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(b Philadelphia, July 8, 1899; d Philadelphia, July 6, 1984). American musicologist and music librarian. He studied Romance languages and literature at the University of Pennsylvania, where he received the BA in 1921, the MA in 1925 and the PhD in 1931, and at the University of Copenhagen from 1922 to 1923. He taught both French and music at the University of Pennsylvania from 1923 until 1970, when he retired as emeritus professor of music. From 1937 he was curator of the university library, which was renamed the Otto E. Albrecht Music Library on his retirement. He also held several government positions, serving on the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees for Bavaria (1945–6), as chief of the publications section for the United States Military Government in Hesse (1947) and in Russia as specialist in musicology for the Department of State (1961).

Albrecht's historical interests included music in America to ...

(b New York, Sept 2, 1906; d Brattleboro, VT, April 7, 2001). American music scholar and librarian. He was educated at the College of the City of New York, New York University, the Institute of Musical Art and the Mannes College of Music; his studies included the violin and chamber music with Louis Sveçenski, composition with Bernard Wagenaar and Hans Weisse, and musicology with Sachs and Reese. From 1931 to 1968 he worked in the music division of the New York Public Library as head of the Rare Book and Manuscript Collections, editor of music publications and curator of the Toscanini Memorial Archives; from 1950 to 1968 he taught at the Mannes College of Music. In 1968 he became director of libraries and a member of the faculty at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. He retired in 1976.

Beck’s principal fields of study were early string techniques and performing practice, textual analyses and criticism (see his ...

(b Jarošov, nr Uherské Hradiště, Moravia, Feb 12, 1874; d Kroměříž, Aug 8, 1937). Czech historian and archivist. After studying at the theological faculty in Olomouc (1892–6), he was ordained priest in 1896; for two years he was a student prefect in the archiepiscopal seminary in Kroměříž. He began studying history in 1898 at the University of Innsbruck and took his doctorate there in 1903. On his return he taught history at the archiepiscopal Gymnasium in Kroměříž until 1924. He became librarian in the archbishop’s palace in Kroměříž in 1915 and archivist in 1921; he performed both functions with great zeal and devotion until his death.

From 1927 Breitenbacher began to build up the music archive in Kroměříž Castle, gradually acquiring the music collections of the Olomouc bishops between 1664 and 1831 and the musical archives of the churches of the Panna Marie and St Mořic at Kroměříž and the Piarist college there. The leading Czech music historians of the time, Helfert, Trolda and Vetterl, assisted him in classifying and cataloguing the music. The archives established by Breitenbacher have become a basic source for music of the Viennese cultural circle from ...

(b Mishelevka, Irkutsk region, Dec 12, 1921). Russian musicologist and archivist. She enrolled in the Oriental department of the Faculty of Philology at the University of Leningrad specializing in the ethnology of Central Asia, but her studies there were interrupted by World War II, during which time she saw active service in military hospitals. Graduating in 1948, she then studied ethnology and folk music with Gippius at the Miklukho-Maklaya Institute of Ethnology (1949–53), and was an occasional student at the Conservatory, where she studied with Druskin, Rubtsov, Ginzburg and Sergey Bogoyavlensky. She was a research assistant in the art history department of the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnology at the Tajik SSR Academy of Sciences in Dushanbe (1953–8), and took part in expeditions to record the folk music of the mountain regions of the Tajik SSR. Returning to Leningrad in 1958, she was an assistant at the Institute for the History of the Arts (now the Zubov Institute for the History of the Arts) from ...

(Wilhelm)

(b Altona, Feb 24, 1799; d Berlin, April 12, 1858). German, editor, teacher and librarian. The son of a banker, he learnt the cello as a boy and then studied law in Leipzig with the intention of entering the diplomatic service; he also took music lessons with J.A. Dröbs. Moving to Berlin in 1823, he was attached to the Swedish Embassy; during his service there he developed his interest in musical research. On the failure of the family bank in 1830, he was left without means of support and decided to devote himself to music: he had been studying with Bernhard Klein, and soon made himself a widely respected theorist and teacher. On Meyerbeer’s recommendation he was in 1842 appointed custodian of the music section of the royal library, and immediately set about bringing it into order, cataloguing the collection and making copious additions to it from libraries all over Prussia. Among the collections he helped to bring into the library were those of Anton Schindler and Georg Pölchau; Dehn had long known the latter, which was notable for its manuscripts of Keiser and of J.S. and C.P.E. Bach. He was editor of ...

(b Plau, Mecklenburg, May 18, 1924). German music librarian. He studied at the Musikhochschule in Rostock and musicology with Gerstenberg at Rostock University (1946–8). He continued his musicological studies with Gerstenberg at the Free University of Berlin, with German philology and art history as subsidiary subjects, and he took the doctorate at Berlin in 1953 with a dissertation on tempos in Mozart's instrumental music. After working as a music dealer at the Verlag Merseburger, Berlin, he joined the Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, in 1965, becoming director of the Mendelssohn archives in 1967 and director of the music department in 1968; he has also lectured at the Free University, the Technical University and the Hochschule der Künste, Berlin. He retired in 1988. In addition to writing exhibition catalogues for the Staatsbibliothek (on Beethoven, 1970; Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn, 1972 and 1983; J.S. Bach, 1985), he was an editor for the series Musikbibliographische Arbeiten (...

