STAGE WORKS

 

This list is probably of most interest to researchers, as any stage works published in full have been out of print since the 1950s. The best songs from the plays are in print though.

Plays are listed in date order in each section below.

Orchestral scores are with the publisher, unless (as in the case of Curwen) they have been lost.

Where the manuscript is with the Martin Shaw Archive at the British Library, there is often interesting accompanying correspondence.

To view the manuscripts and correspondence contact the Manuscripts department via email at: music-collections@bl.uk.

Play texts that were published are shown with the usual links to the libary databases COPAC and WorldCat.

 

 

LONDON PERFORMANCES

MSTrust crest 1903: THE VIKINGS (Ibsen)

...with Ellen Terry and her son Edward Gordon Craig at the Imperial Theatre.

Shaw's overture, preludes and incidental music remain in manuscript with his Archive.

Contact via email at: music-collections@bl.uk

 

MSTrust crest 1911 : SOUL OF THE WORLD (Mabel Dearmer)

Mystery Play of the Nativity & Passion,
39 pages

Overture, preludes and incidental music
Music Manuscript with : Stainer & Bell

Joseph Williams 1911

COPAC   WORLDCAT

 

 

MSTrust crest 1912 : THE DREAMER (Mabel Dearmer)

The Story of Joseph
Mowbray, 1912.

COPAC   WORLDCAT

 

Preludes, hymns and incidental music are in manuscript with the Martin Shaw Archive.

Contact the British Library via email at: music-collections@bl.uk

 

 

MSTrust crest 1926 : MR. PEPYS (Clifford Bax) Everyman Theatre 1926

A Ballad Opera in three acts;
pf acc.; full score 126 pages
Overture and 22 songs,
Cramer, 1926, William Heineman

Correspondence and press reviews
with the Martin Shaw Archive.

Contact Curator of Music Manuscripts Nicolas Bell: BL

 

French’s Acting Edition: 1497, 1927

COPAC   WORLDCAT

 

 

MSTrust crest 1929 : THE SILVER TASSIE (Sean O'Casey) Apollo Theatre

Shaw's plainsong melodies were used for Act II
in the original production at the Apollo Theatre.
A copy of the play, signed by Sean O'Casey
thanking Shaw for his work, is with the Martin Shaw Archive

Contact the British Library via email at: music-collections@bl.uk

 

 

 

MSTrust crest 1931 : THE THORN OF AVALON (Barlay Baron) An Opera in 3 Acts

1st performed at the TocH Festival at the Crystal Palace, 6th June 1931.

In the first Christian century (Act 1) the Isle of Avalon , an outlying knoll between the Mendips and the Somerset Levels, was still approached by water, which in later centuries (Act II) was drained away...

St Joseph of Arimathea, having borne the gospel from Jerusalem to Wales, landed at the site of what is now Glastonbury Abbey. As he stepped ashore he drove his hawthorne staff into the ground, where it took root and miraculously blossomed thereafter twice a year at Christmas and Easter.

After the Thorn was cut down by a Puritan, (Act III) slips from it were planted in many places and continue to repeat the miracle of its two-fold blossom.

Dramatis Personae:

St Joseph of Aramathea
The Archangel Gabriel
Sir Bevedere, now a hermit
The spirit of King Arthur
Sir Lancelot, a penitent
A Puritan

(I) The Eleven Companions of St Joseph
(II) Knights, monks, torch-bearers, crowd
(III) May-Day revellers, country dancers etc.

Score 56 pages

OUP 1931

 

COPAC   WORLDCAT

 

 

MSTrust crest 1932 : PHILOMEL (Clifford Bax) Ambassador’s Theatre

Play by Jefferson Farjeon

Correspondence with an apologetic Jefferson Farjeon & press reviews
(which praised the music) are with the Martin Shaw Archive.

Contact the British Library via email at: music-collections@bl.uk

 

 

MSTrust crest 1934 : THE ROCK (TS Eliot) Performed at Sadlers Wells , May 1934

Pageant Play with a cast of 300

Complete manuscript full score & parts,
vocal score, privately printed choral parts
are with the Martin Shaw Archive

Contact the British Library via email at: music-collections@bl.uk

Choruses from 'The Rock' included in TS Eliot's 'Selected Poems'

Faber & Faber 1934

COPAC   WORLDCAT

 

 

MSTrust crest 1936 : JUDGEMENT AT CHELMSFORD (Charles Williams)

Pageant play, first performed at New Scala Theatre

93 pages

OUP 1939

COPAC   WORLDCAT

 

Note: The Chelmsford Diocese had wanted to produce 'The Rock' but copyright issues had prevented this.
Manuscript and Correspondence are in the Martin Shaw Archive

Contact the British Library via email at: music-collections@bl.uk

 

 

MSTrust crest 1936 : MASTER VALIANT (Barclay Baron)

A Choral Masque set in the Age of Chivalry
First performed at Crystal Palace for the coming-of-age celebrations for TocH; produced by Clive Carey; conductor, George F. Brockless

An allegory for Youth growing up in the 20th century living before, during and after War.

43 pages   Soli & chorus

Act I: The Sacrifice
Woodland spirits and a Morris Dance symbolize the gaiety of the pre-War time; but the sinister figure of an Outlaw foreshadows tragedy...

Act II: The Proof
The stage fills with a rustic crowd. A group of miserable people approach Valiant, who helps them as best he can...

Act III: The Commission
Scene, a chapel, night growing to early morning. Valiant is keeping his vigil. His two Governors (sponsors) come to robe and arm him for the ceremony of knighthood...

