Sorabji Resource Site: Dedicatees and Dates of First Meetings

Dedicatees and Dates of First Meeting

This page gives, in alphabetical order, the names of the dedicatees of Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji’s musical works, together with the date, given in as complete a form as possible, but very often conjectural, on which a first meeting or a first exchange of letters (whoever the first writer may be) took place. In addition to the information on the date of first acquaintance, the page gives a different view of the data on the number of works dedicated to each person.

Conventions used for dates

Format: year-month-day format, often followed by ATL (at the latest), which in many cases is all that can be said.
Italic: date of completion of a dedicated work.
Bullet (•): date derived from a letter to Sorabji,
Pilcrow (¶): date derived from a letter from Sorabji.
Em dash (—): unknown date.

Click on a column heading to sort, then shift-click on other headings to sort on multiple columns.
Surround strings with quotation marks for specific searches. Refresh the page to revert to the initial order.

Dedicatee	Titles	Works (N)	Date of First Meeting
Dedicatee	Titles	Works (N)	Date of First Meeting
Ashworth, Edward Clarke	Symphonic Variations for Piano (1935-37; 484 pp.) “Quaere reliqua hujus materiei inter secretiora” (1940; 16 pp.) {Letters to Frank Holliday suggest that the “E.” of the dedication could be this friend.}	2	1937-00-00 (ATL)
Best, Reginald Norman	Nocturne, “Jāmī” (1928; 28 pp.) Transcription of the Prelude in E-flat by Bach (1945; 4 pp.) Messa grande sinfonica (1955-61; 1,001 pp.)	3	Late 1920s, maybe earlier
Bowen, York	Passeggiata veneziana sopra la Barcarola di Offenbach (1955-56; 24 pp.)	1	1939-00-00 (ATL)
Brittain, Rex H.	Arabesque (1920; 2 pp.) Prelude, Interlude, and Fugue for Piano (1920, 1922; 17 pp.)	2	1920-00-00 (ATL)
Bromage, Bernard	Concerto pour piano et orchestra da camera [no. 3] (1918; 100 pp.) Toccata [no. 1] for Piano (1928; 66 pp.) {transferred to Frank Holliday} Sonata V (Opus archimagicum) (1934-35; 336 pp.) {transferred to Frank Holliday)	3	1918-00-00 (ATL)
Burton-Page, Anthony	Fantasiettina atematica (1981; 2 pp.)	1	1979-04-21¶ (ATL)
Busoni, Ferruccio	Sonata no. 1 for Piano (1919; 42 pp.) Sonata seconda for Piano (1920; 49 pp.) Variazioni e fuga triplice sopra “Dies irae” per pianoforte (1923-26; 201 pp.) {in memory of}	3	1919-11-25
Chisholm, Erik	Trois poèmes du “Gulistān” de Saʿdī (1926, rev. 1930; 16 pp.) Symphony no. 0 for Piano Solo (1930-31; 333 pp.) Tāntrik Symphony for Piano Alone (1938-39; 284 pp.)	3	1926-11-25¶; 1929-07-17 (ATL; meeting in London)
Cooper, James H., and Joy McArden	Trois poèmes (1941; 13 pp.)	1	1941-00-00 (ATL; no known meeting)
Cortot, Alfred	Concerto for Piano and Orchestra [no. 5] (1920; 144 pp.)	1	1921-10-09• (ATL; no known meeting, but letters exist)
Davies, E. Emlyn	Second Symphony for Organ (1929-32; 350 pp.)	1	1928-05-17 (ATL)
Davey, Frank	Fragment: Prelude and Fugue on FxAxx DAxEx (1926; 3 pp.)	1	1926-00-00 (ATL)
De Solis, Aldo Solito	Concerto V for Piano and Large Orchestra [no. 8] (1927-28; 344 pp.)	1	1928-00-00 (ATL; no known meeting or even letter)
