Paul Tobias becomes the 16th cellist represented in the UNCG Cello Music Collection

Paul Tobias has been called a "master of the music and his instrument" by the New York Times, while the San Francisco Chronicle hailed him as "a fired-up, brilliant cellist in the great romantic tradition of Casals". He studied under Gregor Piatigorsky, Margaret Rowell and Bonnie Hampton, and under Leonard Rose, Zara Nelsova, and Claus Adam at The Juilliard School.

Among the many orchestras with which Tobias performed are the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, and Seattle Symphony. Following his debut under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas, he performed with conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Sergiu Comissiona, Raymond Leppard, and Zubin Mehta.

The many awards bestowed on Tobias included a Walter W. Naumburg Foundation Prize and the Gregor Piatigorsky Award (presented by the Violoncello Society which proclaimed him "outstanding young American cellist"). Following his first performances with the New York Philharmonic under Pierre Boulez (broadcast over the CBS Television Network), he was given the honor of performing the American premiere of the Pederecki Cello Concerto at the Kennedy Center with the composer conducting the Polish National Radio Symphony. Particularly noteworthy, Paul Tobias championed uncommon and difficult cello works that he believed should be more widely heard.  For example, Tobias was recognized as a pre-eminent interpreter of Samuel Barber's Cello Concerto and of the autograph version of Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme, which he edited for its premier publication by Edwin F. Kalmus.

In addition to solo performances in Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Philadelphia Academy of Music, and the Metropolitan Museum, Tobias also participated as a chamber musician at the Aspen Festival and the Marlboro Festival (for five consecutive years at the personal invitation of Rudolf Serkin). Paul Tobias can be heard on recordings for CBS and the Marlboro Recording Society. His performances have been broadcast over NPR, PBS, CBS Television, and numerous European radio stations.  A one hour documentary on Paul Tobias has been broadcast throughout the U.S. over various PBS Television stations.

Additionally, Paul Tobias was Artistic Director of New Heritage Music, a non-profit organization that commissions new works in honor of people, events, and themes central to history. Among composers designated to date are Chen Yi, Michael Daugherty, David Ott, Behzad Ranjbaran, David Sampson, Peter Schickele and Dan Welcher. The American Symphony Orchestra League calls New Heritage Music "a success story in creating new audiences with new music.”

A former Lecturer in Music at Harvard University and pre-concert lecturer for the New York Philharmonic, Tobias also served on the faculties of the Manhattan School of Music, the New England Conservatory of Music, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and the University of California at Berkeley. A member of the faculty of the Mannes College for Music, New School University in New York, he was the recipient of its Distinguished University Teacher of the Year Award. Tobias authored numerous articles for American String Teacher, The Juilliard Journal, the Journal of the Conductors Guild, Strings, and The Strad.

Paul Tobias is the 16th musician to be represented in the UNCG Cello Music Collection. Consisting of the archival music collections of Luigi Silva, Elizabeth Cowling, Rudolf Matz, Maurice Eisenberg, János Scholz, Fritz Magg, Bernard Greenhouse, Laszlo Varga, Lev Aronson, Lubomir Georgiev, Marion Davies, Douglas Moore, Ennio Bolognini, Nicholas Anderson, Margaret Rowell, and Paul Tobias, the Cello Music Collection at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro constitutes the largest single holding of archival cello music-related material worldwide.

Douglas B. Moore Joins the Cellists Represented in the UNCG Cello Music Collection

The Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections & University Archives is pleased to announce the donation of the collection of Douglas B. Moore to the UNCG Cello Music Collection. Douglas Moore was Professor of Music at Williams College from 1970 to 2007, and cellist with the Williams Chamber Players and the Williams Trio.  His Bachelor of Music degree in cello is from Indiana University, where he studied with Fritz Magg and János Starker, and his Masters and DMA degrees are from The Catholic University of America in Washington DC.

Moore has performed at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, and at the Great Music West (Utah), Saratoga Baroque, Music Mountain, and Newport music festivals. He has been an artist/faculty member at the Manchester (VT) Music Festival (1998-2008) and Kansas City Cello Clinic. He has been principal cellist with the Great Music West Festival Orchestra in Utah, the Albany (NY) Symphony, Berkshire Symphony at Williams College and the Lake George Opera Festival orchestra. From 1991 the 1995 he was a member of the Saratoga Chamber Players, based in Saratoga Springs NY. He has also conducted cello orchestras at cello congresses, cello camps and universities, and given frequent master classes.

