Manuscripts with Peculiarities

This page gives the titles of all those of Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji’s works that stand out from the full catalogue because of some peculiarity or status, as listed in the table of contents below.

Incomplete or Fragmentary Manuscripts
Lost or Unknown Manuscripts
Works with Multiple Manuscripts
Copyist’s Copies
Piano Solo Parts
Two-Piano Scores for Piano Concertos
Orchestral Works with a Supplementary Score
Works for Piano Solo Left without the Intended Orchestral Part or Partially Orchestrated
Multi-volume Manuscripts
Bindings

Incomplete or Fragmentary Manuscripts

Complete manuscripts exist for the two works whose titles are identified by a bullet (•).

Le mauvais jardinier (1918 or 1919; compl. Chappell Kingsland, 2023; 5 pp.) {breaks after one page; the remaining pages may have been lost, unless Sorabji did not complete the song}
Music to “The Rider by Night” (1919; 54 pp.) {pp. 21-40 are lacking}
Trois poèmes du “Gulistān” de Saʿdī (1926, rev. 1930; 16 pp.)• {one is a fragmentary and later manuscript}
Introduction, Passacaglia, Cadenza, and Fugue (1929; compl. Alexander Abercrombie, 2004; 79 pp.) {originally consisted of 41 pp.}
Toccata seconda per pianoforte (1933-34; 111 pp.)• {one is fragmentary, being limited to pp. 57-98 of the complete one}

Lost or Unknown Manuscripts

The works with 0 p. are known to have existed or to have been written up to a certain point; their existence is usually documented by references in letters. The fate of the manuscripts of the five works published under the composer’s supervision, marked by a bullet (•), is unknown. When he donated the manuscripts of six of his published works to the Library of Congress, he wrote to the librarian, Carl Engel, on 17 March 1928, that he had destroyed the manuscripts of his other published works. Given the fact that several previously unknown manuscripts have come to light since his death, it is perhaps safer not to take this statement too seriously.

Transcription of “In a Summer Garden” (1914; 0 p.)
Vocalise no. 2 (1916; 0 p.)
Medea (1916; 0 p.)
The Reiterated Chord (1916; 0 p.) {only sketches survive}
Concerto II pour piano et grand orchestre (1916-17; 49 pp.) {full score; the extant autograph contains a piano reduction below the solo part whose layout is often so unpianistic as to clearly suggest that it was realized from a full score}
Trois fêtes galantes de Verlaine (ca. 1919; 11 pp.)•
Trois poèmes pour chant et piano (1918, 1919; 9 pp.)• {except for “Pantomime”}
Concerto pour piano et grand orchestre [no. 4] (1918; 100 pp.) {“Première version: Juin-Décembre 1917 [détruite]”) appears at the end of the full score}
Two Piano Pieces (1918, 1920; 20 pp.)•
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra [no. 5] (1920; 144 pp.)• {solo piano part extant, but not in the composer’s handwriting}
Black Mass (1922; 0 p.)
Prelude, Interlude, and Fugue for Piano (1920, 1922; 17 pp.)•
Music for “Faust” (ca. 1930; 0 p.)
The Line (1932; 0 p.)
Le agonie (1951; 0 p.)
Fantasiettina sul nome illustre dell’egregio poeta Christopher Grieve ossia Hugh M’Diarmid (1961; 10 pp.) {lost after Ronald Stevenson had made a copy of it in August 1962}

Works with Multiple Manuscripts

In the case of three of his early songs, Sorabji produced two manuscripts, the first one of which is written in a less careful autography.

The Poplars (1915; 3 pp.)
Vocalise pour soprano fioriturata (1916; 3 pp.)
Hymne à Aphrodite (1916; 5 pp.)
Fantaisie espagnole (1919; 23 pp.)
Rapsodie espagnole de Maurice Ravel—Transcription de concert pour piano (first version, 1923; 16 pp.)
Trois poèmes du “Gulistān” de Saʿdī (1926, rev. 1930; 16 pp.) {one is a fragmentary and later manuscript}
Movement for Voice and Piano (1927, 1931; 9 pp.) {extant manuscript could be a revision}
Toccata seconda per pianoforte (1933-34; 111 pp.) {one is fragmentary, being limited to pp. 57-98 of the complete one}
Fragment Written for Harold Rutland (1926, 1928, 1937; 2 pp.) {three different versions}
Rapsodie espagnole de Maurice Ravel—Transcription de concert pour piano (second version, 1945; 26 pp.) {actually an entirely rewritten version of the work listed above}
Benedizione di San Francesco d’Assisi (1973; 2 pp.)

Copyist’s Copies

During his early years as a composer, Sorabji employed a copyist named A. J. [Alfred James] Collins (b. Dublin, ca. 1873; year of death unknown, but aged 38 in 1911).

Chaleur—Poème (1916-17; 32 pp.) {before 2006 known to exist only in this form}
Quintet no. 1 for Piano and Quartet of Stringed Instruments (1919-20; 72 pp.) {only known original}
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra [no. 5] (1920; 144 pp.) {piano solo part only; manuscript of full score is unknown}
Sonata seconda for Piano (1920; 49 pp.) {made for presentation to Ferruccio Busoni}
Pastiche on the “Minute Waltz” by Chopin (1922; 7 pp.)

