Rare Music at Stanford

We are pleased to announce that the refreshed and greatly expanded Rare Music at Stanford online exhibit is now available for exploration. This exhibit was established in 2016 as a beachhead for items digitized for patrons from the Memorial Library of Music, and numbered approximately 250 objects.

In 2016 Ray Heigemeir, Head of Public Services in Music, initiated the Memorial Library of Music Plus project (MLM+), a systematic review of rare music collections in the Stanford University Libraries holdings aiming to identify all manuscript scores and musicians’ letters. The review included the Memorial Library of Music Collection plus other collections such as the Mario Ancona Collection, as well as items added individually to our rare music holdings over the decades. With MLM+ completed, 1300 digital objects are now available to the public for close viewing and download.

Manuscripts were:

• reviewed for preservation needs and potential conservation treatment including housing, cleaning, repair, and stabilization;
• made discoverable online through either MARC bibliographic records or Stanford digital repository MODS-based metadata. Elements include verified titles/uniform titles; creation/publication dates; authorized personal names; physical descriptions; and subject headings;
• digitized to the highest standards by the Digital Production Group, loaded into the Stanford Digital Repository (SDR), and linked to their bibliographic records; and
• added to Searchworks, and to this Spotlight exhibit environment.

Exhibit highlights include: autograph manuscript full scores by Cherubini, Brahms, Mascagni, and Stravinsky; collections of letters by Vieuxtemps, Spohr, and Gounod; copyist manuscripts documenting Lully’s operatic output; a complete set of 16th-century Flemish master engravings, Encomium musices; and archival materials from the life of the Swedish soprano Jenny Lind.

Browse nine broad categories, or search by keyword for personal names or work titles. Explore over thirty illuminating essays by current and former doctoral students in music, library staff, and guests. Maximize the Stanford Digital Repository’s image viewer to zoom in on image details, and download files in a variety of sizes.

Finally, the section, “Calling all detectives,” is a plea for assistance in identifying scores that have thus far proved elusive. All feedback is appreciated!