The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts > Collections > Music Division

Calendar of Exhibitions
1990s

* a concert was sponsored by the Music Division in the Bruno Walter Auditorium in conjunction with the exhibition

2000s | 1990s | 1980s | 1970s | 1960s

Home Sweet Home:  Lincoln Center - The Beginnings
Annex Reading Room
1998

A look at the plans and construction of Lincoln Center through photographs and documents, while the Music Division was relocated at the Annex on 43rd Street during the renovation of its Lincoln Center home.

Image: Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.  Iconography Collection, Music Division

 

Who Are They?: Unknown Iconography in the Music Division (returns)
Music Division Reading Room
June 9, 1998 through June 30, 1998

Unidentified people in photographs from our archival collections: can you help identify them?

 

 

*Ernesto Halffter: Life and Work of a Spanish Musician
Music Division Reading Room
February 20, 1998 through May 16, 1998

Photographs, programs, scores, posters, letters, and clippings drawn from the private collection of Manuel Halffter, the composer’s son, the García Lorca Foundation of Madrid, the Escuela de Artes aplícadas y Oficios artísticos of Granada as well as from the Music Division to document one of Spain’s leading 20th-century composers, best known for his Sinfonietta (premiered in 1927).

Image:  Ernesto Halffter (Max Eschig et Cie).  Rare Photo Collection, Music Division

 

Music for the Cinema
Amsterdam Gallery
February 13, 1998 through May 23, 1998

An expanded version of the exhibit originally on view in the Music Division Reading Room, gives viewers a behind-the-scenes glimpse of how music is created for film; contracts, correspondence, manuscript scores, and continuity drafts reveal the work-a-day world of the film composer, while posters, photo stills, and sheet music covers show the methods used to promote movies and their music and create the illusion of glamour.

 

 

Who Are They?: Unknown Iconography in the Music Division
Music Division Reading Room
October 15, 1997 through January 17, 1998

Unidentified people in photographs from our archival collections: can you help identify them?

 

 

Music for the Cinema
Music Division Reading Room
May 28, 1997 through September 27, 1997

An exploration of the history of film music.  On display are rare and unusual items as well as unique manuscript material (including scores by Louis Gruenberg, George Antheil, and Aaron Copland) drawn from the Library’s holdings.

 

 

*Henry Cowell: A Centennial Celebration
Vincent Astor Gallery
March 14, 1997 through May 17, 1997

In conjunction with “Henry Cowell’s Musical Worlds: A Centennial Festival,” March 12, 14, and 15, 1997 (a three-day conference and concert series coordinated by the Institute for Studies in American Music at Brooklyn College in conjunction with The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and the New School in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Cowell’s birth), the exhibition celebrates the extraordinary life of a true American visionary whose presence as a composer, teacher, theorist, and promoter of world music is still with us.  Archival material from the Music Division’s Henry Cowell Collection consisting of manuscript materials, photographs, and personal memorabilia illuminate and reiterate his seminal contributions to the shaping of American music history both then and now.

 

*The League/International Society for Contemporary Music - Then and Now
Music Division Reading Room
October 24, 1996 through January 25, 1997 (extended to February 8, 1997)

The League of Composers and the U.S. Section of the International Society for Contemporary Music, both founded in 1923, have been vital forces in the promotion of contemporary music in America. With documents from the Library's Music Division, this exhibit traces the history of the League/ISCM (the groups combined in 1954) and showcases the work of George Perle, the composer honored by the society this year.

 

 

Viva Verdi
Music Division Reading Room
June 22, 1996 through September 7, 1996

Coinciding with the continuing Viva Verdi Festival in Central Park (a series of 28 Verdi operas presented over seven summers by Vincent La Selva’s New York Grand Opera Company), the exhibition, in addition to examining Verdi’s life and work in general, focuses on the four operas presented in this year’s festival: Alzira, Attila, Macbeth, and I Masnadieri.  Included are original scores, librettos, engravings, and programs from the Library’s collections, as well as materials from the personal collection of Mary Jane Phillips Matz, author of the highly acclaimed biography of the composer.

