Ernest Bradbury correspondence and papers

Description

The archive was created by Susan Bradbury, second wife of Ernest Bradbury, in the 1990s. It consists mainly of a very large number of newspaper cuttings. The items are arranged in chronological order, year-by-year. For every year Susan Bradbury separated Ernest Bradbury's cuttings on music from cuttings on other subjects and from copies of other writers' works. Ernest Bradbury's cuttings on music have been dated and indexed by Susan Bradbury, who also wrote a guide and an index for every year. The cuttings on other subjects than music and other writers' works have been only dated, and not indexed. In the archive there are also letters, concert programmes and festival brochures. In addition to the year-by-year folders there are some folders with items covering several years; this material is sometimes dated only by year. The guides and indexes prepared by Susan Bradbury are preceded by separate listings showing the nature of the material that exists for each year and by a list of special,
non-chronological sections of the archive.


SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF ERNEST BRADBURY


Ernest Bradbury: March 3, 1919 - November 18, 1994


Ernest Bradbury was born in Leeds on March 3, 1919. Having played the piano and organ since he was a boy, he studied composition privately under Sir Edward Barstow, the organist and choirmaster at York Minster, and wrote a number of songs, some of which were broadcast on the BBC. During the Second World War, as a pacifist, he worked as a forester and with Jewish refugees. In his early twenties he started his long association with the Yorkshire Post, initially as a freelance contributor. In 1947 Bradbury joined the staff as the paper's music critic. During his long career Bradbury wrote sometimes for others newspapers or magazines, like Music and Musicians or The Times. Ernest Bradbury's work includes introductions to concert programmes and articles on other subjects than music. In 1966 Bradbury was awarded the Hannen Swaffer Award for his consistently high standards of music criticism. In 1984 he retired, but he continued to write occasional articles on music. During his career and also
after his retirement Ernest Bradbury lectured in the extramural departments of Leeds and Bradford Universities. In 1977 he become a deacon at Bradford Cathedral. Obituaries of Ernest Bradbury from The Times and the Yorkshire Post can be found in the folder relating to the year 1994.


THE INDEXES

Susan Bradbury created indexes of Ernest Bradbury's cuttings on music for every year. For each year there are separate alphabetical indexes of:

• conductors and chorus directors

• orchestras and choruses

• composers and compositions

• soloists

• venues

• miscellaneous (for other important information)


In every case Susan Bradbury recorded the date of the article and the name of the newspaper or magazine in which it was published.


THE GUIDE

Preceding the index to each year Susan Bradbury provided a guide drawing attention to the most important aspects of Ernest Bradbury's work during the year. Sometimes she noted that cuttings are missing and are replaced by typescripts. These Guides are attached to the record for the year they relate to - the short synopsis is readable on the catalogue and the guide itself can be downloaded from the 'media' tab.

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Biography or history

Ernest Bradbury was born in Leeds on 3 March 1919. Having played the piano and organ since he was a boy, he studied composition privately under Sir Edward Bairstow, the organist and choirmaster at York Minster, and wrote a number of songs, some of which were broadcast on the BBC. During the Second World War, as a pacifist, he worked as a forester and with Jewish refugees. In his early twenties he started his long association with the Yorkshire Post, initially as a freelance contributor. In 1947 Bradbury joined the staff as the paper's music critic. During his long career Bradbury sometimes wrote for other newspapers or magazines, like "Music and Musicians", "Musical Times", and the "Radio Times". He was a champion of the composers Peter Warlock and Edmund Rubbra. Ernest Bradbury's work includes introductions to concert programmes and articles on subjects other than music, notably art and drama. He also wrote broadcasts for BBC music programmes, and, whilst working on the Yorkshire
Post, covered music in London and numerous British and International music festivals. In 1966 Bradbury was awarded the Hannen Swaffer Award for his consistently high standards of music criticism. In 1984 he retired, but continued to write occasional articles on music. During his career and also after his retirement he lectured in the extra-mural departments of Leeds and Bradford Universities. In 1977 he became a deacon at Bradford Cathedral. Ernest Bradbury died on 18 November 1994.

System of arrangement

The items are arranged in chronological order, year by year. For every year Ernest Bradbury's cuttings on music are separated from cuttings on other subjects and from copies of other writers' works. Ernest Bradbury's cuttings on music were dated and indexed by his widow Susan Bradbury, who also provided a guide and a detailed index for every year; these guides and indexes now form part of Handlist 133. The cuttings on subjects other than music and relating to other writers' works are only dated, and not indexed. In addition to the year-by-year folders there are other folders with items covering several years; this material is sometimes dated only by year. The MS 1649 catalogue is based on an historic inventory. The arrangement of material does not necessarily represent the original order of the archive and it is considered partly processed by an archivist. When making requests to consult, please be aware that there may be discrepancies between description and physical arrangement. The
retrievable unit for this collection is file level.

Access and usage

Access

Access to this material is unrestricted.

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