Delius, Frederick	Il tessuto d’arabeschi (1979; 32 pp.) {in memory of}	1	1930-04-23• (no meeting)
Derus, Kenneth	Opus secretum atque necromanticum (1980-81; 48 pp.) {dedicated to Gentieu on 28 March 1981 and to Derus on 26 May 1984}	1	1974-08-14• (ATL)
Edroff-Smith, Emily	Symphony [no. 1] for Organ (1924; 81 pp.) Transcription in the Light of Harpsichord Technique for the Modern Piano of the Chromatic Fantasia of J. S. Bach, Followed by a Fugue (1940; 15 pp.)	2	1892-08-14 (since birth)
Ellis, Havelock	Concerto per pianoforte e piccola orchestra, “Simorg-Anka” [no. 7] (1924; 100 pp.)	1	1920-07-20• (ATL)
Garvelmann, Donald M.	Pasticcio capriccioso sopra l’op. 64, no 1 del Chopin (1933; 8 pp.) {dedicated to the composer’s mother; inscription to Garvelmann added some time in or after 1969}	1	1967-08-04•
Gentieu, Norman P.	Concerto pour piano et grand orchestre [no. 4] (1918; 100 pp.) Third Organ Symphony (1949-53; 305 pp.) Suggested Bell-Chorale for St. Luke’s Carillon (1961; 1 p.) Opus secretum atque necromanticum (1980-81; 48 pp.) {also, and independently, to Kenneth Derus}	4	1946-03-10•; 1985-05-31 (meeting around this date)
Gray-Fisk, Clinton	Toccatinetta sopra C.G.F. (1929; 8 pp.) Sonata V (Opus archimagicum) (1934-35; 336 pp.) Toccata terza (1955; 91 pp.)	3	1929-00-00 (ATL)
Habermann, Michael	“Il gallo d’oro” da Rimsky-Korsakov: Variazioni frivole con una fuga anarchica, eretica e perversa (1978-79; 93 pp.)	1	1971-07-05• (ATL)
Heseltine, Philip	Concerto [no. 1] pour piano et grand orchestre (1915-16; 177 pp.) Quintet no. 1 for Piano and Quartet of Stringed Instruments (1919-20; 72 pp.)	2	1913-10-03¶
Hinton, Alistair	Sonata III for Piano (1922; 75 pp.) {1970s} Symphony no. 0 for Piano Solo (1930-31; 333 pp.) {1975; a previous dedication to Erik Chisholm is also possible, the work having been written for him} Benedizione di San Francesco d’Assisi (1973; 2 pp.) Symphonia brevis for Piano (1973; 120 pp.) Opusculum clavisymphonicum vel claviorchestrale (1973-75; 334 pp.) Sixth Symphony for Piano (Symphonia claviensis) (1975-76; 270 pp.) Frammenti aforistici (4) (1977; 1 p.) Symphonic Nocturne for Piano Alone (1977-78; 113 pp.) {dedicated verbally}	8	1972-02-00•; 1972-08-21 (meeting)
Holliday, Frank	Toccata [no. 1] for Piano (1928; 66 pp.) “Gulistān”—Nocturne for Piano (1940; 28 pp.) {transferred to Harold Morland in 1979} Second Symphony for Piano (1954; 248 pp.) {transferred to Harold Morland in 1979} Toccata quarta (1964-67; 149 pp.) {transferred to Paul Rapoport in 1979}	4	1937-00-00
Ireland, John	Opusculum for Orchestra (1923; 36 pp.) Opus clavisymphonicum—Concerto for Piano and Large Orchestra for Piano and Large Orchestra (1957-59; 333 pp.)	2	1923-05-00 (ATL)
Jenkins, Theodore	Two Piano Pieces (1918, 1920; 20 pp.)	1	1920-00-00 (ATL)
MacDiarmid, Hugh	Opus clavicembalisticum (1929-30; 253 pp.) Fantasiettina sul nome illustre dell’egregio poeta Christopher Grieve ossia Hugh M’Diarmid (1961; 10 pp.)	2	1921-00-00 (ATL)
Madge, Geoffrey Douglas	Passeggiata arlecchinesca sopra un frammento di Busoni (“Rondò arlecchinesco”) (1981-82; 16 pp.)	1	1980-02-04 (visit)
Marchesi, Blanche	L’irrémédiable (1927; 8 pp.)	1	1919-11-25 (same day as with Busoni)
Marrot, Vincent	Valse-fantaisie for Piano (1925; 16 pp.)	1	1925-00-00 (ATL)
