Collections in Music Division

Arturo Toscanini was born in Parma, Italy, on March 25, 1867, and died in Riverdale, New York, on January 16, 1957. Many regard him as one of the world's greatest conductors. In addition, Toscanini's anti-Fascist stance during World War II distinguished him as a symbol of freedom and humanity. His extraordinarily long career began in 1886, when Italian orchestral conductors were still relatively few in number, and extended into the 1950s, by which time his radio and television broadcasts had transformed him into a cultural icon. The Toscanini Legacy papers form a portion of the Toscanini Legacy housed at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. The other major portion, of sound recordings, is housed in NYPL's Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound. The papers in the Music Division consist of music scores and orchestral parts with and without markings by Arturo Toscanini and others (including composers in some instances), correspondence, photographs, programs, clippings, books, newspapers, brochures, periodicals, scrapbooks, and medical and financial records. Subjects include the various musical organizations in Europe and the United States with which Toscanini was associated, and his anti-Fascist activities. The hundreds of correspondents include family members, composers, performers, conductors, and music critics; as well as Italian exiles, and U.S. and Italian political figures. less

Herbert Henry Weinstock (1905-1971), an American writer and editor, specialized in the field of early 19th-century Italian opera. Between 1935 and 1971, Weinstock wrote prolifically, particularly on musical subjects, while also working as a publisher's editor. In this role, Weinstock was brought into formative contact with some of the most important musical writers of his day; he edited Stravinsky and Craft's Expositions, for example, and translated La Grange's Life of Mahler. He was also New York correspondent of Opera from December 1966 until his death and contributed reviews, programs, and articles to numerous publications. By his own tally, he contributed over 300 articles to the Encyclopedia Americana, and he completed, before his death, the revised entry on Opera for the Encyclopaedia Britannica (a typescript of which is in the collection). Weinstock's work also includes a number of translations of Spanish and Italian works, and some material for children. Arguably Weinstock's most important books were his last trilogy of musical biographies: Donizetti and the World of Opera in Italy, Paris, and Vienna (1963), Rossini, a Biography (1968), and Vincenzo Bellini, His Life and His Operas (1971). His oeuvre also includes hundreds of articles and program notes and over two dozen books (original and translated), most of which were translated into several languages and issued in multiple (sometimes revised) editions. The Herbert Weinstock Collection consists of professional and personal papers and a small number of three-dimensional memorabilia belonging to Herbert Weinstock, members of Weinstock's family, and Weinstock's long-time companion, Ben Meiselman. The professional papers, which span the years 1750-1989, were produced and collected mainly by Weinstock in connection with his research, particularly his work on early 19th-century opera. The range of collected materials is broad, and sometimes unexpected, as in the case of a facsimile manuscript essay by Wagner on Bellini's Norma, but the largest group consists of facsimiles of over 1200 letters to and from Rossini and members of his circle. The professional papers also include a number of Weinstock's own writings on both musical and non-musical subjects, including a hand-corrected typescript of his biography of Rossini, as well as writings by other persons, perhaps most notably a hand-corrected typescript of one of the Stravinsky-Craft books, music by Carlos Chavez, and the typescript of a long article by Philip Gossett. Weinstock's voluminous correspondence includes letters from many important figures of the musical and publishing worlds of his time, including Guglielmo Barblan, Maria Callas, Warren Chappell, Carlos Chavez, Aaron Copland, Karl Geiringer, Philip Gossett, Newell Jenkins, Friedrich Lippman, Andrew Porter, Harold Rosenthal, Beverly Sills, Igor Stravinsky, and Virgil Thomson. less