Klaus Döring's Classical Music/Klaus Döring's Klassische Musik

by Maureen Buja, Interlude Starting in the 16th century with small albums created by fellow classmates and continuing into the 20th century with the rise of musical groupies (actually, this started much earlier), the autograph book is an interesting view into the relationship between musicians and their audience. An autograph book is typically a small book (4”x 6” or A6 size) that was small enough to fit into the owner’s hand (or handbag) and could be produced when a celebrity was sited. Some autograph books only have signatures, but others, particularly those kept for signing at parties, often have more interesting contents. This book, up for auction in December 2013 at  Bonham’s , has the signatures of all four members of the Beatles: Whereas this leaf is much more interesting: The English conductor John Barbirolli signed this page in 1927 “With best wishes” and included a bit of music from  Puccini ’s  La bohème . At the time, Barbirolli was just 28 years old and condu...