Melbourne: The University of Melbourne 2007

Denis Herlin

ISBN 0734036469 170pp

Reviewed by Helen Rusak

This publication is a treasury of information for any lover of early music and is the key to the exceptionally significant ‘Hanson-Dyer Music Collection’ held by the University of Melbourne.

In 2005, Melbourne University received this collection as the bequest of Louise Hanson-Dyer (1884-1962). Hanson-Dyer was a Melbourne-born music philanthropist who in 1932 established Editions de l’Oiseau-Lyre of Paris (later Monaco), named after the rare Australian lyrebird. L’Oiseau-Lyre became one of the world’s leading scholarly publishers of musical editions along with baroque and contemporary fine music recordings. During Louise Hanson-Dyer’s lifetime she also amassed a private music collection of some 250 prints and manuscripts dating from the 15^th to the early 19^th centuries.

Louise B.M. Dyer (nee Smith, later Hanson) was an arts patron who commenced her career as an advanced student of piano. Her studies took her to UK, but she returned to teach in Melbourne after deciding not to pursue a concert career. Following her marriage to Scotsman James Dyer (“Jimmy Linoleum” to street press wags), Louise Dyer became a prominent patron and participant in Melbourne musical life.  She promoted French music in her capacity as President of the Alliance Française and established the British Music Society before leaving Australia to live in London in 1927. Two years later she moved permanently to Paris.

After the death of her first husband in 1938, Louise Dyer married the British literary scholar J.B. ‘Jeff’ Hanson (1910-1971). They worked together in Monaco to build up a catalogue of often luxuriously produced editions of music ranging from the 13^th to the 20^th centuries, with the emphasis on French music, particularly the harpsichord repertory of the 17^th and 18^th centuries. Couperin, Lully and Purcell are the best-represented composers in Dyer’s collection. Other more eclectic manuscript purchases correspond to the opportunities that her frequent travels provided. Dyer was particularly interested in theoretical writing, with the earliest printed work in her library, the De Arithmetica ad Partitium of Boethius, dating from 1499. Her collection also included editions of Thomas Mace, John Playford and Sébastien de Brossard. In addition there are a relatively significant number of 18^th Century French comic operas.

Meticulously compiled by one of the worlds leading music bibliographers, Denis Herlin, the Catalogue of the Hanson-Dyer Music Collection includes a substantial introduction by Herlin (in French with English translation by Elliot Forsythe) and over 50 black and white plates. The back cover features Louise B.M. Dyer’s personal ex-libris. This bookplate represents an interior of her Paris apartment, with its view towards the Eiffel Tower, and includes a double page score on which the name ‘Lully’ is written – tribute to Dyer’s commitment to create an edition of Œuvres complètes of Lully, a dream never completed and which ended in court.

Herlin’s introduction provides information about the catalogue’s construction and intent. The bibliographic rationale is explained along with a list of abbreviations and a selective bibliography – making a clear and coherent document to navigate the collection in its entirety.  Following the catalogue proper is an attractive series of plates of music reproducing devices, bookplates and inscriptions from the collection. Here, too, is a series of music manuscript plates from the collection. The publication is finalised with a concordance of call numbers and entry numbers, provenance index and author index – altogether a lucid and well-constructed research tool and record of a fascinating music collection.

In his preface to the catalogue, Professor Larkins, Chair bequest committee University of Melbourne and Deputy Vice Chancellor, gratefully acknowledges Maragrita M. Hanson (Jeff Hanson’s second wife), to whom the catalogue is dedicated. Éditions de l'Oiseau-Lyre was run by Mme. Hanson from 1971 to 1996. It was through her that this collection passed to the University of Melbourne. Larkin also acknowledges the important role-played by leading members of the Music Department at the University of Melbourne in facilitating the transfer.

Along with the collection, the bequest has provided for the production of a monograph series, editions, and a continuous historical line of publishing established by Editions de l’Oiseau-Lyre. It is a remarkable fortune that has been bestowed upon the Australian musical community and a fantastic opportunity to establish a base for international historical music research.