[ANPPOM-L] Library of Congress Moldenhauer Archives materials available online

[Carlos Palombini]

MATERIALS DOCUMENTING HISTORY OF WESTERN MUSIC NOW ONLINE

Items from Moldenhauer Archives ­ The Richest Gift of Musical Documents 
in Library
A selection of the richest composite gift of musical documents ever 
received by the Library of Congress, the Moldenhauer Archives, is now 
available online at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/moldenhauer.

The overall archives contains approximately 3,500 items documenting the 
history of Western music from the medieval period through the modern era.

As a memorial to his wife of nearly 40 years, Hans Moldenhauer 
(1906-1987) established a directive and provided funds for the Library 
of Congress to publish "The Rosaleen Moldenhauer Memorial: Music History 
from Primary Sources: A Guide to the Moldenhauer Archives."

This online presentation is drawn from that 2000 publication.  It 
features more than 130 items (many complete works) from the Moldenhauer 
Archives.  Also available are a series of essays by musicologists 
discussing individual items from the Moldenhauer Archives and a finding 
aid based on the publication's comprehensive inventory of the archives 
held worldwide by the Library and other institutions.

Born in Mainz, Germany, in 1906, Hans Moldenhauer emigrated to the 
United States in 1938 to elude the rising tide of Nazi oppression. He 
eventually settled in Spokane, Wash., where he founded that city's 
Conservatory of Music in 1942.  An accomplished pianist, teacher, 
scholar and mountain climber, he began amassing his archives of primary 
source material shortly after World War II.

Diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa in about 1950, Moldenhauer's 
progression into blindness took more than 20 years. As his eyesight
deteriorated, he increasingly relied upon the assistance of his wife, 
Rosaleen, a former student and a musicologist in her own right, in 
assembling his collection.

Moldenhauer's holdings span diverse genres, from medieval chant to 
experimental late-20th century compositions. Represented are materials 
from the most important figures in Western music, including Bach, 
Beethoven, Brahms, Handel, Haydn, Mahler, Mozart, Schoenberg, 
Stravinsky, Wagner and Webern.  The archives are also rich in materials 
from Moldenhauer's contemporaries, who were emerging while the archives 
were formed.  Boulez, Cage, Dallapiccola, de la Vega, Penderecki, 
Stockhausen, Lutosawski, Cage and Rothberg are among the "moderns" whose 
compositions are represented in the collection.  In addition to material 
associated with the great composers, there are diverse items from famous 
instrumentalists, singers, conductors, artists and writers.

Prior to his death, Moldenhauer sent parts of his archives to the 
Library of Congress and to other institutions in Germany, Austria, 
Switzerland and the United States.  In 1987, at his bequest, the balance 
of his archives came to the Music Division of the Library of Congress, 
where they remain one of the greatest collections of primary source 
music materials ever assembled.

"The Moldenhauer Archives" is one of more than 130 thematic 
presentations available from the American Memory Web site of more than 
10.5 million items.  These presentations range from the papers of U.S. 
presidents, Civil War photographs and early films of Thomas Edison to 
papers documenting the women's suffrage and civil rights movements, Jazz 
Age photographs and the first baseball cards.  The materials are drawn 
from the collections of the Library of Congress and other major 
repositories.

-- 
carlos palombini
diretor
centro de pesquisa em música contemporânea
universidade federal de minas gerais
cpmc-ufmg
<palombini em terra.com.br>