AUTOGRAPH MUSICAL QUOTATION IN VICTOR BABIN'S HAND SIGNED BY DUO PIANO TEAM VRONSKY & BABIN.

- Two-bar musical quotation and inscription penned in blue ink in Victor Babin's hand on a gilt-edged, cream-colored page, 10-3/4 inches high by 8-1/4 inches wide, from the guest book of Grace Bristed and C. D. Jackson at the Dakota. Signed "Vitya Vronsky" and "Victor Babin" and dated "Feb. 5th, 1956". There is a stain to the bottom edge of the page. Very good. Below the two bars of music, Babin has written: "It's lovely here (Rachmaninoff) / It's lovely here in The Dakota", followed by the signatures of both Babin and Vronsky and the date. Vronsky & Babin were introduced to American audiences through their recordings of Rachmaninoff, who became their friend and mentor.Vitya Vronsky [1909-1992] met her future husband Victor Babin [1908-1972] in 1933 while they were both studying with Arthur Schnabel. Soon after they formed their duo piano team, once described by Newsweek magazine as "the most brilliant two-piano team of our generation". Their recordings were issued by RCA Victor, Columbia, Decca and EMI and they performed over 1,200 concerts in North America. In 1961, Babin became Director of the Cleveland Institute of Music where both he and Vronsky served on the institute's faculty.Charles Douglas Jackson [known as "C.D."] and his wife Grace Bristed Jackson hosted Vronsky & Babin at their apartment in the Dakota. Jackson worked on and off at Time magazine in an administrative capacity for many years and was made vice president of Time, Inc in 1940. He was periodically sent on various diplomatic missions by Eisenhower. He also found time to serve on the boards of several organizations, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Free Europe Committee and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. …