Century-old original hand-written manuscripts have been discovered in the Bay of Plenty Symphonia’s library.

Two handwritten manuscripts by English composer Gustav Holst have been discovered in Tauranga on New Zealand’s North Island. The signed scores – a previous unpublished collection Folk Songs from Somerset and Two Songs without words, for which the original score was thought to have been lost – date back to 1906.

“Our librarian, Gloria Pheasant, and I were cleaning up the sheet music library a few years ago,” Bay of Plenty Symphonia’s Music Director Justus Rozemond said in an article on the community orchestra’s website. “We were throwing away tons of old photocopies and found these hand-written scores. We didn’t really believe we were holding genuine Holst manuscripts, but there was just enough of a tingle of excitement not to throw them away.”

Bronya Dean, Gloria Pheasant and Justus Rozemond examine the score of Folk Songs from Somerset. Photo © Bay of Plenty Symphonia

Pheasant and Rozemond confirmed that the hand-writing looked similar to that of Holst and that the address written on the manuscripts was one at which the composer...