MUMBAI: Several musicians have donated their original handwritten manuscripts in support of BBC 3's auction- BBC Children in Need. This will give fans of contemporary music the opportunity to get their hands on a piece of musical history.

Among those musicians donating manuscripts are Eric Whitacre, Sir James MacMillan, Judith Weir, Mark-Anthony Turnage and Raymond Yiu, who will also share stories behind every manuscript, providing an insight behind each piece of music.

Composer of choral piece Lux Aurumque, Eric Whitacre commented on his donation, "I’m donating a signed, handwritten manuscript of the opening bars of one of my most performed choral pieces- ‘Lux Aurumque’ to the Radio 3 auction to support BBC Children in Need." The Grammy award winning composer wrote the piece in the late ‘90s, with the help of his friend Charles Anthony Silvestri who translated the words of Edward Esch to Latin for the piece. "I knew that I wanted to try to create something very simple and very beautiful for this text, and as I wrote I waited patiently for the tight harmonies to shimmer and glow in my mind before I transferred them to manuscript paper. ‘Lux Aurumque’ is dedicated with love to my great friend Dr Jo Michael Scheibe,” added Whitacre.

Raymond Yiu, composer, conductor, jazz pianist and music writer, has donated a harmonic sketch from ‘Symphony’, which premiered at the BBC Proms this summer, commenting, “I am donating this original manuscript – one of the two copies of the complete harmonic sketch to the third movement of my Symphony (2014-15) – to the Radio 3 auction for BBC Children in Need. The symphony was commissioned by BBC Radio 3 for the BBC Proms 2015 season."

The contribution provides a major boost to a cause that supports children in need.

Alan Davey, Controller of BBC Radio 3, said, "Contemporary classical music is at the heart of Radio 3 so we’re thrilled and incredibly grateful that some of the greatest composers of our time are generously offering our listeners the rare chance to get hold of a piece of musical history."

The auction ends at midnight on Friday, 13 November, until which the manuscripts are available for bids.