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Creator
Arnstein, Arnold
Call number
JPB 91-60
Physical description
10 linear ft. (40 boxes).
Preferred Citation

Arnold Arnstein Collection, JPB 91-60, Music Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.

Repository
Music Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

This collection contains scores from the office of Arnold Arnstein, one of the leading music copyists in New York City.

Biographical/historical information

Arnold Arnstein was born in Budapest in 1898, and came to New York with his family when he was 4 years old. After attending Stuyvesant High School, he graduated from City College in 1919, with a degree in chemistry. He played violin until an accident prevented further study.

In 1925 he began to work for Paramount Publix Corporation as a music copyist. By 1932 he was able to set up his own office on west 72nd Street in New York City which he used until his death. Over the course of fifty-seven years, he was the copyist for Gian Carlo Menotti, Samuel Barber, Leonard Bernstein, Virgil Thomson, and many other leading as well as less well-known composers. In time the staff of his office grew to at least seven regular staff members, in addition to other staff on call.

From the mid-1960s until his death, Arnstein taught classes in the preparation and copying of music manuscript at The Juilliard School of Music. Arnstein died on December 2, 1989.

Scope and arrangement

The Arnold Arnstein Collection contains music that was found in Arnold Arnstein's office when he died in 1989. Virtually all of it is undated. It is not known why these works were left in Arnstein's office, although it can be surmised that either copyist or customer were not satisfied with the result.

The composers represented in the collection are a cross section of contemporary composers of the 1950s through the 1980s as well as several pre-twentieth century composers. There are a number of composers associated with film or television (Alfredo Antonini, Sol Kaplan, Samuel Matlovsky, and Marc Wilkinson), and also several associated with the Broadway stage musical and popular song (Don Pippin, Charles Strouse, Alec Wilder, and Meredith Willson).

The material devoted to Charles Strouse is particularly interesting. There are many lead sheets for his songs to unproduced or little-known musicals, including several for Let's Go Steady, the earlier version of Bye Bye Birdie. There are also more unusual and obscure works of Strouse, including his piano concerto as well as Voices, a musical setting of two case studies by Sigmund Freud. There are less well-known or obscure composers as well, such as René Guirma, a diplomat who, in 1971, composed an extensive service in African ritual style for St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.

In summary, the Arnold Arnstein Collection represents a sample of the music that passed through the offices of one of the leading music copyists in New York City.

The Arnold Arnstein collection of musical scores are arranged in twenty-two series:

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

This collection was acquired from the estate of Arnold Arnstein.

Processing information

Processed by Robert Kosovsky; machine-readable finding aid created by Robert Kosovsky.

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

Conditions Governing Use

For permission to copy or publish please contact the Music Division.