Exploring the Music Division’s Collection of 15th-17th Century Anthologies with Susan Clermont

Nicholas A. Brown-Cáceres, Stacey Jocoy, and Susan Clermont of the Music Division contributed to this blog.

Senior Music Reference Specialist Susan Clermont recently published an authoritative annotated bibliography and accompanying research guide focused on the Music Division’s 306 anthologies of music dating from 1463 – 1701. These anthologies comprise over 12,000 individual works by over 1,000 composers – with both significant as well as rare and unique musical works included. Altogether, these 306 imprints represent 10% of all anthologies produced during this 200+ year period. The extent and diversity found within this remarkable collection of anthologies demonstrates, in part, the breadth and rarity of the Music Division’s pre-1700 holdings.

While the Library of Congress Music Division is commonly known as a major repository for the history of American music, dance, and theater, many researchers and visitors may not realize that the history of Western music’s evolution since the Middle Ages is extensively documented in the form of anthologies, music manuscripts, archival collections, and general collections. Susan was kind enough to answer a few questions that serve as an introductory tour to a portion of the Music Division’s early music collections that is ripe for researchers to explore.

Five Questions for Susan Clermont
[NB – Nicholas A. Brown-Cáceres; SC – Susan Clermont]

[NB] What inspired your work on this resource guide and bibliography? 

[SC] My inspiration came from the breadth of the Music Division’s early music collections themselves and recognizing the need to improve their visibility and access. The more I studied our early music holdings, I realized that the most difficult to locate were the anthologies: a high percentage were not yet in the online catalog or reported to RISM (International Inventory of Musical Sources) and they were obviously not represented in our old card catalog under a single composer’s name. Searching by title was not a problem-free option either!

My goal for this project was to identify as many anthologies as I could, assist our rare music cataloger who created or updated the online records, report what I found to RISM and finally to create this bibliographic tool for researchers and staff.

[NB] Did you have any particularly memorable discoveries while working with the 306 anthologies?

[SC] I have three examples:

One discovery first came to light in an Music Division Annual Report from 1931 that claimed we acquired a late 17^th century manuscript of works by some of the top English composers of the day, containing holographs by Purcell and Blow. I scoured the cards under every composer’s name listed in the Annual Report with no success; since the content of the manuscript was derived from multiple sources (as opposed to a transcription of a single work with a given title), our manuscript had no official title. Without a name or a title, it was completely hidden! By searching through our rare book stacks under the Library of Congress (LC) classification number M1619 (a class that contained several anthologies with similar contents) and guessing that the cuttering of that shelf mark could be “C” for Collection, or “M” for Miscellaneous, or “S” for Songs, the manuscript was rediscovered after 90 years! The given title was “Songs and Duets,” M1619.S72 Case.

I discovered a 1692 anthology with a printer’s error that claimed the volume was actually published in 1712. Oddly, the preface was clearly dated “Milano li 10. agosto 1692.” After researching the publisher and his recent output it became obvious that a mistake was made in the order of the roman numerals on the title page which read MDCCXII instead of MDCXCII. Because of this error, the anthology was temporarily ‘lost’ – not reported either in Robert Eitner’s 1877 anthology bibliography or in the RISM B/I anthology series. A 2014 article cited in my bibliography confirms the details surrounding this printer’s error. Our copy is currently the only one reported to exist!

Singing through one of the most familiar rounds from my childhood – “Three Blind Mice” -was an unexpected thrill. It appeared over 400 years ago in the anthology “Ane buik of roundels,” a manuscript “collected and notted by Dauid Meluill” in 1612. Melvill transcribed the popular ditty from Thomas Ravenscroft’s “Deutermelia,” a 1609 imprint that is also held in our collections.

[NB] How did the Music Division come to acquire such significant early music holdings?

[SC] One of the top collection development priorities established in the early twentieth century by Music Division Chief Oscar Sonneck was early music, a category he deemed essential if we wanted to attain the status of a world-class music library. For over half a century the division built on Sonneck’s original acquisition plan, compiling want-lists and then scouring auction and dealers’ catalogs in an attempt to locate hundreds of historically significant imprints, and in some cases manuscripts.  We were always aware that retrospective collecting carried a serendipitous element, but Sonneck’ solid long-term plan proved to be the most successful option.

[NB] What types of insights can researchers gain from exploring these treasures?

[SC] With such a wide variety of anthologies to examine, there are insights to be gained into a number of subject areas:

• The history of early music publishing and printing methods.
• Studying the dynamics and decisions involved in compiling an anthology – the selection of the repertoire; the relationships between composers, compilers, editors, publishers, patrons and dedicatees; the evolution in format; who financed them; what stories their provenance revealed; which ones were pirated; which were reprinted; which included addenda; marketing strategies, how and where the imprints were published and disseminated and how they influenced composers and performers outside the country of origin -– all significant historical data of which these anthologies are rich and valuable sources.
• Researching how the musical relevance and influence of certain composers was prolonged or rejuvenated through their anthology contributions rather than via single-composer publications.
• Statistics! The success of a specific imprint (and, by default, the music it contained) can be measured by the number of editions, reprints, publishers, and transcriptions it underwent; this quantifiable data gives scholars an objective means to assess whose works were most valued hundreds of years ago – what trends were deemed most important and how they impacted the history of music.

[NB] How might these anthologies be of interest to art historians, rare book aficionados, and folks in other disciplines?

[SC] Having tables of contents for each anthology can assist rare book dealers in their assessment of the completeness of additional copies. Those studying papermaking, watermarks, and bookbinding will have more candidates for study here in the U.S. Annotations in our copies can also provide information on former owners, critical to scholars reconstructing the great libraries/collections of famous collectors.

Visit the Performing Arts Reading Room webpage to explore the Anthologies of Musical Works from the 15^th-17^th Centuries in the Library of Congress Music Division Research Guide. Several of the treasures are digitized and available for viewing online. If you have any questions about the items, contact the Music Division through Ask a Librarian.