 

 

Joseph Schillinger’s World of Tomorrow:  An Exhibition Celebrating the Centennial of His Birth
Music Division Reading Room
March 1, 1996 through June 15, 1996

Joseph Schillinger’s System of Musical Composition combined the principles of science, mathematics, and the arts into a unique method of writing music that was used by hundreds of composers, among them Vernon Duke, Carmine Coppola, and George Gershwin.  The Schillinger method of melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic expression inspired students such as Glenn Miller in writing his “Moonlight Serenade” and George Gershwin in writing passages of Porgy and Bess.  The exhibition documents Schillinger’s unique career and contains examples of his own compositions, charts based on his system, and original correspondence with students, colleagues, and collaborators, including Henry Cowell and Leon Theremin.

 

*Musick for a While: An Exhibition Commemorating the 300th Anniversary of the Death of Henry Purcell
Music Division Reading Room
November 1, 1995 through February 3, 1996 (extended to February 8, 1996)

To commemorate the 300th anniversary of the death of England’s most gifted Baroque composer, the Music Division offers original editions and manuscript material of the music of Henry Purcell from its rare book collections.  One of the editions on display will be Orpheus Britannicus, an anthology of Purcell songs published in 1698 by Playford and containing “Ah Belinda,” the first piece to be published from the composer’s best-known work, Dido and Aeneas.  In addition, portraits and scores of contemporaries will be included, such as Matthew Locke’s Rare Theatrical, a manuscript collection of instrumental music for Locke’s dramatic works.  A seventeenth-century map of London will vividly place in context the locales of Purcell’s activities where he spent his life in service to the kings of England as composer and musician.

 

 

*First Impressions: 500 Years of Music Printing: An Exhibition Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Music Publishers’ Association of the United States
Music Division Reading Room
June 5, 1995 through June 24, 1995; September 18, 1995 through October 14, 1995 (extended to October 20, 1995)

Includes some of the Library’s historically significant publications as well as a selection of publications that have won the Music Publishers’ Association’s Paul Revere Award for Graphic Excellence over the last 30 years.

 

 

Toward a New Music: Carlos Chávez
Music Division Reading Room
March 4, 1995 through May 6, 1995 (extended to May 30, 1995)

An exhibition, in conjunction with the Mexican Festival in the Bruno Walter Auditorium, drawing upon the Music Division’s Chávez Collection and highlights through letters and programs Chávez’s collaboration with Edgard Varèse, Igor Stravinsky, and most importantly Aaron Copland.  Chavez’s own contribution will be documented by manuscript scores for his symphonic works (among them El Fuego nuevo [The New Fire] and Xochipilli, an imagined Aztec music), his piano and violin concertos, and various piano pieces.  Also featured will be Chávez’s book Toward a New Music in which he codified his views on composition.

 

 

*Georges Barrère and the Flute in America
Music Division Reading Room
November 12, 1994 through February 4, 1995
See related:  Nancy Toff, Georges Barrère and the Flute in America (New York: The New York Flute Club, Inc., 1994)

Commemorating both the 50th anniversary of Barrère’s death and the 75th anniversary of The New York Flute Club, the oldest such organization in the country, which he founded, the exhibition documents Barrère’s long and impressive career through photographs, portraits, programs, contracts, and letters, many borrowed from the personal collections of his students and never before exhibited.  A selection of some of his own compositions as well as scores and manuscripts of several works that he premiered are on display, among them the work Edgard Varèse wrote expressly for Barrère and his platinum flute, Density 21.5.  Among the more unusual objects to be shown will be Barrère’s music stand, his Paris Conservatoire graduation medal, New York Symphony cufflinks, a life-size bronze bust of Barrère commissioned by the flute-maker Wm. S. Haynes, Co., and a pipe with a sculptured bowl in the shape of Barrère’s head.

 

   

*Composers Recordings, Inc.: Forty Years of Discovery, 1954-1994
Amsterdam Gallery
October 7, 1994 through January 3, 1995

Founded in September 1954 by composers Otto Luening and Douglas Moore and Oliver Daniel of Broadcast Music Inc., CRI, dedicated to music of American contemporary composers, has issued over 500 full-length recordings; this exhibit focuses on the music CRI has recorded and particularly on the composers who wrote it.