In 1976, Moore played the world premiere performance of the Cello Sonata, Op. 78 by Arthur Foote. His edition of the complete music for cello and piano by Foote was published in 1982 by A-R Editions on the Recent Researches in American Music series. The first modern-day performance of Foote's Cello Concerto took place in 1981 with Douglas Moore as soloist. Since then, he has performed the work with orchestras in Connecticut, Minnesota, Virginia, Massachusetts, Vermont, Illinois and Iowa. He has recorded music by Foote, Farwell, Cadman, Arensky, Rachmaninov, and Kechley on the Musical Heritage Society, Grand Prix and Liscio labels.

Moore has published over forty original arrangements through his publishing company, PlayMooreCello, including Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever and Rossini’s Barber of Seville Overture. His arrangements have been recorded by Yo-Yo Ma, the Saito Cello Ensemble of Japan and the Boston Cello Quartet. Additionally, Moore has published nearly 3 dozen modern editions of late 18th and early 19th century duos for violin and cello, most of which have never appeared since their first publication.

The Cello Music Collection of the Special Collections and University Archives contains sheet music (manuscript and published), monographs, serials, audio-video recordings, personal papers, and artifacts associated with cellists noted for their distinguished contributions in the areas of composition, performance, pedagogy, and research. Douglas Moore is the twelfth cellist represented within the UNCG Cello Music Collection. Consisting of the archival music collections of Luigi Silva, Elizabeth Cowling, Rudolf Matz, Maurice Eisenberg, János Scholz, Fritz Magg, Bernard Greenhouse, Laszlo Varga, Lev Aronson, Lubomir Georgiev, Marion Davies, and Douglas Moore, the Cello Music Collection at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro constitutes the largest single holding of cello music-related material worldwide. 

Happy Birthday Cello Music Collection!

October 23 marks the fifty-first birthday of the UNCG Cello Music Collection, the single largest holding of cello music-related materials in the world.  This unique archive, presently representing the collections of eleven cellists, was made possible by the generosity of countless donors, but founded through the support of Friends of the Libraries.

UNCG Cello Music Collection

In 1963, when Elizabeth Cowling learned that the estate of Luigi Silva was prepared to sell his library, she immediately contacted University Librarian, Charles Adams. The library is committed in its support of faculty research, but there were several risks to consider in pursuing the Silva Collection. First, the school’s cello program was not particularly strong, as the school was ordered to become coeducational only that same year, and the cello was historically a masculine instrument. Additionally, the Library to that date only held one collection of archival music (the North Carolina Holograph Collection), and the Silva collection was fifteen times the size of that one. There was no music library nor was there a music librarian on campus either. However, the greatest obstacle was the quoted price of $3000 ($1000 for Silva’s manuscripts and $2000 for the remainder of the collection), an intimidating sum for 1963.    

Charles Adams conveyed Elizabeth Cowling’s vision of a centralized repository for cello music research founded upon the renowned library of Luigi Silva before the Friends of the Library (there was only one library at this time). In terms of an investment, it was a gamble, but the Friends of the Library were persuaded by Cowling’s passion and made the purchase. Cowling and Adams brought the collection back from New York in October of 1963. 

 

Contract for the sale of Silva's
Collection in Cowling's hand, Oct. 23, 1963

The collection was dedicated on April 5, 1964 with a recital featuring several of Silva’s arrangements. Many donations were made in honor of Luigi Silva celebrating this event. Margery Enix, a student of Silva, donated draft notes of Vademecum, Silva’s treatise on the thumb position. Franco Colombo, head of the New York branch of the music publisher Ricordi donated several of Silva’s manuscript drafts, including the 24 Caprices of Paganini transcribed for cello by Silva, Boccherini’s Concerto in D Major No.2, and the cello and piano transcription of Boccherini’s Concerto in D Major, Op. 34. Charles Wendt, a student of Silva's, donated a manuscript of the Paganini Capriccio XIII transcribed for cello and piano and purchased Robert Crome's The Compleat Tutor for the Violoncello (ca. 1765) for the collection. Cellist Rudolf Matz provided the gift of 15 volumes from his work First Years of the Violoncello. Violoncello Society of America president JanosScholz (who was awarded an honorary doctorate from UNCG in 1981) donated a manuscript collection of anonymous 18th century cello sonatas and transcribed opera arias.

