Illinois in 1982. As a research center, the Hymn Tune Index compiled an archive of hymns printed in English texts up to 1820 and published a reference book of their findings in four volumes begininng in 1998.

In 1981, Temperley published The Romantic Age: 1800-1914, a groundbreaking book on the music of the Victorian era. He would go on to edit several other books related to Victorian music including the 20-volume series The London Piano Forte School 1766-1860. Tied to his research on this era, Temperley also completed critical editions of both Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique (1971) and Haydn's The Creation (1988); a revised edition of John Gay's the Beggar's Opera (1984); and arrangements of two unfinished operas, George Friedrich Handel's Hercules (1985) and Mozart's L'Oca del Cairo (1991).

After serving two terms as department chair of the Musicology Division and being named a University Senior Scholar between 1986 and 1989, he retired in 1996. Temperley continued to research and publish in the areas of English church music and Victorian-era opera. For instance, in 2007, Temperley served as the co-editor alongside Sally Drage for a critical edition of 18^th-Century English church music for the Musica Britannica series. In 2016, he published his twelfth book, Musicians of Bath and Beyond: Edward Loder (1809-1865) and His Family. In 2018, he and Beth Quitslund published the first critical edition of the Elizabethan era congregational book The Whole Book of Psalms, Collected into English Metre.

During his retirement, Temperley remained connected to the Musicology Division at the University of Illinois, establishing a dissertation prize in 2003 and a research prize in 2017. Temperley also spent his retirement staging Gilbert and Sullivan operettas in Urbana and in 2009 he published Christmas is Coming, a collection of original and arranged carols. Temperley died on April 19, 2020 in Urbana Illinois.

Subject/Index Terms

Church music
Church of England
English History
Music Composition
musicology
Opera
Victorian Music

Administrative Information

Repository: The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music

Accruals: Addition on December 4, 2023

Acquisition Source: gift

Acquisition Method: Donated by Sylvie Khan.

Related Materials: Hymn Tune Index Records 12/5/81

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Secular Music Research, 1786-2018],
[Series 2: Hymn Tune and Sacred Music Research, 1955-2018],
[Series 3: Personal Files, 1940-2020],
[Series 4: Teaching and Service Files, 1957-1987],
[Series 5: Audio Recordings and Digital Research Files, 1961-2013],
[All]

Series 3: Personal Files, 1940-2020

Materials are arranged into three sub-series: personal papers, original compositions, and choral ensemble files. Consists of awards, reviews, student notebooks, student compositions, original music manuscripts, choral arrangements, and choral ensemble records. Of particular note is Temperley's compositions A Night in the Life of a Musicologist and Prelude in E Minor in a Modern Idiom, as well as his records for the Temperley Carol Group and the Gilbert and Sullivan house programs.

Sub-Series 1: Personal Papers, 1946-2020

Materials are arranged alphabetically. Consists of awards received by Temperley, biographical information, curriculum vitaes, correspondence, collection of reviews of Temperley's books and edited scores, student notebooks, and unpublished lectures unrelated to his research.

Box 13

Folder 2: College Notes (1 of 3), ca. 1946-1956
Folder 3: College Notes (2 of 3), ca. 1946-1956
Folder 4: College Notes (3 of 3), ca. 1946-1956
Folder 5: Correspondence to Richard Fairbairn, 1953-1988
Folder 6: Degrees and Diplomas, 1948-1959