OUP 1936

Orchestral score may be available in OUP archive.
Note: Shaw's anthem Go Forth with God! comes from Act III

 

COPAC   WORLDCAT

 

 

CHILDRENS’ PLAYS

MSTrust crest 1913 : THE COCKYOLLY BIRD (Mabel Dearmer)

Mrs. Prim and Mrs Prue are having trouble with Kit, who is being naughty. So is Miss Brown, because Kit will not learn his geography. She locks him up in the school-room and puts his two friends Jum-Jum and the Cockyolly bird in the cupboard... and Kit's adventures begin.

...So round the world to the schoolroom again, back to Miss Brown and more geography. But now Kit surprises Miss Brown by knowning more geography than she does. The play has shown us how –and why

46 pages
6 scenes
31 musical numbers

Curwen 1930

 

COPAC   WORLDCAT

 

 

MSTrust crest 1914 : BRER RABBIT & MR FOX - a musical frolic, (Mabel Dearmer)

A musical play based on the Uncle Remus folk stories popularized by Joel Chandler Harris.

74 pages
5 scenes
50 musical numbers

Costume designs for the production by Pamela Coleman Smith, photographs and other memorabilia are with the Mark Samuels Lasner Collection at the University of Delaware

Joseph Williams 1914

Vocal score with Stainer & Bell

 

COPAC

 

 

SACRED PLAYS/ OPERA

MSTrust crest 1911: THE SOUL OF THE WORLD (see above)

 

MSTrust crest 1912: THE DREAMER (see above)

 

MSTrust crest 1929 : EASTER (John Masefield)

A play for singers
Soli, Chorus & Double Choir
Performance time 25 - 30 mins not allowing for soldier’s dialogue.
Curwen 3686, 1929
(orchestral parts probably lost)
Heineman, 1929

 

COPAC   WORLDCAT

 

 

MSTrust crest 1929 : AT THE SIGN OF THE STAR (Barclay Baron)

A Christmas mime retelling the Christmas story c.1800

24 pages   Soli, SATB chorus, Overture

OUP 1929
Orchestral score may be available from OUP

 

COPAC   WORLDCAT

 

 

MSTrust crest 1930 : A MASQUE OF LIVERPOOL (John Masefield)

Written for the opening of Liverpool Cathedral
Music manuscript score with the Martin Shaw Archive.

Contact the British Library via email at: music-collections@bl.uk

 

Verse contained within ‘The Wanderer of Liverpool’ John Masefield
William Heineman, 1930

COPAC

 

 

MSTrust crest 1931 : THE THORN OF AVALON (see above)

 

MSTrust crest 1934 : THE ROCK (see above)

 

MSTrust crest 1936 : JUDGEMENT AT CHELMSFORD (see above)

 

MSTrust crest 1936 : MASTER VALIANT (Barclay Baron) (see above)

 

 

SCHOOL PLAYS

MSTrust crest 1916 : THE PEDLAR (Percy A. Scholes )

The Autolycus Scene from ‘A Winter’s Tale’
Duration ½ hr.

“Six delightful songs and two dances full of rough and tumble jollity. May be performed by boys only.”

Evans, 1916

COPAC   WORLDCAT

 

 

MSTrust crest 1918 : THE FOOLS AND FAIRIES (Percy A. Scholes)

adaptation of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'
Overture, dances and 8 songs.
Play and music: 27 pages

"It contains every bit ... which is interesting to children –i.e., it omits only the lovemaking and love-marring.... It is complete in itself, requiring no previous knowlege on the part of the audience; it is actual Shakespeare...

...it abounds in oportunities for music and dances... for Solo and Chorus; it affords an occasion for the employment of any number of performers up to the limits of the size of the stage."

Evans 1918; Cramer 1955

COPAC   WORLDCAT

 

 

MSTrust crest 1925 : A CHRISTMAS PAGEANT (Joan Cobbold)
A masque for children

17 pages 10 songs 2 dances

Curwen 3666, Schirmer NY, 1925

COPY at British Library, St. Pancras,
shelfmark H.3822.a. (3.)

COPAC   WORLDCAT

 

MSTrust crest 1928 : THE MONTHS (from Christina Rossetti’s Pageant of the Months)

dramatized by Joan Cobbold,
36 pages solo/unison, SS, dances

Cramer Music 1928,

COPAC   WORLDCAT

 

 

MSTrust crest 1929 : THE WHISPERING WOOD (Rodney Bennett)
A Musical Play for Youth

The story of Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs

78 pages
Prologue and 3 Acts
26 musical numbers

“The music seems difficult but it fitted the words so well that I did not find it difficult to teach to eleven and twelve year olds..”
Headmistress, Reigate County School for Girls, 1955

OUP 1929

COPAC   WORLDCAT

 

Correspondence with Rodney Bennett in the Martin Shaw Archive

Contact the British Library via email at: music-collections@bl.uk

 

 

MSTrust crest 1936 : THE TRAVELLING MUSICIANS (Joan Cobbold)

The story of 4 farm animals who feared their fate
so set forth to find their fortune

41 pages
4 scenes
16 musical numbers

Novello, 1936

COPAC   WORLDCAT

 

 

 

UNPUBLISHED

MSTrust crest 1912 : THE BRAVE LITTLE TAILOR (George Calderon & William Caine)

mentioned in Up to Now: pp 111 - 113

A children's Fairy Play
typescript & manuscript with the Martin Shaw Archive

Contact the British Library via email at: music-collections@bl.uk

 

 

MSTrust crest 1929 : WATERLOO LEAVE (Clifford Bax)

Manuscript full score and individual airs no.s 1- 33
with the Martin Shaw Archive

Correspondence with Clifford Bax also with Archive

Contact the British Library via email at: music-collections@bl.uk