Abstract

John Adams (1947-) is an American composer, conductor, and writer. He is the winner of five Grammy Awards and recipient of the 2003 Pultizer Prize for his work On the Transmigration of Souls in tribute to the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The collection includes music scores by Adams and others, correspondence, business and financial papers, biographical materials, programs and promotional materials, and clippings.

Abstract

Bhumibol Adulyadej (1927-2016), King of Thailand, was prominently known as the longest-reigning monarch in the world at the time of his death in 2016. He was also a gifted reed player with a passion for musical composition and jazz performance. This collection consists largely of his music manuscripts for songs and piano solo works.

Abstract Laurindo Almeida was a Brazilian-American guitarist and composer. Often credited for contributions to the development of jazz samba, Almeida was a prolific composer and arranger of music for both classical Spanish guitar and popular guitar. He was an acclaimed recording artist and became the first person to win Grammy Awards for both classical and jazz performances. The collection contains manuscript and printed music, correspondence, publicity materials, photographs, and other items related...

Abstract The Arnold Volpe Papers contain letters, photographs, music, scrapbooks, posters, and other materials reflecting Volpe's career, from his student days in Russia to his accomplishments as a conductor, composer, violinist, and mentor in the United States. He was founder and director of the Young Men's Symphony Orchestra of New York (1902-1919) and the Volpe Symphony Orchestra of New York City (1904-1914). He is also credited with founding and conducting the initial Lewisohn Stadium Concerts...

Abstract Luiz Heitor Corrêa de Azevedo (1905-1992) was a Brazilian musicologist, folklorist, educator, and music critic. His papers document his life and career through correspondence, writings, teaching materials, notebooks, research and subject files, photographs, and awards. Correspondence, as well as holograph, facsimile, and inscribed scores, illustrate Azevedo's relationships with twentieth-century composers from South America, North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. His own...

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Composer, conductor, record producer, and performer Burt Bacharach (1928-2023) wrote hundreds of popular songs, 52 of which were U.S. Top 40 hits, as well as film scores and musicals. His arrangements are known for their unusual instrumentation, shifting meters, and unique chord progressions. The collection contains many of his compositions as well as photographs, correspondence, promotional materials, production files, and awards.

Abstract

Seymour Barab (1921-2014) was an American composer and performer. He was the founding cellist of the Composer's Quartet of Columbia University and taught at Rutgers University, Black Mountain College, and the New England Conservatory of Music. Barab primarily composed opera and vocal music, especially humorous music and works for young audiences. The collection includes scores, parts, libretti, and sketches, with small amounts of correspondence and ephemera.

Abstract The Barry Sisters (Merna and Claire Barry) was a popular American Jewish vocal group whose careers as Yiddish jazz singers spanned from the late 1930s through the early 1970s. They made their first recordings on Victor Records, and they performed on the radio and television, at New York's Catskill resort hotels, and toured in the United States and abroad. The collection chiefly documents their musical careers through musical scores, parts, and lead sheets, as well as other related...

Abstract Ethel Bartlett and Rae Robertson comprised the piano duo Bartlett and Robertson, who were active in the first half of the twentieth century. They met as students at the Royal Academy of Music and married in 1921, forming their piano duo shortly thereafter. The collection includes primarily manuscript music, both newly composed works for piano duet and two-piano transcriptions and arrangements, as well as compositions written by Bartlett and Robertson. Of note are holograph scores of...

Abstract Harold Bauer was an English violinist and pianist, teacher, and music editor who corresponded with many musical luminaries of his day, including Ernest Bloch, Nadia Boulanger, Pablo Casals, Gabriel Fauré, Percy Grainger, Jascha Heifetz, Josef Hofmann, Gustav Holst, Vincent d'Indy, Fritz Kreisler, Charles Martin Loeffler, Pierre Monteux, Moritz Moszkowski, Vladimir de Pachmann, Ignace Jan Paderewski, Isidore Philipp, Henry Prunières, Carl Ruggles, Carlos Salzedo, Gustave Schirmer, Leopold...

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Ernest Bloch was a Swiss-born composer, violinist, conductor, and photographer. The collection, which documents his life and work, includes manuscripts (music and lecture material), correspondence, business and financial papers, photographs, programs, promotional material, clippings, writings about Ernest Bloch, personal papers, and printed matter.

Abstract Among other accolades, American composer Elliott Carter was a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his second and third string quartets. A student of Nadia Boulanger, his works combined American and European styles of modernism, and his compositional style, based around collections of pitches, was later described as musical set theory. Carter was also known for his use of proportional tempo changes, which is referred to by scholars as metric modulation. Carter composed in a...