Martine, Marthe	Trois poèmes pour chant et piano (1918, 1919; 9 pp.)	1	1921-06-02 (ATL)
Morland, Harold	“Gulistān”—Nocturne for Piano (1940; 28 pp.) {transferred from Frank Holliday in 1979} Second Symphony for Piano (1954; 248 pp.) {transferred from Frank Holliday in 1979} Frammenti aforistici (20) (1964; 9 pp.) Frammenti aforistici (Sutras) (104) (1962-64; 37 pp.) {inscribed in 1972 to Donald M. Garvelmann} Frammento cantato (1967; 1 p.)	5	1926-00-00 (ATL)
Nason, Edward	St. Bertrand de Comminges: “He was laughing in the tower” (1941; 16 pp.)	1	1935-00-00 (mid 1930s)
Peterkin, Norman	Quasi habanera (1917; 6 pp.) Fantaisie espagnole (1919; 23 pp.) Toccata seconda per pianoforte (1933-34; 111 pp.) Concerto da suonare da me solo e senza orchestra, per divertirmi (1946; 70 pp.)	4	1917-00-00
Petri, Egon	Sequentia cyclica super “Dies irae” ex Missa pro defunctis (1948-49; 335 pp.)	1	1931-05-00 (ATL)
Procter, Robert William	Due sutras sul nome dell’amico Alexis (1981, 1984; 2 pp.)	1	— (never met)
Rapoport, Paul	Toccata quarta (1964-67; 149 pp.) {transferred in 1979 from Frank Holliday}	1	1976-06-14 (visit; correspondence had begun in late 1974)
Richards, George	Third Symphony for Piano Solo (1959-60; 144 pp.)	1	1934-06-00 (ca.)
Rowley, Alec	Fantasia ispanica (1933; 54 pp.)	1	1930-11-00
Rutland, Harold	Fragment Written for Harold Rutland (1926, 1928, 1937; 2 pp.) Un nido di scatole sopra il nome del grande e buon amico Harold Rutland (1954; 26 pp.) Fourth Symphony for Piano Alone (1962-64; 240 pp.)	3	1922-00-00 (ATL)
Saurat, Denis	Quintet II for Piano and String Quartet (1932-33; 432 pp.)	1	1929-00-00 (late 1920s)
Scott, Francis George	Sonata IV for Piano (1928-29; 111 pp.)	1	1921-00-00 (ca.)
Sitwell, Sir Sacheverell	Rosario d’arabeschi (1956; 45 pp.)	1	1921-11-00 (ATL)
Solomon, Yonty	Sonata III for Piano (1922; 75 pp.) {dedicated to Alistair Hinton on 6 October 1973 and to Solomon around the time of his performance of the work (16 June 1977)}	1	1976-04-23¶ (ATL)
Sorabji, Madeline Matilda (née Worthy; the composer’s mother)	Chaleur—Poème (1916-17; 32 pp.) Trois fêtes galantes de Verlaine (ca. 1919; 11 pp.) Symphony [no. 1] for Piano, Large Orchestra, Chorus, and Organ (1921-22; 300 pp.) Movement for Voice and Piano (1927, 1931; 9 pp.) Pasticcio capriccioso sopra l’op. 64, no 1 del Chopin (1933; 8 pp.)	5	1892-08-14 (since birth, or even conception)
Spencer-Bentley, Clive	Passeggiata variata sul nome del caro e gentile giovane amico Clive Spencer-Bentley (1981; 3 pp.)	1	1979-07-00 (ATL)
Stevenson, Ronald	Villa Tasca: Mezzogiorno siciliano—Evocazione nostalgica e memoria tanta cara e preziosa del giardino meraviglioso, splendido, tropicale (1979-80; 47 pp.)	1	1958-07-28•; 1979-06-27 (meeting)
Trew, Charles A.	Concerto pour piano et orchestra da camera [no. 3] (1918; 100 pp.)	1	1910-00-00 (early 1910s)
Vicars, Mervyn (with Denise, Adrian, and Kevin)	Quintet II for Piano and String Quartet (1932-33; 432 pp.) {dedicatee to Denis Saurat; inscription to Vicars added in 1969}	1	1933-00-00
Welsh, Henry	Études transcendantes (100) (1940-44; 456 pp.)	1	1936-00-00 (ATL)
Williams, Christopher à Becket	Three Pastiches for Piano (1922; 17 pp.) {no. 3 only} Le jardin parfumé: Poem for Piano Solo (1923; 16 pp.)	2	1922-00-00 (ATL)