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By Nolan Vallier and Carol Berthold
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Series 1: Secular Music Reseach is arranged into six sub-series: 1) Publications and Published Scores, 2) Unpublished Edited Scores and Materials Related to Score Editing, 3) Unpublished Lectures and Liner Notes, 4) Research Files, 5) Photographic Slides and Prints, and 6) Historic Opera Scores, Libretti, and Music Catalog Collection.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2: Hymn Tune and Sacred Music Research is arranged into four sub-series: 1) Publications and Published Scores, 2) Unpublished Lectures and Edited Scores, 3) Research Files, 4) Photographic Slides and Prints.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Series 3: Personal Files is arranged into three sub-series: 1) Personal Papers, 2) Original Published Compositions and Unpublished Music Manuscripts, and 3) Choral Ensemble Files and Arrangements for Choral Ensemble.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: Choral music, Church music, Church of England, Classroom Instruction, English History, Faculty, Faculty Papers, Music, School of, Music Composition, Musicology, Music teachers, Opera, Victorian Music, Vocal music
Formats/Genres: Catalogs, Librettos, Papers, Photographs, Sheet music, Sound Recordings
Languages: English
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, documenting Nicholas Temperley's career as a musicologist, composer, and educator. 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, Temperley was admitted to an all-boy's boarding school. In this same year, he published his first composition, "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 his doctoral degree 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. Sleator 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 assistant 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. In 2007, Temperley served as the co-editor alongside Sally Drage for a critical edition of 18th-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
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
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]
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