The purchasing of the Luigi Silva Collection by the Friends of the Libraries has attracted many researchers and performers to the Libraries (even Leonard Rose in 1980), but it also encouraged other cellists to donate their collections. Ten cello music collections have been donated to the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections & University Archives since that time, inspired by the purchasing of the Luigi Silva Cello Music Collection. Over the past five decades, the centralized repository for cello music research envisioned by Elizabeth Cowling has been realized and made possible by UNCG Friends of the Libraries.

Program from Dedication of the Silva Collection

In celebration of the 50^th anniversary of the Friends of the Libraries’ dedication of the Silva Collection, we have digitized Silva’s manuscripts of Vademecum and La Tecnica Violoncellista so that musicologists and performers worldwide can benefit from this legacy.

The George Darden Music Collection

George Darden

The Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) is pleased to announce the donation of an extensive opera and piano music collection by the distinguished pianist and conductor, George Darden. The new George Darden Music Collection enhances the University Libraries’ support of student learning in the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, and provides an exceptional archival music resource to researchers worldwide. It includes nearly 200 annotated scores, 22 monographs, and an impressive collection of signed photographs and tear sheets from the Metropolitan Opera.

George Darden’s 1963 debut featured a solo piano performance with the Savannah Symphony. After studying under pianist, Carlisle Floyd, and mezzo-soprano, Elena Nikolaidi, at Florida State University, Darden established himself in the Texas Opera Theatre and the Houston Grand Opera in major projections such as Il Barbiere di Sivilia and Of Mice and Men. In 1985, he began his collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera, providing piano and music preparation for major works by Mozart, Verdi, and Rossini. Darden is acclaimed as the authority in productions of Porgy and Bess, having directed the musical preparation for 165 performances.

George Darden’s reputation for expertise in piano and vocal music preparation contributed to his collaboration with the biggest names in opera. He has been heard as the piano behind some of the most famous performances by soprano Renée Fleming, including Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, Dvorak’s Rusalka, and Massenet’s Manon. Additionally, he accompanied such celebrated vocalists as Marilyn Horne, Kiri Te Kanawa, and Sir Thomas Allen. George Darden’s friend, Plácido Domingo, has said, “If I was singing or conducting, I always hear in your playing the weight, feeling, and colors from the orchestra.”

The George Darden Collection is marked by its documentation of these artistic collaborations, featuring the original, thoroughly annotated scores employed for the productions. Notable items include Darden’s annotated copies of Porgy and Bess and Of Mice and Men. In addition to the performance notes, many of the scores and books are signed by the stars of the productions, such as a cast-signed score of Fledermaus and a collection of specially bound works of Carlisle Floyd, many of which are inscribed by Floyd to Darden.

Mr. Darden retired from the Metropolitan Opera in 2006, having been credited with musical preparation for five operas televised on PBS’s Emmy Award-winning The Metropolitan Presents series. He is recorded on several labels, including RCA. George Darden was awarded South Carolina’s Order of the Palmetto, the state’s highest civilian award for lifetime service to the state and nation, in 2000. This award is included with the collection, as well as a framed photograph of Darden receiving the award from South Carolina governor Jim Hodges.

Among the most visually stunning items within the collection are a series of performance photographs, signed tear sheets, and letters framed in gilt, chronicling George Darden’s performance history while at the Met. Displayed within this portion of the collection are the official Metropolitan Opera performance photographs with opening night tear sheets, frequently signed by the stars of the production. Prominent gems are a framed and signed photograph of Sergei Rachmaninov, and a signed photograph and manuscript piece by Frtiz Kreisler. Included among the framed material is a group portrait from the 10th Anniversary Gala for the National Endowment of the Arts signed from Lady Bird Johnson to George Darden.

“Given Mr. Darden’s association with numerous universities and production companies nationally, as well as his distinguished career internationally, we are deeply honored by Mr. Darden’s selection of The University of North Carolina at Greensboro as the official repository of his archive,” says Dean of the University Libraries Rosann Bazirjian.

The George Darden Collection at UNCG further expands the Special Collections and University Archives rich collection in the performing arts, joining such noted music collections as the Harold Schiffman Archive, the Egon Wellesz Contemporary Music Collection, and the Cello Music Archive.