|
The Drexel Collection is a collection of over 6,000 volumes of books about music and musical scores owned by the Music Division of The New York Public Library. Donated by Joseph W. Drexel in 1888 to the Lenox Library (which later became The New York Public Library), the collection, located today at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, is rich with materials on music theory and music history as well as other musical subjects. It contains many rare books and includes a number of significant 17th-century English music manuscripts.〔Otto Kinkeldey, "The New York Public Library and Its Music Division," ''Library Journal'' v. 4 (August 1915), p. 590.〕〔Susan T. Sommer, "Joseph W. Drexel and his musical library" in Music and civilization : essays in honor of Paul Henry Lang (New York: Norton, 1984).〕〔Susan T. Sommer, "Drexel Collection," ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', vol. 15 (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1973), columns 1846-1848.〕 == Origins == The musical library of Joseph W. Drexel had its origins in the library of Henry F. Albrecht (1822-1875). Born in Germany and trained as a musician, Albrecht's passion for collecting books on music had been fueled by Siegfried Dehn, musician and librarian of the Royal Library (today the Berlin State Library), whom he had met in Berlin.〔Nancy Newman, "Albrecht, Henry () F.," ''Grove Music Online'', accessed 16 July 2012.〕 Albrecht emigrated to the United States in 1848 where he was one of the organizers of the Germania Musical Society, a touring orchestra in which he was the second clarinetist.〔〔 Visiting many locations in the United States enabled Albrecht to collect music literature and scores. The Society disbanded in 1854, while in residence at Newport, Rhode Island.〔 That year, Albrecht decided to join the Icarians in Nauvoo, Illinois, which required that members donate all their belongings.〔John Dwight, "The Germania Musical Society," ''Dwight's Journal of Music'' (September 16, 1854), p. 189.〕 Albrecht created an inventory of his collection of 661 volumes, intending to donate them to the Icarians.〔〔 In writing about the demise of the Germania Musical Society and Albrecht's plans, John Sullivan Dwight remarked "His library of music and of musical books, for one collected by so young a man, is really quite a wonder." Quoting from an unidentified article in the ''Newport Daily News'', he added: "It is a well known fact that libraries of this kind are very rare" and that Albrecht's was "one of the most complete in America."〔 The Icarian community at Nauvoo failed by 1856 and its members dispersed. In 1858, Albrecht sold his library to Joseph W. Drexel and moved to Philadelphia. Drexel was a banker in the midst of a very profitable career as a partner in the firm Drexel, Morgan & Co. With Albrecht's assistance, Drexel kept adding to his library. In 1865, he purchased portions of the library of Dr. Rene La Roche (1795-1872) (also mentioned as a competing library in Dwight's article〔) which contained English, French, and Latin publications.〔''Catalogue of an extensive and valuable medical and scientific library: being part of the collection of R. La Roche, M.D., of Philadelphia, which includes many very scarce works, in various languages, to be sold on Tuesday, October 24th, 1865''. M. Thomas & Sons, Auctioneers. Philadelphia: M. Thomas & Sons, 1865.〕 In 1869, Drexel published (with Albrecht's assistance) a catalog of the published works in his collection which at the time contained 2,245 volumes.〔 Additional volumes inventorying musical autographs, musical scores, and iconography were planned but were never published.〔 Sometimes Drexel's purchases made for social news. On November 17, 1876, the New York Herald Tribune announced that Drexel had purchased a manuscript missal of the fifteenth century written on vellum for $177.50.〔"The Menzies' Library Sale," ''New York Herald-Tribune'' (November 17, 1876), p. 8.〕 The most important later addition to Drexel's library was the purchase of a major portion of the library of Edward F. Rimbault which was auctioned in 1877.〔〔Catalogue of the valuable library of the late Edward Francis Rimbault, comprising an extensive and rare collection of ancient music, printed and in manuscript...which will be sold by auction, by Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge ... on Tuesday, the 31st of July, 1877, and five following days.〕 The significance of the library even merited a newspaper announcement.〔"Dr. Rimbault," ''New York Herald-Tribune'' (August 30, 1877), p. 4.〕 Rimbault's valuable collection was well-known, and it was with dismay that The Musical Times reported: "all In 1877, Drexel also instructed Sabin to purchase at least two volumes from the estate of musicologist Edmond de Coussemaker (Aristoxenos's ''Auctores musices antiquissimi'' (1616) and Vincenzo Galilei’s Dialogo (1581), as well as volumes from the estate of Henry Aimé Ouvry and several other minor figures.〔 After this year his acquisitions appeared nearly to stop, except for purchases of rare books in 1880 from Ludwig Rosenthal’s ''Catalogue XXVI'' (purchased through the New York dealer F. W. Christern).〔 Though Drexel was an active concert and opera attendee in the years of his retirement, very few contemporary musical works are present in his collection. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Drexel Collection」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|