Abstract

The Chordettes was an American female vocal quartet popular during the 1950s and early 1960s. The collection contains orchestra and band arrangements for songs, medleys, and jingles, including their hits "Mr. Sandman" and "Lollipop." It also includes a small amount of photographs.

Abstract Includes biographical materials, correspondence, writings, music, programs, clippings, artwork, photographs, awards, and other materials. Biographical materials include a copy of autobiography of Leopold Damrosch and memoirs of Marie von Heimburg, the aunt of Clara, Frank, and Walter Damrosch. Both items also exist in Damrosch-Tee Van Collection and Damrosch-Blaine Collection. The correspondence consists of letters between members of the Mannes and Damrosch families and other important...

Abstract Léo Delibes was a French composer known primarily for his stage works, including operas, ballets, and incidental music. His compositions display the wit, lightness, and elegance characteristic of nineteenth century French music and were premiered at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens, Opéra-Comique, and Théâtre Lyrique, among others. His ballets Coppélia and Sylvia and opera Lakmé have remained...

Abstract David Diamond was an award-winning American-Jewish composer and prominent symphonist of the mid-twentieth century. A former student of Roger Sessions and Nadia Boulanger, Diamond ultimately composed eleven symphonies and countless other chamber and vocal works, such as his influential Symphony no. 4 (1945), Elegy in memory of Maurice Ravel (1938), and Rounds (1944). His social circle of musical...

Abstract Henry Donch was a musician, conductor, arranger, composer, and educator who lived in Washington, D.C. He led ensembles such as Donch's Band and Donch's Orchestra and taught violin, flute, clarinet, cornet, guitar, and banjo at Georgetown University. The collection is primarily comprised of printed and mansucript sets of parts for society orchestra and band that Donch used with his professional ensembles as they performed at events in the Washington, D.C., area and at summer resorts in the...

Abstract

Jerry Valburn was an avid collector of sound recordings and other materials related to Duke Ellington. The Jerry Valburn Collection on Duke Ellington consists of printed music, photographs, programs, promotional material, articles, clippings, and other items. These materials trace Duke Ellington's professional career as a bandleader and his rise as a prominent figure in the development of jazz and its history.

Abstract

Geraldine Farrar was an American opera singer and film actress. The collection consists of Farrar's personal papers relating to her life and career, including correspondence, scrapbooks and clippings, photographs and music materials containing sketches, autograph manuscripts, and printed music composed or edited by Farrar. In addition, the collection contains biographical materials, Farrar's writings, contracts, radio scripts, concert programs, awards, and other miscellaneous items.

Abstract Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996) was a popular and highly-respected American jazz and pop vocalist and recording artist. The Ella Fitzgerald Collection chiefly consists of musical arrangements made for her by more than fifty arrangers and orchestrators. Arrangers whose works are found in this collection include Buddy Bregman, Benny Carter, Frank DeVol, Russ Garcia, Billy May, Marty Paich, Nelson Riddle, and Gerald Wilson. The arrangements consist of a combination of full scores and parts, and are...

Abstract

Med Flory was an American saxophonist, bandleader, actor, and screenwriter. He began working on arrangements of Charlie Parker choruses in 1956 and eventually founded Supersax in 1972, an ensemble dedicated to the performance of Parker's repertoire. The collection contains manuscript scores and several parts for Flory's arrangements for Supersax.

Abstract Composer George Gershwin (1898-1937) and his lyricist brother Ira (1896-1983) wrote some of the most significant American popular songs of the first half of the twentieth century. After George's untimely death in 1937, Ira worked with many other notable composers and diligently kept his brother's legacy alive. After Ira's death, his wife, Leonore, created the Ira and Leonore S. Gershwin Trusts in 1987 to function as a philanthropic fund endowing organizations in areas such as the arts,...

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Don Gillis was an American composer, producer, author, broadcaster, and educator. The collection contains holograph scores, parts, and sketches for Gillis's compositions and arrangements, as well as materials for his book, The Unfinished Symphony Conductor.

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Anton Gloetzner (1850-1928) was a German-American composer, organist, and educator who taught at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., from 1873 to 1928. The Anton Gloetzner Music Manuscripts consist of holograph scores, parts, and sketches for his original compositions and arrangements of works by other composers. A significant quantity of unprocessed sketch material remains; descriptions of these items will be added to the finding aid at a later time.

Abstract Arthur Gold (1917-1990) and Robert Fizdale (1920-1995) were an American piano duo who performed together throughout the second half of the twentieth century. During their careers, a number of prominent composers in the United States and Europe wrote works for the duo, including Georges Auric, Luciano Berio, Paul Frederic Bowles, John Cage, and Francis Poulenc. This collection contains nine music manuscripts of works for two pianos either commissioned by or dedicated to Gold and Fizdale from...