Contents of the Music Division at the close of the fiscal year June 30, 1909 MUSIC: Grand total, volumes, pamphlets, etc. 532, 789 The bulk of the gifts (guitar, etc., music, some of it of historical value) came from Mrs. Jane C. Hitz. Among the individual gifts should also be mentioned that by Mrs. Ethelbert Nevin of the autograph of her husband's "Rosary." Shortly before the close of the fiscal year the generous offer was made by the firm of J. Fischer & Bro. to present to the Library of Congress more than two hundred original manuscripts of noteworthy compositions owned by them. It is gratifying to see the repeated appeals to possessors of the original manuscripts of American composers gradually becoming effective and it is hoped that other firms will concur in Messrs. Fischer & Bro.'s view that the Library of Congress is the proper depository for such manuscripts. Noteworthy ac- The purchases during this fiscal year have been so numerous that it would be impossible to describe them properly in a few lines. For instance, we have practically completed our collection of modern orchestral scores; we acquired since publication of the catalogue of dramatic music in January, 1908, cessions about 400 orchestral scores of operas, including more than forty transcripts of old works; our collection of books on music printed since 1800 is nearing completion; the collection of older books has been materially strengthened; and fortune favored us in acquiring a remarkable lot of early American music. Among single purchases may be mentioned, more or less at random: Ornitoparchus' Micrologus (1517), Bonaventura's Breviloquium (15—), Paduani's Institutiones (1578), Aaron's Compendiolo (1550?) and Trattato (1525), Ganassi dal Fontego's Fontegara (1535), Gaffurio's De harmonica (1518) and Apologia (1520), Spataro's Tractato (1531), Wollick's Opus aureum (1504), João IV.'s Difesa (16—), Robert Tailour's Sacred hymns (1615), Forbes's Cantus, songs and fancies (1682), Sternhold & Hopkins's Whole book of psalmes (1612), John Gamble's Ayres and dialogues (1656), Lawes's Treasury of musick (1669), Locke's Psyche (1675), Purcell's Amphitryon (1690), Dioclesian (1691) and King Arthur (James Bartleman's copy), Richardson's Collection of new songs (1701), Eccles's Collection of songs (ca. 1710), Fraser's Delightful Musical companion (ca. 1730), Lampe's Dragon of Wantley (1738), Balet comique de la Royne (1582), Caccini's Nuove musiche (1601), Vivaldi's L'estro Armonico, Veracini's Sonate, op. 1 (1721), Senaillié's Sonates à violon seul (1710-1721), Telemann's Quatuors pour flutes and Essercizii musici (ca. 1730), Marcello's oratorio Il pianto e il riso delle quattro stagioni dell'anno (Mss., 1731), Rinaldo da Capua's La Bohemienne (1753), Rossini's La cambiale di matrimonio (1810), Weigl's L'Imboscata (autograph score), Carvalho de Sousa's Everardo Secondo and Testoride Argonauta (autograph scores), Portogallo's Demofoonte (1808 version in autograph), Bishop's Ninetta (1830, autograph score), Halévy and Bizet's Noé, Kistler's Kunihild (autograph score), Daniel Read's American singing book (1785), Billing's Psalm singer's amusement (1781), Democratic MUSIC: songster (Baltimore, 1794), National songster (Hagerstown, 1814), four Ephrata hymn books (ca. 1750) partly handilluminated. The most important purchase of the year was that of the famous Albert Schatz collection in Rostock of more than 12,000 (principally opera) librettos, of which about 500 belong to the seventeenth and more than 4,000 to the eighteenth century. The comprehensiveness of this collection is astonishing, the presence of such coveted treasures as the Dafne and Euridice librettos of 1600 appearing to be a matter of course. It is too soon to attempt an adequate description, though the use of the collection is made possible by an excellent catalogue compiled by Mr. Albert Schatz himself. It has not yet been decided whether the Library of Congress shall publish this catalogue, or one based thereon incorporating the several thousand (principally English and American) librettos already in the Library and happily supplementing (for instance, by the Longe collection of minor English dramatists) the Schatz collection. Having become the custodian of a collection of such acknowledged importance to musical historians, the Library of Congress necessarily desires to make the contents of the Schatz collection accessible to scholars as soon as possible and to take up Mr. Schatz's labors where age compelled him to rest after forty-two years of enthusiastic, patient, and expert collecting. To permit for the first time a fairly comprehensive review of the Music Division's present resources and partly in honor of the convention of the Music Teachers' National Association at Washington in December, 1908, a collection of old and modern music and books on music was exhibited in the main Exhibition Halls of the Library of Congress. A brief description may be found in the Proceedings of the M. T. N. A., 1908, appended to an address by the Chief of the Music Division, to which address those seeking quasi-official information on the "methods, policies, and resources" of the Music Division are referred. The Catalogue of Dramatic Music, 1908, has not as yet been followed by other catalogues of the Music Division's special collections. Instead, the Chief of the Division, acting on instructions received in December, 1907, compiled an elaborate "Report on the Star Spangled Banner, Hail Columbia, America, and Yankee Doodle," finished and printed in this fiscal year, but not published until the latter part of the calendar year 1909. DIVISION OF PERIODICALS (From the report of the Chief, Mr. Guittard) The following comparative table, covering six fiscal years, shows the accessions of serials from various sources: During the past fiscal year there were sent to the bindery from the Periodical Division 7,393 volumes of periodicals and 3,514 volumes of newspapers, making a total of 10,907 volumes, or an average of 909 volumes per month. Notable additions to our files of Richmond and Charleston war papers were made by purchase. While in no case have we absolutely complete files of these papers, most of them were so nearly completed as to justify binding them in permanent form. They are bound in a style similar to that used for our eighteenth century papers, each issue being 12721-09-4 mounted on a guard and the volume so arranged that missing numbers can be inserted without difficulty whenever secured. Another important accession was by the transfer from the War Department of a large number of papers published in Porto Rico and the Philippines during and shortly after the Spanish-American war. These files were strong where ours were weak, in the first few years of American occupation. The combination of the two secures to us a collection of extreme interest and value. One item worthy of special mention is an almost complete file of El Heraldo de la Revolucion, the organ of the Aguinaldo government at Malolos. A Check list of eighteenth century newspapers is nearly ready to print. PRINTS: Gifts DIVISION OF PRINTS (From the report of the Chief, Mr. Parsons) The increase of the collection of prints has been: By copyright, 13,736; by purchase, 6,438; by transfer, 1,968; by gift, 1,326; by exchange, 1; total, 23,469. The collection of prints now numbers 305,084. Among the gifts of the year were the following: From Mrs. H. Carrington Bolton, Washington, D. C.: 381 engraved portraits; 805 portraits of scientists in extra-illustrated edition of Poggendorf's "Biographisch-literarisches Handwörterbuch." From the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C.: Paintings in their collection. 17 photographs. From the Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, Mass.: 26 book-plates. From Mr. F. D. Millet, Washington, D. C.: 7 bronze army service and merit medals. |