Scope and Content Note
The Vincent Youmans Music Manuscripts span from 1920 to 1957, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1920 to 1933. Although the collection is not particularly large, it is nonetheless rich in the quality and variety of materials it contains, primarily holograph and manuscript full scores, piano-vocal scores, sketches, and parts. The majority of Youmans' shows are represented by at least one title, and for the shows Great Day!, Rainbow,, Smiles, and Through the Years, by a significant percentage of their scores. In addition to a number of Youmans' holographs, most notably the songs from Flying Down to Rio and the standards "Tea for Two," "Great Day!," "I Want to Be Happy," "Take A Little One Step," and "Without A Song," there are quite a few full scores and parts in the collection. In many cases, these materials are heavily annotated. When parts are described as being in "multiple versions," that is because various numberings and descriptions on their title pages indicate not only the song, but a dance, a reprise, or, in some cases, parts from a different production.