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Creator
Broder, Nathan
Call number
JPB 86-20
Language
English
Preferred Citation
Nathan Broder papers, JPB 86-20. Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Repository
Music Division
Access to materials
Some collections held by the Dance, Music, Recorded Sound, and Theatre Divisions at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts are held off-site and must be requested in advance. Please check the collection records in the NYPL's online catalog for detailed location information. For general guidance about requesting offsite materials, please consult: https://www.nypl.org/about/locations/lpa/requesting-archival-materials

The Nathan Broder papers comprises material documenting his professional career. With few exceptions there are no personal papers in the collection. Although there is some material from the 1930s, the bulk of the collection documents Broder's career from the 1940s through the 1960s.

Biographical/historical information

An American musicologist and editor, Nathan Broder was born in New York City on December 1, 1905. Although he attended City College of New York his musical knowledge was largely self-taught. He was associated editor of the Musical Quarterly (1945-1967), manager of publications for the music publisher G. Schirmer (1945-1954), chairman of the publication committee of the American Musicological Society (1952–1954), executive director of the American Section of RISM (1961–1965) and music editor at W.W. Norton & Co., New York (1963–1967).

Broder taught at Columbia University as a lecturer (1946-1952) and then as associate professor (1959-1962). He served as president of the American Musicological Society (1963-1964).

In addition to writing about seventy articles for the German encyclopedia Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Broder held a particular interest in Mozart, publishing an edition of his sonatas and fantasias (1956) as well as a compilation of his opera librettos, The Great Operas of Mozart (1962). He also wrote numerous reviews for the periodical High Fidelity.

Broder died in New York City on December 18, 1967.

Scope and arrangement

The Nathan Broder papers comprises material documenting his professional career. With few exceptions there are no personal papers in the collection. Although there is some material from the 1930s, the bulk of the collection documents Broder's career from the 1940s through the 1960s.

A substantial portion of the collection deals with Broder's relationship to the German encyclopedia Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Series I (Box 1) consists of correspondence to and from the encyclopedia's editors and includes drafts and galley proofs. Series II (Box 2) contains a collection of the articles Broder contributed to the encyclopedia.

Similarly substantive is Series III (Boxes 3-4) consisting of material relating to Broder's interest in Mozart, resulting in the publication of his book The Great Operas of Mozart as well as the scores to the composer's sonatas and fantasias.

Series IV contains paperwork from Broder's second stint teaching at Columbia University. (There are no papers from Broder's earlier stint as lecturer, 1946-1952.)

Series V (Boxes 5-11) contains the bulk of the collection, an alphabetically-arranged subject file.

Series VI (Boxes 12-15), the final series of the collection, contains primarily Broder's reviews written for the periodical High Fidelity. A single folder (Box 12, folder 4) contains correspondence with the periodical's editors.

The Nathan Broder papers are arranged in six series:

Using the collection

Location

Music Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor

Access to materials

Some collections held by the Dance, Music, Recorded Sound, and Theatre Divisions at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts are held off-site and must be requested in advance. Please check the collection records in the NYPL's online catalog for detailed location information. For general guidance about requesting offsite materials, please consult: https://www.nypl.org/about/locations/lpa/requesting-archival-materials