 

2 months, 28 days, 5 hours, 45 minutes: John Cage
Music Division Reading Room
August 1, 1994 through October 29,1994

This exhibition of scores, manuscripts, art work and various materials by and about the composer is one of 60 Cage-related events presented this year by cultural organizations throughout the city.  On exhibit are three autograph manuscripts, including that for the 1942 radio play The City Wears a Slouch Hat, which is on public display for the first time.  It also features art work by Cage and samples of his “Wild Edible Drawings.”  Other materials on view include reviews, programs, photographs, scores, a computerized display of Cage’s writings, and a video documentary.

 

The Heart of a Nation: 200 Years of Music from Poland
Music Division Reading Room
March 30, 1994 through July 2, 1994

In conjunction with the “Performing Arts and Artists of Poland,” a month-long festival in the Bruno Walter Auditorium, the exhibit highlights Polish imprints in the Music Division’s collections.

 

 

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center: A Celebration of Its 25th Season
Music Division Reading Room
October 15, 1993 through January 31, 1994 (extended to February 7, 1994)

Includes photographs, correspondence, programs, and other archival material relating to the founding of the Chamber Music Society and its growth and development over the years.  Composers whose works will be premiered by the Society in the 1993-1994 season are highlighted with manuscripts, sketches, and photographs.  These composers include Charles Wuorinen, Ned Rorem, Shulamit Ran, and Marc Antonio Consoli.  The display also includes first editions of major works from the standard repertoire scheduled for performance during this anniversary season.

 

Transformations: Jazz Idioms in Classical Music
Music Division Reading Room
June 24, 1993 through September 30, 1993 (extended to October 2, 1993)

In conjunction with the building-wide exhibit on “JAZZ,” this exhibit traces jazz’s influence on 20th-century music, including first editions of Darius Milhaud’s Creation du monde and Igor Stravinsky’s Ragtime.

 

 

The Gift to Be Free: Refugees from Nazism in the American Performing Arts
Music Division Reading Room
February 27, 1993 through May 28, 1993

In conjunction with “Assault on the Arts: Culture and Politics in Nazi Germany” in the Gottesman Gallery, this exhibition shows the contributions to America’s cultural development made by performing artists who fled Nazi Germany.  The major part of the exhibit is devoted to a display of set and costume designs by H. A. Condell (1905-1951), a Jewish refugee from Germany who, among other accomplishments, worked at New York City Opera from 1944-1950.  In addition, there are  pertinent items concerning the careers of composers Ernst Krenek, Arnold Schoenberg, and Kurt Weill; musicologists Alfred Einstein and Curt Sachs; and performers Herta Glaz, Suzanne Sten, Robert Goldsand, Emanuel Feuermann, Adolf Busch, and Rudolf Serkin in relation to their new-found land.  The public also has the opportunity to view the video Forbidden Sounds, a documentary about music in Nazi Germany.

 

 

The Golden Thread: Marcella Sembrich and the Operatic Tradition
Vincent Astor Gallery
October 23, 1992 through February 13, 1993

An exhibition of documents and artifacts related to the career of the celebrated soprano Marcella Sembrich (1858-1935).

Image: Marcella Sembrich photographed by Apeda, New York.  Iconography Collection, Music Division

 

   

*Persichetti! “Wit, Spirit, Intellect”
Music Division Reading Room
October 16, 1992 through - January 30, 1993

Drawing on the Music Division’s vast Vincent Persichetti archive, the exhibition features manuscripts, programs, personal photographs, and letters.

 

The Lithographer’s Art: Reflections of 19th-Century Life through Sheet Music Covers
Music Division Reading Room
July 16, 1992 through September 30, 1992 (extended to October 12, 1992)

A view of historical and social events of the 19th century as seen through lithographed sheet music covers, among them the laying of the trans-Atlantic cable, baseball in the 1850s, ladies fashions, bicycles, the Crimean War, the Civil War, and the Spanish-American War.

