First editions by the great composers have much of the appeal
of autographed manuscripts, which may appear on the market only infrequently,
because they are often easier to acquire. "It is nice to have the original
manuscript," Fuld says, "but many of them have been lost, so the first editions
are often the best source for the correct rendition of what the composer
intended." Nonetheless, these types of pieces were produced in such limited
quantities and on the most impermanent of media—paper—so collectors should not
underestimate the rarity of even an early edition. Indeed, scarcity can trump
other factors, such as the composer’s fame or the manuscript’s condition. Roe
recalls a Sotheby’s auction of Jean Sibelius’ Night Ride and Sunrise. "The
condition was absolutely appalling. It looked as if it had been buried
somewhere," he says. "And yet, because it was so rare, it sold for £50,000. If a thing is rare enough, it will sell, but
that is the exception in my view."Despite this, Roe insists that outstanding collectibles are still appearing
in the resale market. "It’s not like with English literature," he points out.
"If any Dickens have survived, they are almost always in libraries." Collecting
lesser-known composers may also provide an opening for the novice collector.
Fuld, for example, gathers works by Max Reger, a German who wrote and performed
in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. "He was well known in his day and
freely printed, but nobody collects him today because his music is rarely
played," he explains. Fuld also suggests that new collectors examine Russian
music composed by Tchaikovsky and his contemporaries, whose early editions are still reasonably priced.  New collectors must tread carefully. Even when favorable
characteristics align—composer, rarity, provenance—the long-term value of a
particular music manuscript can be frustratingly impossible to predict. In
November 2005, an autographed Beethoven piece with five arrangements for popular
Scottish and Irish folk songs became the first complete manuscript in
Beethoven’s own hand to come to market in 15 years. Estimated to sell for
£350,000 to £450,000, the item hit only £300,000 before failing to sell. The work is
significant to academics because Beethoven refused to simplify his complex
arrangements for 19th-century drawing-room performers. But Roe says its failure
to meet the estimate may simply have been because Beethoven is not known as a
composer of folk songs.
Aural Report
New York hedge fund founder Bruce Kovner donated his quietly
amassed trove of precious musical manuscripts to Juilliard in late
February—including the Grosse
Fugue. Kovner’s collection is comprised of autographs
and working manuscripts, printed editions, sketches, engraver’s proofs and other
music artifacts. Among the treasures is the manuscript of a transposed continuo,
part of J.S. Bach’s Cantata BWV
176 once thought lost; an autographed sketchbook for
Stravinsky’s Petrushka; the final working manuscript of
Beethoven’s Ninth
Symphony, prepared for the printer with extensive
revisions and alterations by the composer; the autographed manuscript of the
last 50 or so bars of the final movement of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony; and one of
the earliest surviving manuscripts of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.
"While one would call it messy if it were a student’s homework assignment, it’s Beethoven on one of his greatest works showing how careful he was." |
Kovner built his remarkable collection over a decade, focusing
on works that demonstrate a composer’s process, with corrections, notations and
changes marked in the composer’s hand. Other pieces contain markings by
conductors that indicate how these pieces should be performed. "While one would
call it messy if it were a student’s homework assignment, it’s Beethoven on one
of his greatest works showing how careful he was," says Jane Gottlieb, a
Juilliard vice president, "and how concerned he was that everything was exactly
how he heard it in his head.""The value for scholars and artists is so extraordinary because
you really see the compositional process before your eyes," adds Joseph W.
Polisi, Juilliard’s president. "You see where the initial ideas have been put
down and where new ideas have come about." According to scholars such as Polisi,
the emergence of original manuscripts as aging collectors liquidate their
collections may even result in new interpretations of long-held beliefs about a
composer’s intentions. To academics, the works are priceless, and even the
amounts fetched at the recent auction at Sotheby’s seem shockingly low. Despite the materialization of collections such as those at
Juilliard and San Jose State, a large number of music manuscripts remain in the
hands of private collectors and dealers; pieces from these assemblages trade
hands several times a year at large auction houses. Inherited collections often
form the basis of these sales, as the families of collectors look to realize
their assets. According to Roe, a typical collector of music manuscripts is
male, mature enough to have amassed the funds required to build a collection,
and is most often an amateur or professional musician himself. Kovner is
typical. He founded and runs Caxton Associates, is chairman of the Juilliard
Conservatory, chairman of the American Enterprise Institute and vice chairman of
Lincoln Center. He is also an amateur pianist who once took evening music
courses at Juilliard before entering the world of finance. Indeed, Roe says it is important that collectors possess a
passion for the material. "I would never counsel anyone to buy these things just
for the investment. You have to love the piece; everything you gain in the end
is almost a secondary thing," he says. "The great collectors of the past haven’t
worried too much about the investment. Do you like it? Do you like the composer
and the music? After that, all other questions fall into place." Lee Sherman is a San Francisco-based freelance writer.
Illustration, copyright Sotheby’s.
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