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 George Antheil was a composer, pianist, author and inventor. The collection consists of materials related to the professional and personal activities of George Antheil and his wife, Elizabeth (Böske) Antheil. It contains holograph music manuscripts, printed scores, published and unpublished writings, business and personal correspondence, subject files, photographs, programs and promotional materials, scrapbooks, artwork, biographical materials, and memorabilia which document the life of this...

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

Arsis Press was a music publishing company in Washington, D.C., founded by composer Clara Lyle Boone in 1974 to publish music by women composers. The Arsis Press Records include printed music by nearly forty composers, financial records, business papers, and correspondence.

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...

Abstract Milton Babbitt was an American composer, mathematician, music theorist, and teacher best known for his innovations in the fields of serial and electronic music. The collection primarily consists of holograph sketches for original compositions by Babbitt, including his highly-regarded Philomel (1964), Reflections (1966), and Quintet for clarinet and strings (1997). Also included is a selection...

Abstract

Ernst Bacon was an American composer, pianist, and conductor. Largely a self-taught composer, Bacon also became an esteemed administrator and educator, serving as director of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Music Project in 1935 and later as composer-in-residence at Syracuse University from 1947-1963. The collection contains music, writings, correspondence, iconography, programs, clippings, publicity materials, and other miscellaneous items.

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 Irwin "Bud" Bazelon (1922-1995) was an American composer of both concert and film music, as well as a conductor and author. His compositional output includes symphonies, chamber music, music for documentaries and television commercials, and other works. His Knowing the Score: Notes on Film Music, first published in 1975, was one of the early scholarly texts on film music. The collection consists of Bazelon's music, writings (especially pertaining to...

Abstract Ellen Bender is an American composer, flutist, and educator who has based her career in Boston, Massachusetts. She was married to composer, flutist, and educator Robert Di Domenica until his death. Bender’s works range from solo compositions (Suite for Flute Solo, 2008) to those for small ensemble (Trio for Flute, Viola, and Piano, 2005) and orchestra (Variations for Orchestra, 1984; The Tragic Triad, 2008). Many of her compositions are written for flute,...

Abstract

Alban Berg (1885–1935) was an Austrian composer and member of the Second Viennese School, along with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, who together advanced atonal and twelve-tone music. The Willi Reich Collection on Alban Berg consists of correspondence between the composer and musicologist Willi Reich (1898-1980), articles and clippings, and printed music for Berg's vocal and instrumental works.

Abstract

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 José María Castro was an Argentine composer, conductor, and cellist. He was a member of the Sociedad del Cuarteto and a co-founder of Grupo Renovación, an avant-garde musical youth movement in Argentina that became the International Society for Contemporary Music’s Argentine Section in 1932. The collection includes musical compositions, arrangements, and transcriptions by Castro; music by others; correspondence; writings; programs; clippings; scrapbooks; personal papers; photographs; and...

Abstract The Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation Collection documents the life and professional activities of composer, pianist, and patron of music Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge (E.S. Coolidge). In 1925, she created the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation (E.S.C.F.) at the Library of Congress in support of chamber music and established the gift to construct the Coolidge Auditorium in the Library's Thomas Jefferson Building. E.S. Coolidge spent her career promoting chamber music and musicians...

Abstract Henry Cowell was an American composer, theorist, writer, pianist, and teacher. A member of the 1920s "ultra-modernists," Cowell's experimental compositions explored a myriad of unusual instrumental techniques and non-Western musical sounds. Works such as The Aeolian Harp (1923), The Banshee (1925), and Mosaic Quartet (1935) are seminal examples of his exploration of 'tone clusters,'...

Abstract

George Crumb was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer who was long associated with the University of Pennsylvania. The collection consists of holograph manuscript scores and sketches, correspondence, business papers, subject files, and a series of meticulously assembled scrapbooks that chronicle Crumb's career as a composer.

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

Mario Davidovsky was an Argentine-American composer, teacher, and pioneer in the field of electro-acoustic music. The collection contains music by Davidovsky and other composers, project and business files, correspondence, teaching materials, biographical information, photographs, clippings, promotional materials, and files related to Composers Conference.

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

Selma Epstein (1927-2014) was a concert pianist, teacher, promoter of contemporary music, and champion of 20th-century black and female composers. The collection contains contemporary music scores, many by women and African-American composers, as well as a small amount of clippings and promotional materials.

Abstract

Robert Evett (1922-1975) was a composer, arts editor, and critic who made his home primarily in the Washington, D.C., area. This collection contains several scores, sketches, and instrument parts for works composed by Evett; biographical information collected by Evett's family after his death; and his published book and music reviews for the "Atlantic Monthly," "New Republic," and "Washington Star-News."

Abstract

Irving Fine was an American conductor, teacher, and composer whose works assimilated neoclassical, romantic, and serial elements. The bulk of the materials in the collection are musical scores and sketches which represent nearly his entire musical output. In addition, there are photographs, clippings, programs, and scrapbooks, as well as correspondence from twentieth-century musicians such as Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Lukas Foss, Alberto Ginastera, Ned Rorem, and William Schuman.

Abstract

Vivian Fine was an American composer, pianist, and educator. The collection primarily consists of Fine's holograph manuscript scores, sketches, and parts for works composed between 1929 and 1993. In addition, the collection contains a small amount of correspondence, programs, and clippings.