Box 25

Folder 12: 80th Birthday Concert and Festschrift, 2012-2013
Folder 13: Biographical Listings of Temperley, 1982-2005
Folder 14: Curriculum Vitae, 1991-2015
Folder 15: Dissertation Prize, 2003-2004
Folder 16: Eaton College Correspondence, 1996
Folder 17: Eaton College Talk, 1992
Folder 18: Fan Mail, 1973-2014
Folder 19: Hymn Society Fellow, Award, 2014
Folder 20: Index to Nicholas Temperley Dissertation, 1960-2004: Dissertation Title "Instrumental Music in England, 1800-1850"
Folder 21: Journal Listing Scores Purchased at Antiquarian Book Shops, 1964-1965
Folder 22: Letters to Editors, 1980-1996
Folder 23: Midwest Victorian Studies Association (MVSA) Lifetime Achievement Award, 2019
Folder 24: Music History Notes, ca. 1950
Folder 25: Newspaper Review of Illinois Opera Rodelinda Performance, 1983
Folder 26: Reviews of Bound for America, 2003-2005
Folder 27: Reviews of Christmas is Coming, 2009
Folder 28: Reviews of Dissenting Praise and Contributor's Agreement, 2006-2011
Folder 29: Reviews of Fuging Tunes in the 18th-Century, 1985-1988
Folder 30: Reviews of the Hymn Tune Index, 1998-2000
Folder 31: Reviews of Lectures on a Musical Life: William Sterndale Bennett, 2006
Folder 32: Reviews of London Pianoforte School , 1986-1989
Folder 33: Reviews of The Lost Chord: Essays on Victorian Music, 1990-1991
Folder 34: Reviews of Music of the English Parish Church, 1979-1982
Folder 35: Reviews of Musica Britannica, edited by Temperley, 2007
Folder 36: Revies of Musicians of Bath and Beyond: Edward Loder , 2016
Folder 37: Reviews of Oxford Series, 1991-1996
Folder 38: Reviews of The Romantic Age, Athlone History of Music in Britain, vol. V, 1982-1983
Folder 39: Reviews of Sing We Merrily: Music for 18th-Century English Choirs , 2009
Folder 40: Reviews of Studies in English Choral Music, 2009-2010
Folder 41: Reviews of Temperley and His Work, 1961-1998
Folder 42: Reviews of Temperley's edition of Haydn's Creation, 1990-2002
Folder 43: Reviews, Various, 1966-2000
Folder 44: Staughton, Christopher Birthday Invitation, ca. 2013
Folder 45: Selections from the Specimens of English Literature, by Rev. Walter Skeat, 1949: Belonged to Mary Temperley (nee Slator)
Folder 46: Temperley Research Grant, 2019-2020
Folder 47: Temperley Endowment Fund Agreement, 2017
Folder 48: Urbana Alumni of Sigma Alpha Iota Minutes, 2004
Folder 49: WWII Japanese Matchbox Correspondence, undated

Box 27

Item 1: University Scholar Award, ca. 1986: accession no. 2022.1205080.001

Box 28

Folder 15: Eaton Slides, ca. 1992
Folder 16: Eaton Unused Slides, ca. 1992

Box 29

Folder 2: Award: Fellowship of the Guild of Church Musicians, Honoris Causa, October 28, 1989

Box 35

Folder 3: Correspondence, last names "B-M", 1967-1999: Correspondents include: Chloe and James Barnett, Philip Brett, Cyril Ehrlish, S. Glasser, and Laurie May.
Folder 4: Correspondence, last names "O-Z", 1957-2003: Correspondents include: T.G. Odling, Phyllis Palmer, Deane Root, Suane Woodworth, and Elliott Zuckerman.

Sub-Series 2: Original Published Compositions and Unpublished Music Manuscripts, 1940-1997

Materials are arranged first by a numeric code derived by Temperley (see Box 13, Folder 7 for full list of compositions dating from 1940 to 1956), then chronologically thereafter. Two items contain the numeric code Temperley gave to his publications (See Box 16, Folder 14 and Box 25, Folder 50). Consists of original manuscripts, bound sheet music books with musical sketches and partial scores, student compositions and workbooks, and original published sheet music.

Box 13

Folder 7: Music Manuscripts by Temperley, Journal, ca. 1956: Contains the Numeric Code for all compositions composed until 1956, titles of compositions, and notes about composition instructors. Titles of composition that follow include corresponding number in parantheses.
Folder 8: Prelude and Rondo (O1-O4), 1940: Score copied by his mother, composed at age 9.

