TRANSCRIPTION
1697 Broadway1
New York, N.Y.
July 18th, 1934
Professor L. R. Lewis2
Music Department
Tufts College, Mass.
Dear Professor Lewis,
At the suggestion of Mr. Belcher3,
I am writ-
ing to ask whether you would be kind enough to send
me a copy of the song "Sword of Ferrara"4
so that I may
look same over and see what we can do with it for one
of our future broadcasts.5
Thanking you, I am
Very truly yours,
Fred Waring
HH6
I don't know how much you care
about music. Fred Waring
is "Tops" of his class of music, over
the radio. No one would
ever know his name from his signature!7
NOTES:
1.
In the late
1930's, Fred Waring formed his own publishing company
called Words and Music, Inc. The offices were located on floors 10
through 12 at 1697 Broadway in New York City. The company remained
there until 1947 when it moved to Pennsylvania and changed its name
to Shawnee Press.
2.
Professor
Leo Rich Lewis (1865-1945) was professor of music and
Chairman of the Music Department at Tufts College for 50 years. He
composed "Sword of Ferrara" (see # 6 below).
3.
So far, Mr. Belcher has not be identified.
4.
"Sword of Ferrara" by
Frederick Field Bullard was published by G. Schirmer,
the Boston Music Company in 1899. According to the Concise Encyclopedia of
Tufts History, by Anne Sauer, Prof. Lewis
married Carrie Nichols Bullard, a fellow
composer and accompanist in December of 1892, and presumably, there was a
connection between Lewis' wife and composer Bullard [father or brother?].
Several
copies are on file in the archives of Tufts University.
5. Radio
broadcasts by Waring's Pennsylvanians began in 1933.
6.
Secretary "H.H."
has not been identified.
7.
This note
was penciled at the bottom by an unknown person. It appears, however,
to be contemporary (ca. 1934) due to use of present tense "...is Tops of his
class of
music over the radio."
REV. 01/15/2004
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