By JANE GOTTLIEB

A new Friends of the Juilliard Library group was officially launched on October 21, 2003, with a special exhibit and concert. As one of the School's patron and donor groups, the Friends of the Juilliard Library will provide important support for purchase of new acquisitions, preservation of rare and archival resources, and expansion of digital resources.

Alumnus Jeffrey Siegel (D.M.A. '70, piano), who is a devoted user of the library, spearheaded the Library Friends campaign. Mr. Siegel regularly consults Juilliard library resources for the development of his Keyboard Conversations concerts-with-commentary, which he presents in cities nationwide. He clearly remembers library resources he used while a student here, and is passionate about supporting the continued growth and development of the collection.

The exhibit, which remained on view in the library until November 30, featured highlights from the library's Peter Jay Sharp Special Collections. On view for the first time were manuscripts of two Brahms songs—"Sehnsucht," Op. 49, No. 3, and "Im Garten am Seegestade," Op. 70, No. 1—both of which were donated to Juilliard in the early 1970s; a Wagner manuscript (his essay on Bellini's Norma); manuscripts by Eugène Ysaÿe; first editions of Franz Liszt piano works from the Ruth Dana Collection of Liszt Editions; and selections from the Soulima and Igor Stravinsky collection.

The Friends concert demonstrated the close connection between performance and scholarly study of original source materials. All of the works performed in the concert are represented in the library's special collections through manuscripts, first editions, or scores with the composer's annotations. Pre-College student Joyce Yang performed Igor Stravinsky's Piano-Rag-Music (1919), which is represented in the library's Soulima and Igor Stravinsky collection through a published score with markings in the composer's hand.

Mr. Siegel performed Chopin's own solo piano arrangement of his Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, Op. 21, which is published in the 1932 Oxford edition of Chopin's works, edited by Edouard Ganche. Mr. Siegel remembered locating the score in the circulating stacks while he was a student, and even recalled the color of the binding. The score had since been moved to Special Collections, since the edition is out of print and somewhat scarce.

Violinist Tai Murray performed Ysaÿe's Ballade (Violin Sonata No. 3, Op. 27), the manuscript of which is represented in Juilliard's extensive collection of Ysaÿe manuscripts, along with manuscripts of Ysaÿe's Sonatas Nos. 2 and 6, and numerous other works by the composer. The manuscripts of the sonatas were donated to Juilliard by Louis Persinger, who was a member of the School's violin faculty from 1930 to 1966. The library has been able to build upon Persinger's original donation through gifts and selected purchases, and now has the largest collection of Ysaÿe manuscripts in the United States. Ms. Murray introduced her performance by explaining that she is a pedagogical descendant of Ysaÿe, having studied with a student of Josef Gingold, who himself was a student of Ysaÿe. When she looked at the manuscript of the Ballade in the library prior to her performance, she realized that there are many discrepancies with the published edition. She decided to perform the work as she had learned it from her teachers, given their close connection to the composer.

The two Brahms songs were performed by soprano Leena Chopra and pianist Ron Regev, a doctoral student. Ms. Chopra and Mr. Regev studied the manuscripts in the library prior to their performance. The manuscript of "Sehnsucht" is a Stichvorlage, or "engraver's copy," the copy that Brahms sent to his publisher Simrock to prepare the first edition. It includes editor's markings in blue pencil, as well as Brahms's own markings and corrections. The manuscript of "Im Garten am Seegestade" is a presentation copy on decorative paper, which Brahms prepared as a gift to one of his patrons. It is a beautiful source, but does not show evidence of compositional changes, as is the case with the "Sehnsucht" manuscript. Ms. Chopra and Mr. Regev also performed Brahms's "Wiegenlied" ("Lullaby"), Op. 49, No. 4, as a special treat for the audience. Although the library does not have the manuscript of Op. 49, No. 4 (it is housed in the Glinka Museum in Moscow), it is in the same opus grouping.

Faculty member Jerome Lowenthal concluded the program with a tour-de-force performance of Liszt's Grande fantaisie sur des thèmes de l'opéra Les Huguenots, which is represented in the library's Ruth Dana Collection of Liszt Editions. The Dana Collection, which includes nearly 200 first and early editions of Liszt's works, was donated to the Institute of Musical Art, Juilliard's predecessor institution, in 1914, and will soon make its virtual debut as the library's first digital collection. Mr. Lowenthal introduced the work with a detailed and brilliant account of the Meyerbeer opera Les Huguenots on which Liszt based his fantasy. The brilliance of his narration was matched only by the virtuosity of his performance.

Library collections grow organically through gifts and careful purchases, and certainly Juilliard's collection has grown in this way. From its origins as the "Schirmer Circulating Library," a donation from Rudolf Schirmer, a member of the Institute of Musical Art board, to its present holdings of more than 100,000 volumes and extensive electronic resources, Juilliard's library has benefited from generous gifts and bequests from faculty members, alumni, and other friends. Each acquisition decision is made with an eye towards the relationship of potential new materials to our existing holdings, and to the School's central mission of educating performers. We are enormously grateful to the new Friends of the Juilliard Library group for its important role in insuring the continued growth and development of Juilliard's library collection.

Jane Gottlieb is vice president for library and information resources.