Autograph musical manuscript (with editorial annotations) by Dylan Thomas’s great friend Daniel Jones which were reproduced in facsimile in the first edition of Under Milk Wood published by J M Dent from whose archive this manuscript comes. Dylan Thomas’s legendary radio play had its first reading in New York City at the Poetry Center on 14th May, 1953 with the poet reading ‘First Voice’ but Thomas did not survive the year, dying in November 1953. The following January 1954 the BBC broadcast the play with Thomas’s role taken, unforgettably, by Richard Burton with our music written by Thomas’s friend Daniel Jones recorded at Laugharne School. From there this ‘play for voice’ begins its storied history.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Eight pages of manuscript score in the hand of Daniel Jones contained within a large manila envelope with the typed reference number from the Dent publishing archive: ‘UNDER MILK WOOD - Dylan Thomas 74153-74166’. The first four pages cover two individual leaves of pre-printed ‘R.C.I.’ music manuscript paper, recto and verso, a vertical fold close to the margin reducing their size to that of the subsequent bifolium which contains pages 5-8, concluding half way down page 8 as in the printed version. There are several forms of annotation. The pencil notes are editorial: pencilled square brackets are placed around the title with ‘omit’ - the titles are in letterpress in the printed version. Where Jones has run onto the second song at the tail of the first leaf there are instructions to ‘fit up with top of next block’ - again executed in the final version. Additionally there are publisher’s notes about dimensions, quality of reproduction ‘Keep music lettering v clear’ and in one case an instruction for a couple of smudged notes in Jones’s hand to be corrected: ‘ARTIST make good’ - again executed in the printed version. This pattern of annotation is repeated throughout, interspersed with time references to ‘372 DENT THURS. A.M.’ - perhaps a meeting. A final layer of annotation is a sequence of biro numbers from 74153-74165 which relates to the page divisions in the final text. An additional item hidden in the envelope is the original pencil design for the spine lettering, as executed, of the printed work. Provenance: Dent publishing archive. These sheets represent Daniel Jones’s last draft of the music that he composed to accompany his friend’s ‘finished version’ of the work which appeared a few months after Thomas’s death in November 1953.
PROVENANCE: Before the archive of J M Dent was sold to the University of North Carolina, the manuscripts and letters of many of the publisher’s more ‘valuable’ writers were sold separately, no doubt including this musical score. The main manuscripts relating to Under Milk Wood are divided between the Harry Ransom Center, Swansea University and the National Library of Wales.
HISTORY: A milestone of radio broadcasting, Under Milk Wood, first broadcast on 25th January 1954, was a 'play for voices' which revealed the hidden lives and dreams of a small Welsh village, Llareggyb, in a richly poetic language and music, associated for many listeners with the mellow tones of Richard Burton. The composer Daniel Jones was a friend from boyhood of Dylan Thomas who worked at Bletchley Park during the war. Thomas died in New York on 9th November 1953 at the age of just 39.
