The complete piano-vocal draft of Pelléas et Mélisande , the single most important manuscript of Debussy’s opera. While Debussy completed the work in 1895, the manuscripts shows that he continued to modify and correct it until 1901. His emendations, in black, green, red, and blue pencil, and in blue and red ink, allow scholars to trace the composition of the opera over a period of almost eight years. Debussy apparently used this manuscript to give previews of the opera to friends and fellow composers during this period. Around 1910 he sold the manuscript to a board member at the New England Conservatory of Music, where it resided until 1982, when it was sold again, at auction in New York. From Heinrich Schütz to Henry Miller: Selections from the Frederick R. Koch Collection at the Beinecke Library
Part of Music and literary manuscripts in the Frederick R. Koch collection, 1640-1983. See the Online finding aid.

Ellington usually composed for his own big band, but in 1965 he wrote The Golden Broom and the Green Apple for the New York Philharmonic and his jazz combo. The library has extensive sketches in Ellington's hand; a complete PDF is available. Misc. Ms. 404.

here's the Program for the premiere, courtesy of the New York Philharmonic Archives

also courtesy of the New York Philharmonic Archives

(Scroll down.) Helen Eugenia Hagan is believed to be the first African-American student to earn a degree at the Yale School of Music, in 1912. Part of MSS 3, the Yale School of Music Papers.

A page from Hindemith's Horn Concerto appears in our exhibit honoring Willie Ruff, a student of Hindemith who taught at Yale from 1971 to 2017. The Concerto manuscript is part of MSS 47, the Paul Hindemith Collection.

Scroll down for image and caption; click on image for more detail.

Click on image to see more detail.

This extremely detailed descriptive bibliography also serves in part as the finding aid to the Music Manuscripts in the Charles Ives Papers, MSS 14. It also provides a wealth of useful background information about each piece.

Online finding aid to the remainder of the archival collection: Ives's writings, correspondence, photographs, diaries, and more.

Finding aid to the Archival Collection. The AXA Company was a successor company that held the archives of the Ives and Myrick Agency. As such these papers shine a light on Ives career as an insurance executive.

The finding aid and recorded interviews of the inaugural project of Oral History of American Music at Yale.

The finding aid and online recordings of an artificial collection of rare and unpublished recordings featuring music by Charles Ives, created as part of a project funded by the Grammy Museum in 2017 to digitize and preserve these recordings. The majority are from the period 1937-1956, though the full extent of these recordings date from 1924-2006.They include the first concert performance of Ives's Piano Sonata, No. 2: Concord, performed by John Kirkpatrick at New York's Town Hall in 1939. It was this performance that brought Ives's music to wide public notice and acclaim.The recordings also include symphonies, orchestral sets, and other music for strings.

(Scroll down.) Robert Shaw's papers are best known for his copiously annotated scores, but they also contain many other interesting items, such as this letter from Coretta Scott King. MSS 86, the Robert Shaw Papers.

(Scroll down page) Holograph manuscript, 1929. Misc. Ms. 396

Part of the Music and literary manuscripts in the Frederick R. Koch collection, 1640-1983.See the Online Finding Aid.