Administrative Information
Provenance
Purchase, estate of Valentin Herranz, 2004. Additional materials purchased from Ulrich Klabunde in 2018.
Accruals
Further accruals are possible.
Processing History
The Samuel Barber Collection was processed by Stephanie Akau in 2019. Stephanie Akau coded the finding aid for EAD format in 2019.
Transfers
Sixteen non-commercial sound recordings have been transferred to the Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division. These include recordings of Barber performing as a student at the Curtis Institute and the first radio broadcast of Adagio for Strings on NBC radio. An inventory of this material is available in the Music Division's collection file.
Other Repositories
The New York Public Library Archives hold several related collections. The Louise Homer collection contains several manuscripts of songs by Barber and photographs of Barber. The Edith Evans Braun collection contains several letters written by Barber to Braun, as well as printed music inscribed from Barber to her. The Alexei Haieff papers contain printed music inscribed to Haieff from Barber. The Charles Turner papers contain Barber photographs, correspondence, and a score of the composer's Violin Concerto. The Curtis Institute of Music Library and Archive contains programs from performances of Barber's music, correspondence from Barber, and numerous photographs of Barber in its collections.
Related Material
The Music Division is the largest repository of Samuel Barber music manuscripts. Barber's holograph scores are cataloged in ML96.B267. Others can be found in the Serge Koussevitzky Archive and the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation Collection . The H-numbers on manuscripts’ folders correspond to Barbara Heyman’s thematic catalog, Samuel Barber: A Thematic Catalog of the Complete Works (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), a singular resource for description and identification of recordings, printed music, and manuscripts, particularly untitled fragments and sketches.
The Martha Graham Collection contains video recordings of rehearsals and performances of Cave of the Heart and Andromache’s Farewell. Several other Library of Congress collections also contain Barber correspondence. For a list of these collections, consult the article Samuel Barber at the Library of Congress
Online Content
Additional information about Samuel Barber and his relationship with the Library of Congress can be found in the article Samuel Barber at the Library of Congress.
Preferred Citation
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [item, date, container number], Samuel Barber Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.