SIGNED! "LETTERS FROM WILLIAM HENRY BELL" EDITED AND COMPILED BY HUBERT DU PLESSIS, 1973 FIRST EDITION, HARDCOVER WITH DUSTJACKET WHICH HAS SOME TEARS. 100 PAGES. INSCRIPTION TO PREVIOUS OWNER. IN VERY GOOD CONDITION. LIMITED EDITION OF 300 OF WHICH THIS IS NUMBER 151.
Hubert Lawrence du Plessis was born on 7 June 1922 on the farm Groenrivier in the Malmesbury district. He attended school in Porterville and was the first student to obtain a BA in Music at the Conservatoire in Stellenbosch (1940-43 cum laude). He continued his studies at Rhodes University (1946-1951), Unisa and at the Royal Academy of Music (1951-1954 ) in London. He lectured on Music and Composition at Stellenbosch University from 1958 until his retirement in 1987. Hubert du Plessis performed as pianist and on the harpsicord. His compositions include a large variety of genres: children's music, chamber music, choir music, Kunstlieder and symphonies. Among the best known are Vreemde Liefde (I D du Plessis, 1951), the string quartet (1953), the choir music, Slamse Beelde (with poems by I D du Plessis, 1959), and the Huguenot-Cantata (1988). Hubert du Plessis died on 12 March 2011 in his house in Stellenbosch.
WH Bell was born in St Albans and was a chorister at St Albans Cathedral. He studied organ, violin and piano in London at the Royal Academy of Music along with composition under Frederick Corder, and modal counterpoint privately with Charles Villiers Stanford. He won the Goss Scholarship in 1899. He mainly made his living as an organist and lecturer; he was Professor of Harmony at the Royal Academy of Music where he taught from 1909 to 1912. In 1911 Bell was Director of Music for the Pageant of London at Crystal Palace. In 1912, Bell went to South Africa to direct the South African College of Music in Cape Town. He was Principal until 1935 and is credited with a significant expansion of the school. In 1920, Bell became Professor of Music at the University of Cape Town, where he held classes for degree courses. The South African College of Music was incorporated into the University in 1923 and Professor Bell became Dean of the Faculty of Music. Bell founded the Little Theatre, a training center for opera, and occasionally directed the Cape Town Music Society. He was also responsible for founding the Speech and Drama Department at UCT in 1931, and the UCT Ballet School in 1934. He died in Gordon's Bay near Somerset West, Cape Province, Union of South Africa. The W H Bell Music Library at the University of Cape Town is named in honour of William Henry Bell.