Box 14

Folder 1: Exercise: Volume, for Lessons with Dr. Geehl (2), 1942-1943
Folder 2: Golden Slumber Duet (3), 1944
Folder 3: Sonata for Viola and Piano in D Major (4), 1945-1949
Folder 4: Sonata for Viola and Piano in E Minor (5), 1950
Folder 5: "My God, I Love Thee," Hymn Tune (6), 1950
Folder 6: Madrigal on a Day, Arrangement of Weber's Imitation to the Waltz (7), 1950
Folder 7: Part Song and Ghost Trio (8), 1951
Folder 8: Violin and Piano Sonatina (9), 1951
Folder 9: Regret Not Me (10), 1951
Folder 10: Fugue for String Quartet, Variations for Organ, and Nod the Shepherd (11), 1950-1951
Folder 11: Sussex Mummer's Carol, Set of Songs (12), 1951
Folder 12: Synopses of Church Compositions (13), 1953
Folder 13: There were Three Cherry Trees, Overture to the Magic Flute, and Variation on "Down Among the Dead" (14), 1952
Folder 14: The Listeners, Theme and Variation on Mozart, Theme and Variation on Brahms (15), 1953
Folder 15: Three Songs (16), 1953
Folder 16: The Listeners (17), 1953: Text by Walter de la Mare.
Folder 17: Sonata for Oboe and Piano (18), 1953
Folder 18: Organ Passacaglia and Fugue and Aria by Mozart arranged for Piano Duet (19), 1953
Folder 19: I sing of a Maiden and Exercises for Mr. Radcliffe (20), ca. 1954
Folder 20: Four Songs (21), 1954: Text by Walter de la Mare.
Folder 21: Six Songs (22), 1952-1954: Text by Walter de la Mare.
Folder 22: Three Part Invention and Theme and Variation in the Style of Schubert (23), 1954
Folder 23: Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor (24), 1952-1954

Box 15

Folder 1: Sketch for Piano Fugue, String Quartet (25), 1954
Folder 2: String Quartet, Keyboard Suite in E, and Wedding March (26), 1954
Folder 3: Wedding March (27), 1954
Folder 4: String Quartet based on a fragment by Franz Schubert, Full Score and Parts (27a), ca. 1954
Folder 5: Fugue Sketches (28), ca. 1954
Folder 6: Te Deum in E Major and "As I lay upon a Night" Carol (29), ca. 1954
Folder 7: Fugue for String Orchestra (29b), 1955
Folder 8: Rough Copies of Mazurkas and Songs (30), 1955-1956
Folder 9: Mozart's D Minor Piano Concerto arranged for Piano Duet, Mvt. 1 (31), 1955
Folder 10: Mozart's D Minor Piano Concerto arranged for Piano Duet, Mvt. 2 and 3 (32), 1955
Folder 11: Chaconne for Organ, Motet, and String Trio (33), 1955
Folder 12: Variations on a Well-known Theme for Celeste and Piano (33a), 1955
Folder 13: Spring by Joseph Haydn, arranged for Piano Duet (34), 1955
Folder 14: Quotations and Incipits of 19th-Century English Music, Sketches and Fragments (36), ca. 1954
Folder 15: 4 Chopinesque Mazurkas, String Trio, Song in the Style of Purcell (37), 1955
Folder 16: Keyboard Suite, 3 Songs for Tenor and Piano, and 3 Mazurkas (38), 1955
Folder 17: Have Done (38a), 1955
Folder 18: Oboe and Piano Sonata No. 2 in D minor (39), 1955
Folder 19: Short Piano Pieces, Manuscript Book (40), 1956
Folder 20: String Quartet in C (41), 1956