 

The Spanish Presence: A Musical Sampler
Music Division Reading Room
March 16, 1992 through June 13, 1992

In honor of the 500th anniversary of Columbus’s discovery of America, this exhibit features portraits of musicians of Spanish birth and of French musicians influenced by the Spanish, as well as early Spanish treatises on music.

 

   

*An American Triptych: The Dynamic Worlds of William Schuman
Music Division Reading Room
October 25, 1991 through February 1, 1992 (extended to February 6, 1992)

A celebration of Schuman’s career as composer, educator, and administrator, including music manuscripts, letters, photographs, and unusual memorabilia.

 

 

Mozart’s World: The Images of His Times
Vincent Astor Gallery
May 17, 1991 through August 31, 1991

In conjunction with Lincoln Center’s Mozart bicentennial celebration, this exhibition, using 18th-century engravings, illustrated books, first editions of Mozart’s scores and autograph manuscripts, traces Mozart’s journeys throughout Europe and provides varied glimpses of Mozart’s Vienna.

 

Mozart in America: An Operatic Sampling
Music Division Reading Room
May 17, 1991 through October 12, 1991

In conjunction with the Astor Gallery exhibition “Mozart’s World: The Images of His Times,” this exhibit focuses on early Mozart performances in America, particularly the U.S. premiere on May 23, 1826 of Don Giovanni by Manuel García’s troupe in collaboration with the librettist Lorenzo da Ponte, as well as later performances of other Mozart operas (highlighting Marcella Sembrich’s Metropolitan Opera Mozart roles).  Also included are early American editions of Mozart arias.

Image: Marcella Sembrich as the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, photographed by Aimé Dupont, New York.  Marcella Sembrich Papers, Music Division

 

   

*The Odyssey of Otto Luening: A Ninetieth Birthday Greeting
Music Division Reading Room
October 15, 1990 through January 12, 1991

Original music manuscripts, letters, photographs, and memorabilia selected from the Library’s holdings, as well as from Luening’s personal collection, chronicle the composer’s long and distinguished career.  His pioneering efforts in electronic music, his activities as a conductor, his role as an educator and as an advocate for American music, and his life-long work as a composer are among the many facets of Luening’s life that are highlighted.

Image: Otto Luening.  Iconography Collection, Music Division

 

 

Caecilia and Her Sisters: Women’s Roles in Musical Life from the Renaissance to Modern Times
Music Division Reading Room
June 8, 1990 through September 29, 1990

This exhibition examines, through original prints, letters, documents, and manuscripts, the diverse activities of women in the history of music - patrons, publishers, impresarias, political activists, teachers, and muses as well as composers and performers.

Among the items on display is a letter from virtuoso pianist Franz Liszt to the Mlles. Erard concerning their publication of some of his compositions. Highlighted are differing attitudes toward women as composers: Clara Schumann’s music was published under her own name while Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel’s early works were issued under the authorship of her brother Felix. Alma Mahler, an aspiring composer, gave up composition at the insistence of her husband; on view is a manuscript copy of the full score of Gustav Mahler’s Fifth Symphony in her hand. In addition, several examples of musical works inspired by the specific capabilities of various women performers are compared with a document in which Lotte Lenya describes herself not as merely a muse but as a partner in the creation of the music composed by her husband Kurt Weill.

Nineteenth-century campaign and temperance songs as well as rags composed by women, programs from ca. 1889 of Emma Juch’s touring opera company, parlor music written specifically for a female audience, commissions from queens, and an early opera libretto are just a few of the many objects assembled here principally from the holdings of the Music Division.

 

Remembrance of Operas Past: Premieres and Historical Performances Remembered through Posters, Photographs, and Memorabilia
Music Division Reading Room
February 16, 1990 through May 31, 1990

An exhibition of 19th- and 20th-century opera posters from the private collection of noted collector James J. Fuld supplemented by material drawn from the Music Division focusing on the first performances of the operas with relevant first edition vocal scores, letters, photographs, and prints.