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Creator
Aston Magna Foundation for Music
Call number
JPB 06-17
Physical description
2.17 linear feet (2 boxes)
Preferred Citation

Aston Magna Foundation for Music Records, JPB 06-17. Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

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

The Aston Magna Foundation for Music Records consist of office files that document the first years of the Foundation, a pioneering American organization for the study and promotion of early music. Established in 1972 by Albert Fuller and Lee Elman, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, the Foundation was created to serve as a center for the study and performance of seventeenth and eighteenth century music, and continues today to build upon its original mission.

Biographical/historical information

Established in 1972 by Albert Fuller and Lee Elman, the Aston Magna Foundation for Music was created to serve as a center for the study and performance of seventeenth and eighteenth century music. The original site of the Foundation in Great Barrington, Massachusetts was the former summer home of the violinist Albert Spalding. Although the Foundation faced some initial problems with the local community over turning the property, which was located in a primarily residential area, into an educational and performance facility, the group eventually prevailed in its plans and soon would expand its offerings to additional venues in Great Barrington and elsewhere in the region.

Primary summer activities of the Foundation include educational programs (called the Academy after 1978) that brought together scholars, artists, and students to study the music of the period using a cross-disciplinary approach. Inspired by the model of Renaissance and Baroque academies, these Academy programs, under the direction of Raymond Erickson, concentrate on a different theme each year. Subjects covered by past Academies have included Music and Its Relationships to the Other Arts in the Rome of Queen Christina of Sweden and Pietro Cardinal Ottobonni (1978), Music, Art, Theater and Dance in the Age of Louis XIV (1982) and From Handel to Hogarth: The Culture of Early Georgian England, 1714-1760(1997).

The other main component of the summer program is the annual Aston Magna Festival. This series of concerts features public performances of music of the period by specialists and program participants using original or authentic replica instruments in a historically accurate manner. For example, for its Fifth Anniversary Festival in 1977, Aston Magna presented the first contemporary public performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's complete Brandenburg cycle on original instruments. Recordings of several Festival concerts have been released commercially, including The Six Brandenburg Concerti (1978), Live from Aston Magna (1990) and Schubert, F. Octet in F, D.803 (1992).

Now known officially as the Aston Magna Foundation for Music and the Humanities, the Foundation continues to build upon its original mission as it engages with a wider public through enhanced educational programs, as well as additional performances offered throughout the year.

Scope and arrangement

The Aston Magna Foundation for Music Records consist of office files and other materials that document the first years of this pioneering American organization for the study and promotion of early music. The bulk of these files were called board meeting files and primarily contain various types of meeting announcements, agendas, and minutes, as well as related correspondence and background reports, filed chronologically. These administrative and financial records mainly reflect the fundraising, legal, and structural challenges faced by the Foundation from its inception. Neither educational nor artistic concerns are covered in any great detail. The collection, however, does include some material (such as oversized display panels) relating to the exhibition that was held at the Berkshire Community College in conjunction with the 1978 Academy, Music and Art in the Rome of Queen Christina of Sweden and Cardinal Ottoboni.

The Aston Magna Foundation for Music records are arranged in two series:

  • Series I: Office Files, and
    1972 - 1979

    The Office Files series mainly contains board meeting files for the years 1973-1979; the years 1976-1978 are the most comprehensively covered. Also included are a few sample promotional materials, such as brochures, clippings, fliers, and press releases. There is one folder containing reproductions of graphic materials probably used in the 1978 Academy exhibit; the actual display panels are found in the Oversized Materials series.

  • Series II: Oversized Materials, and
    1976 - 1978

    The Oversized Materials series includes several large display panels, some of which most likely were used in the exhibit, Music and Art in the Rome of Queen Christina of Sweden and Cardinal Ottoboni. Also included is an album sleeve for the first commercial recording released by the Foundation, a 1976 live performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Quartet for Flute, Violin, Viola, and 'Cello in D, Georg Philipp Telemann's Concerto in A minor for Recorder, Viola da Gamba, Strings and Continuo, and the Concertino for 4 Violins, Viola, 'Cello, and Bass, erroneously attributed to Giovanni Battista Pergolesi.

Administrative information

Processing information

Processed by Helice Koffler; Machine-readable finding aid created by Helice Koffler.

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 publish, contact the Chief, Music Division.