16. Corri, Montague. Autograph letter, signed, to Princess Augusta

Corri, Montague. Autograph letter, signed, to Princess Augusta, June 13, no year

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Corri, Montague (1784–1849)
Autograph letter, signed, to Princess Augusta
London, June 13, no year
Box 30, folder 139

Much of the printed music in the Archive bears evidence of royal patronage in the form of dedications and subscription lists. This letter from Montague Corri to Princess Augusta requests her support for a work to be published by subscription, an effort by Corri to increase his list of subscribers and subsequent financial success.

Corri was born in Edinburgh in 1784, son of composer and publisher Domenico Corri (1746–1825), who had left Rome for Edinburgh in 1771 to conduct concerts of the Musical Society of Edinburgh, and later started a music publishing business in London. Montague Corri took over his father’s publishing business in 1804; after the hand injury referred to in his letter to Princess Augusta (“… as through accidentally breaking one of my fingers, I am obliged to relinquish part of the profession …”), he gave up instrumental performance and worked as a composer, publisher, and theater manager.

Corri composed songs and piano works, and published a Treatise on the art of singing (1830) and A new and improved pianoforte tutor (1835). Though the work to which the letter refers is unidentified, two publications by Corri are present in the Archive: A complete course of instructions on the most efficient system of arranging music in score for voices, orchestras, military bands, brass bands &c and National melodies of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.