Piano Solo Parts

The existence of piano solo parts, mainly for four of the eleven works for piano and orchestra suggests that others may eventually turn up in private collections or on the auction market. A piano solo part for the Concerto pour piano et grand orchestre [no. 4] (1918; 100 pp.) was discovered in a public collection in 2008, and one for the Symphony [no. 1] for Piano, Large Orchestra, Chorus, and Organ (1921-22; 300 pp.) surfaced in 2019.

Concerto pour piano et grand orchestre [no. 4] (1918; 100 pp.) {44 pp.}
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra [no. 5] (1920; 144 pp.) {48 pp.}
Symphony [no. 1] for Piano, Large Orchestra, Chorus, and Organ (1921-22; 300 pp.) {204 pp.}
Concerto V for Piano and Large Orchestra [no. 8] (1927-28; 344 pp.) {104 pp.}
Opus clavisymphonicum—Concerto for Piano and Large Orchestra for Piano and Large Orchestra (1957-59; 333 pp.) {103 pp.}

Two-Piano Scores for Piano Concertos

The existence of two-piano scores for the earliest two piano concertos suggests that such scores may also exist, at least for nos. 3-8, written between 1918 and 1928.

Concerto [no. 1] pour piano et grand orchestre (1915-16; 177 pp.) {untraced}
Concerto II pour piano et grand orchestre (1916-17; 49 pp.) {known only in this form}

Orchestral Works with a Supplementary Score

Five works are accompanied by a supplementary score in a much smaller format, necessary to accommodate (mostly) percussion instruments that do not fit into the main score. The smaller scores contain the same number of pages as the main scores; they are intended to be read together. Further details of the orchestral forces used in these supplementary scores can be found elsewhere.

Symphony [no. 1] for Piano, Large Orchestra, Chorus, and Organ (1921-22; 300 pp.)
Concerto V for Piano and Large Orchestra [no. 8] (1927-28; 344 pp.)
Symphony [no. 2], “Jāmī”, for Large Orchestra, Wordless Chorus, and Baritone Solo (1942-51; 826 pp.)
Symphonic Variations for Piano and Orchestra (1935-37, 1953-56; 540 pp.)
Opus clavisymphonicum—Concerto for Piano and Large Orchestra for Piano and Large Orchestra (1957-59; 333 pp.)

Works for Piano Solo Left without the Intended Orchestral Part or Partially Orchestrated

Sorabji wrote seven large-scale works for piano solo (and also three for solo organ) entitled “Symphony”, a word usuallly employed for works involving the orchestra. The work formerly known as Symphony II for Piano, Large Orchestra, Organ, Final Chorus, and Six Solo Voices (1930-31; 333 pp.), now renamed Symphony no. 0 for Piano Solo (1930-31; 333 pp.), never got beyond the stage where Sorabji, having written the piano part first (as he usually did), added the orchestral parts. It thus remained a work for piano solo.

Another major work, the Symphonic Variations for Piano (1935-37; 484 pp.), is also for piano solo, despite the word “Symphonic”. A version of this work for piano and orchestra, although limited to the contents of the first volume (vars. 1-27, preceded by an “Introitus”), was written later as the Symphonic Variations for Piano and Orchestra (1935-37, 1953-56; 540 pp.). The “Introitus” and vars. 1-4 were orchestrated in the 1930s; vars. 5-27 were scored in the 1950s.

Symphony no. 0 for Piano Solo (1930-31; 333 pp.)
Symphonic Variations for Piano (1935-37; 484 pp.)

Multi-Volume Manuscripts

The size of the following manuscripts dictated that they had to be divided into several bound volumes. Dimensions and weight are given where known.

Études transcendantes (100) (1940-44; 456 pp.) {4 volumes}

Nos. 1-37
Nos. 38-63
Nos. 64-82
Nos. 83-100

Symphony [no. 2], “Jāmī”, for Large Orchestra, Wordless Chorus, and Baritone Solo (1942-51; 826 pp.) {3 volumes}

Main score: 50.5 × 35.5 × 11.5 cm; 6.3, 2.7, 6.8 kg = 15.8 kg
Small score: 18.0 × 35.5 × 6.0 cm; 2.7 kg
Total weight: 18.5 kg

Messa grande sinfonica (1955-61; 1,001 pp.) {3 volumes}

Dimensions: 50.3 × 27.0 × 14.5 cm
Weight: 6.3, 5.9, 5.9 kg
Total weight: 18.1 kg

Bindings

The following four pieces were bound into a volume entitled “Four Short Piano Works”. Several of Sorabji’s works, especially the larger ones, were bound by highly skilled professionals at Zaehnsdorf (founded 1842, now owned by Shepherds Bookbinders (Sangorski & Sutcliffe). There is currently no list of the bound volumes; this would require work at the Paul Sacher Stiftung, which is the location of a large number of manuscripts, and the resulting list would only include the manuscripts in their possession.

Fragment Written for Harold Rutland (1926, 1928, 1937; 2 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.)
“Quaere reliqua hujus materiei inter secretiora” (1940; 16 pp.)
“Gulistān”—Nocturne for Piano (1940; 28 pp.)