(b Münster, April 21, 1828; d Berlin, May 24, 1878). German music librarian and editor. After attending the Paulinum Gymnasium in Münster, he was enrolled at the faculty of philosophy at Münster University but in 1851 took up the study of music theory and notation under Siegfried Dehn in Berlin. For a few months in 1858 he was active as music director in Bielefeld. In the same year he was appointed assistant curator and five years later curator at the royal library in Berlin to succeed Dehn in the task of completing the music catalogue. At the same time, he accepted an appointment as regens chori at St Hedwig’s Cathedral, Berlin, apparently for financial reasons, as Dehn had done before him. Espagne applied his energies not only to cataloguing but also to expanding the library’s collection, and his travels included Vienna (1864) and Rome (1873–4...

(b San Giorgio Morgeto, Calabria, Oct 12, 1800; d Naples, Dec 18, 1888). Italian librarian, musicologist, teacher and composer. The varied activities of his career were dominated by a single theme: the preservation and glorification of the Neapolitan musical tradition. At 12 (or 15) he entered the Naples Conservatory, where he was a fellow student of Bellini, who became his closest friend and the object of his intense devotion. He was made archivist-librarian there in 1826 and (perhaps his most important achievement) acquired a large part of the library’s rich holdings. He also served as director of vocal concerts and singing teacher there. His widely praised Metodo di canto (Naples, ?1840; Milan, 1841–3, enlarged 3/?1861) was conservative in tendency, claiming to be based on the precepts of the castrato Crescentini, then director of the conservatory’s singing school, and intended to restore the ‘antico bello’ of ‘the only true tradition of Italian song’, that of Scarlatti, Porpora and Durante, which had been displaced by ‘la moda barocca’ of the present age. Florimo composed in all genres except the dramatic, but apart from a ...

(William)

(b Queens, NY, Feb 27, 1925; d Dallas, TX, March 7, 1984). American music librarian and educator. After graduating from Queens College, CUNY (BA 1950), and Columbia University (MS 1953), he joined the faculty of Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music, CUNY, in 1956 to establish the music library. At the time of his death he was assistant director of the Conservatory, and also a member of the doctoral faculty at the CUNY Graduate Center. In 1968 he cofounded the joint MLA/AMS Translations Center.

Gerboth was a leader in the Music Library Association (MLA) during a period of growth and consolidation, serving as president from 1969 to 1971. As chair of its publications committee (1963–9), he initiated numerous projects in bibliography and librarianship, including the MLA Index Series (1964–), the Manual of Music Librarianship (1966), MLA’s Newsletter (1969–), and the ...

(b New York, NY, Nov 27, 1878; d Orange, NJ, Sept 19, 1966). American musicologist, teacher, and librarian. He studied at the College of the City of New York (AB 1898), English and philosophy at the New York University (MA 1900), and music with edward Macdowell at Columbia University (1900–02); concurrently he was organist and choirmaster at the Chapel of the Incarnation (1898–1902) and taught in New York schools. He continued his study of music, literature, and philosophy (1902–9), with Robert Radecke at the Königliches Akademisches Institut für Kirchenmusik and with Oskar Fleischer, Max Friedländer, Hermann Kretzschmar, and Johannes Wolf at the Universität zu Berlin, taking the doctorate (a rare achievement for an American in a German university at the time) in 1909 with a dissertation on 16th-century organ and keyboard music. He was also organist and choirmaster of the American Church in Berlin (...

(Ann)

(b Cranston, RI, May 25, 1944; d May 15, 2022). American music librarian and educator. She held the BA in humanities from MacMurray College (1966) and the MA in music history from Smith College (1968) and pursued advanced studies in musicology at New York University. Morrow served as director of libraries at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston from 1986. From 1987 to 2008 she was also lecturer at the Simmons College (Boston) Graduate School of Library and Information Science, where she contributed to the education of many practicing music librarians. Morrow was active in the Music Library Association as a member at large on the board of directors (2006–8) and, from 1998, as editor for the association’s Basic Manual Series. She held numerous MLA committee appointments and served as chair of the New England regional chapter (1981–3). She was also active in Fenway Libraries Online, a Boston-area consortium. Her research focused on education for music librarianship, music archives, and music collections....

(Mary)

(b Buffalo, NY, Aug 24, 1923). American archivist, writer, and teacher. Educated in music, with a Bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina and postgraduate work at the Juilliard School and New York University Graduate School of Music, she acquired performing experience as a modern dancer and a lyric soprano. Following study at the Columbia University School of Library Service, she was entrusted in 1947 with the seed of New York Public Library’s Dance Collection (now the Jerome Robbins Dance Division), then comprising a modest two shelves of material in the Music Division. As curator, she embarked on the task of enlarging the collection by soliciting donations from the dance community and raising funds for purchases of materials. Her vision was panoramic and global in scope: she included folk, ethnic, and popular dance forms as well as theatrical dance, and with projects such as the Asia Dance Archive soon expanded the collection’s range beyond the western world. She did not limit the collection to print materials: the Film Archive, begun in ...