Box 16

Folder 1: Quartet for Piano and Strings in the Style of Mozart (42), 1956
Folder 2: Lyrics from "the Washerwoman's Child" (43), 1956: Text by Alison Uttley.
Folder 3: Canonic Movement for String Duo, 1954
Folder 4: Three Settings of Poems by Walter de la Mare, 1955: Includes concert programs
Folder 5: Benedictus in E Major, For Tenor Solo, Choir, and Organ, 1956
Folder 6: Faure Requiem arranged for String Quartet, 1956
Folder 7: Carol Scores by and Sketches edited by Temperley, 1957-1999
Folder 8: On October Tenth, 1957
Folder 9: "Out of your Sleep" Christmas Carol, 1957
Folder 10: Fugue for Organ, 1958
Folder 11: Three Songs , 1958: Includes Concert Program from Cambridge University
Folder 12: Three Songs (Lyrics by Thomas Middleton), 1958
Folder 13: Interlude in E Minor in a Modern Idiom, Sketches, ca. 1962
Folder 14: Interlude in E Minor in a Modern Idiom, published score (VI.2), 1962: For Numeric Code see Description for Series 1, Sub-Series 1.
Folder 15: The Responses in Evening Prayer for Men's Voices, 1963
Folder 16: "This Joyful Eastertide" Carol for Men's Voices (arranged by Temperley), 1965
Folder 17: A Night in the Life of a Musicologist, for twelve hands (two pianos), 1971
Folder 18: The Esther Oratorio , 1963, revised 1989
Folder 19: Out of Your Sleep arranged for String Quartet, 1957, revised 1997
Folder 20: Adagio Sketches, undated
Folder 21: Cosi fan tutti, No. 4 by Mozart (arranged by Temperley), undated
Folder 22: La Follia by Corelli (realized by Temperley), undated
Folder 23: Fugue for Organ (Signed Orfeo), undated
Folder 24: Musical Sketches, undated
Folder 25: Symphony (unfinished), 1st Mvt., undated

Box 25

Folder 50: Elegy for Piano (VII.1), October 1940: Appeared in the Newspaper The Young Musician, Temperley was aged 9. For Numeric Code see Description for Series 1, Sub-Series 1.
Folder 51: Annie Laurie (arranged by Temperley), undated

Box 34

Folder 1: Student Notebook, ca. 1940

Sub-Series 3: Choral Ensemble Files and Arrangements for Choral Ensemble, 1959-2010

Materials are arranged alphabetically. Consists of bound, published and unpublished arrangements of carols by Temperley; carol group personel files; Gilbert and Sullivan operetta programs presented at Temperley's home in Urbana; and arrangements for choral ensembles.

Box 25

Folder 52: Carols for House to House Singing, 4th Edition edited by Nicholas Temperley, 1986: Contains the Soprano, Alto, and Tenor Part Books
Folder 53: Carols for House to House Singing, 5th Edition edited by Nicholas Temperley, 1997
Folder 54: Carols for House to House Singing, 6th Edition edited by Nicholas Temperley, 2007
Folder 55: Carol Group Members and Set Lists, 1959-2011
Folder 56: Choral Music for Singing Group, undated

Box 26

Folder 1: Christmas is Coming: A Collection of Carols (VI.19), 2009: For Numeric Code See Description for Series 1, Subseries 1.
Folder 2: Carol Group Newspaper Clippings, 2009

Box 28

Folder 17: Carol Singers Slides, undated
Folder 18: Collected Carols by Chester L. Alwes, 1984-1999
Folder 19: Gilbert and Sullivan Operetta Group, Gondoliers Libretto and Scores with Annotations, ca. 1994
Folder 20: Gilbert and Sullivan Operetta Group, The Mikado libretto, 1999
Folder 21: Gilbert and Sullivan Operetta Group, Programs and Personel Lists, 1977-2009
Folder 22: Gilbert and Sullivan Savoy Operas, Notes, 1980-2003
Folder 23: La Gui-Annee and Carols arranged by Nicholas Temperley for the Temperley Singers, 2010

Box 35

Folder 1: Carol Book (original manuscript), 1955
Folder 2: Carols for House-to-House Singing, 1976