Search Results

1. Tams-Witmark (Original Library of Congress collection), 1701-1915

   approximately 7,000 items. 830 containers. 164 linear feet. -- Music Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

   Summary:

   The Tams-Witmark Music Library was established in 1925 through the merger of the Arthur W. Tams Music Library and the rental library of M. Witmark & Sons. The Tams-Witmark (Original Library of Congress Collection) contains music (manuscript and printed scores) that was being performed in the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The scope of the collection ranges from eighteenth-century operas of Handel and Glück to a musical by George M. Cohan. The bulk of the materials are nineteenth-century English, French, German and Italian operas and operettas, the majority in full score, with some instrumental parts. Most of the scores have been annotated with cuts and performance markings, and some feature reduced or non-standard orchestrations. The collection also contains a small amount of concert music, including secular and sacred choral works, patriotic music, symphonic scores, and incidental music.

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2. J. Fischer & Bro. music publishers collection, 1950-1970

   around 750 items. 34 containers. 11 linear feet. -- Music Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

   Summary:

   The J. Fischer & Bro. Music Publishers Collection contains music manuscripts and published or photo-reproduced musical scores, in original or arranged versions. The majority of the collection are choral works, both sacred and secular, many with piano or organ accompaniment. In addition, there are original works for organ and piano, as well as piano and organ transcriptions. Most of these works were published by Fischer & Bro.

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3. Artur Schnabel collection, 1899-1950

   146 items . 4 containers. 3.0 linear feet. -- Music Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

   Summary:

   Artur Schnabel was an Austrian-born American pianist, pedagogue, and composer. The collection chiefly consists of music manuscript scores of Schnabel’s compositions. The manuscripts are all, with the exception of a single copyist’s score, in Schnabel’s hand, and represent his compositional essays in a variety of genres, from solo song (voice and piano) to symphonic works. The collection also contains an early published edition of Ludwig van Beethoven’s sonatas for solo piano, containing copious annotations in Schnabel’s hand, and on which he apparently based his 1935 edition of these works.

4. Lauro Ayestarán collection, 1830-1966

   circa 6,000 items. 112 boxes. 30 linear feet. -- Music Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

   Summary:

   The collection consists primarily of art and popular music scores and holographs written by Uruguayan composers, with a comprehensive sample of the best composers in each group. In addition, there is a representative number of works written by European composers who settled in Montevideo during the 19th century, mainly from Spain and Italy. Included are photographs of the holographic items, as well as portraits of musicians.

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5. Randolph S. Rothschild collection, 1942-1992

   approximately 225 items. 11 boxes. 6 linear feet. -- Music Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

   Summary:

   The Randolph S. Rothschild Collection consists primarily of music and accompanying correspondence, programs, and reviews. The majority of the music in the collection is facsimile scores of compositions commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Baltimore and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra from American composers such as Milton Babbitt, Henry Cowell, Ross Lee Finney, Lukas Foss, Ernst Krenek, Roger Reynolds, Christopher Rouse, Gunther Schuller, and Charles Wuorinen. Many of these scores are inscribed to Rothschild and signed by the composers, and a few include programs and reviews of the concerts at which they were performed.