(b Mount Airy, NC, Dec 23, 1932; d Chapel Hill, NC, February 26, 2014). American music librarian and musicologist . He attended the University of North Carolina (BA 1955, MA 1957, PhD 1962) and from 1955 was on the staff of the library there, first as a reference assistant and later (1961–76) as music librarian. In 1963 he joined the faculty of the music department, where he became professor of music in 1974 and chairman of the music department in 1976; posts he held until 1986. In 1987 he became chief of the music division of the Library of Congress. While there he was responsible for the acquisition of the personal papers of Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein, Artur Rubinstein and others. He expanded the concert programme to include jazz, and he established the Leonore S. Gershwin/Library of Congress Recording and Publishing Project. Pruett has been active in the AMS and the Music Library Association (president, ...

(McAiley)

(b Chester, SC, July 11, 1942; d Chapel Hill, NC, Nov 9, 2005). American music librarian. She attended Florida Presbyterian College (now Eckerd University) (BA 1964) and the University of Pittsburgh (MA 1966, MLS 1968). She began her professional career as a public librarian at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh in 1968, and served as head of the Music and Art Departments there from 1974 until 1984. She was appointed music librarian at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1984, succeeding Margaret Lospinuso, and served in that capacity until her retirement in 1997. During her tenure at UNC-Chapel Hill she also served as an adjunct faculty member in the School of Information and Library Science where she taught music librarianship and mentored a whole generation of music librarians. A master bibliographer, she was best known for her complete reworking of Vincent Duckles’s Music Reference and Research Materials...

(b New York, Aug 8, 1905; d Washington, CT, Sept 19, 1994). American musicologist and music librarian. He took the BA and MA at Harvard University (1927 and 1928), and was also music critic for the Boston Transcript (1927–8). In 1930 he took the doctorate at Vienna University with a dissertation on Austro-Spanish relations in the 17th century, and then returned to the USA to join the history faculty of Columbia University (1931–5). In 1931 he was appointed chief of the music division of the New York Public Library, a position he held until his retirement in 1959, and where he developed an extensive collection of American music and conceived the idea of a ‘library-museum’, which was realized in 1965. From 1939 to 1967 he taught music and history at New York University and in 1967 he became director of the Spanish Institute, New York. Upon his retirement he, together with Ernesto da Cal, established the Brazilian Institute at New York University. From ...

(b New York, Jan 7, 1935; d New York, March 4, 2008). American music librarian . She graduated from Smith College (BA 1956) and attended Columbia University, where she studied musicology and library science (MA 1958, MLS 1967, MPhil 1975). She had a long and distinguished career at the New York Public Library, joining the staff in 1961. In 1969 she became head of the rare books and manuscripts section and curator of the Toscanini Memorial Archives in the Library and Museum of the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. She was Head of Circulating Collections from 1987 to 1997, and Chief of the Music Division from 1997 to 2001, when she retired. She was appointed lecturer in music librarianship and performing arts bibliography at Columbia University in 1970 and from 1975 to 1981 lectured on opera for the Metropolitan Opera Guild. She served as book review editor of ...

(Taiko)

(b Los Angeles, CA, May 12, 1916; d Pittsford, NY, Feb 26, 2005). American music librarian. She studied at the University of Southern California (BM in piano 1937, BA in English 1939, MA in English 1941, MM in musicology 1942) and at the University of Rochester (PhD in musicology 1952). Because the family was of Japanese descent, they were forced to leave their California home in April 1942 and were eventually relocated to Colorado for the duration of World War II. In September 1942 Watanabe was invited by Howard Hanson to study at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. She began work toward the doctorate in musicology and took a student job in Sibley Music Library, where she was appointed to a full-time position as head of circulation in 1944. In 1946 Hanson appointed her to the music history faculty and made her acting librarian; the permanent position as librarian followed in ...

(b Alton, IL, Oct 16, 1938). American music educator, scholar, librarian and archivist. He obtained degrees in music education from the University of Michigan (BM 1960, MM 1964, PhD 1973). He was hired by the University of Maryland, College Park in 1968 and served there until his retirement in 2004 as Librarian IV. He was assistant professor of music and curator of the Music Educators National Conference Historical Center (1968–79), curator of Special Collections in Music (1979–94), acting head of the Music Library (1994–5), and head of the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library (1995–2004). As curator and archivist of Special Collections in Music, Wilson built a collection that encompassed a full spectrum of archival documentation for music education, performance, scholarship, and cultural history. Beginning in the mid-1990s, he led the transformation of the institution’s Music Library into the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library, expanding the collections to incorporate the fields of dance and theatre. In his career as a librarian, he championed the development and maintenance of archival and special collections. In his professional and scholarly activity, he fostered the study of music education history, providing guidance and support for scholars in that field....