Research Catalog

Title

Arnold Arnstein collection of musical scores, ca. 1950-1989.

Author

Arnstein, Arnold

Supplementary Content

Finding Aid

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Strouse, Charles

Description

10 linear feet (40 boxes)

Summary

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. 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). Among the material devoted to Charles Strouse 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.

Subjects

• Chamber music
• Musicals > Lead sheets
• Orchestral music
• Music > Manuscripts

Note

• Consists of copyists' manuscripts in ink.

Biography (note)

• Arnold Arnstein was a leading music copyist based in New York City. 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, Charles Strouse, and many other leading as well as less well-known composers. 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.

Indexes/Finding Aids (note)

• Finding aid available in reposity and on the Internet.

Call Number

JPB 91-60

OCLC

NYPG02-C85

Author

Arnstein, Arnold.

Title

Arnold Arnstein collection of musical scores, ca. 1950-1989.

Biography

Arnold Arnstein was a leading music copyist based in New York City. 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, Charles Strouse, and many other leading as well as less well-known composers. 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.

Indexes

Finding aid available in reposity and on the Internet.

Connect to:

Request Access to Music & Recorded Sound Division Special Collections material

Finding Aid

Added Author

Strouse, Charles.

Research Call Number

JPB 91-60