Elisabeth Charlotta Henrietta Ernestina Headlam-Morley (ne Sonntag) was born at Luneburg on 18 September 1865. Known as Else, she was the youngest daughter of Dr. August Sonntag. She learnt the violin from a former pupil of Friedrich Wieck and the piano from her eldest sister Hedwig (Heidi), who was also a pupil of Wieck, and at the age of seven she wrote her first composition. After her family's move to Dresden, she played at the musical evenings given by Marie Wieck and Clara Schumann.
When she was thirteen she was accepted as a pupil by Liszt, and studied with him at Weimar for five years, until his death in 1886, and afterwards with Franz Xaver Scharwenka in Berlin. Among Liszt's older pupils whom she knew at Weimar were Alfred Reisenauer, Alexander Siloti, Emil Sauer and Arthur Friedheim. She travelled with Liszt to Budapest and appeared as a pianist there and in Vienna under Julius Epstein. She also studied harmony etc. with Heinrich Schulz-Beuthen. In 1892 she married James Wycliffe Headlam-Morley, who was knighted in 1929 for his work as historical adviser to the Foreign Office.
After her marriage, Else Headlam-Morley devoted her time increasingly to composition. She composed two operas
Manuscript and printed scores of Lady Headlam-Morley's own compositions, correspondence, concert programmes, posters and press cuttings, and other papers and photographs.
Presented by Mrs Lorna Headlam-Morley, 1999 (accession Misc. 1999/2000:2).
The collection will be appraised as sorting and listing proceeds.
Roughly grouped in the following categories:
Open for consulation.
Permission to make any published use of material from the collection must be sought in advance from the Sub-Librarian, Special Collections (e-mail PG.Library@durham.ac.uk) and, where appropriate, from the copyright owner. The Library will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.