"When Elgar’s Symphony no. 1 was introduced in Manchester in December 1908, it was immediately hailed as a long-awaited landmark—as England’s First Symphony in effect, the first true masterpiece England had produced to set beside the great works in that form by Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and, more recently Brahms, Dvorák, and Tchaikovsky...Elgar’s Violin Concerto, which premiered in November 1910, extended the composer’s triumphal run and predicted more great things to come. Then, six months later, Elgar’s Second Symphony fell flat. The hall wasn’t full; the response was tepid. 'They sit there like a lot of stuffed pigs,' Elgar said to the concertmaster as they left the stage...Although Elgar was devastated by the public response to his new symphony—particularly after the enthusiasm that greeted his two previous big works, the First Symphony and the Violin Concerto—there also is reason to believe that he overreacted. The critics spoke of an enthusiastic reception and wrote glowingly of the symphony itself (The Telegraph said it was decidedly better than the First). Attendance was low, it has been suggested, because ticket prices were unusually high and the music was all new (the other premieres were by Walford Davies and Bantock)—always a fatal combination, even with a name like Elgar’s on the bill." (Phillip Huscher, Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Dimitri Mitropoulos was Greece’s most prolific conductor and New York Philharmonic Music Director from 1949-1958. Widely regarded as one of the most significant conductors of the twentieth century, he is best remembered for his significant recorded legacy and for his commitment in bringing new compositions to the stage of major symphony orchestras. Indeed, it is thanks to his efforts that many of our current symphonic standards made their way into the repertory. He gave World and American premiers of seminal works such as Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 and Schoenberg’s Erwartung, as well as other major works by Schoenberg, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and many others. His personal collection has been held in private hands since his death in 1960, when it passed to conductor James Dixon, his student and protégé. Mitropoulos came to consider Dixon his son, introducing him to conductors and performing arts institutions around the world, jumpstarting his career. When Mitropoulos died in 1960 he left all his belongings, including his scores, to Dixon. The bulk of the musical library has been subsequently gifted to the University of Iowa’s music library, but a selection of rare items have been selected to be offered for sale exclusively by Schubertiade Music & Arts. These examples, many inscribed to the conductor from composers or associates, have only occasional markings from the conductor himself who committed all music to memory before his first rehearsal of the repertoire – a highly unusual method! Some of these scores, however, were also subsequently used by James Dixon as part of his working reference library for many years and include his occasional markings.