New-York tribune., 1918-04-28
The Music Library
At Washington, D. c.
A Technical Publication Issued by II
Recalls Mr.. Sonneck's Remarkable
Work, Too Little knolun to Musicians

try, is peculiarly surprising in +h.. :.
has hourished in the very nest Of =.
iltlcal iog-rolling. 1t is supported :.
member, by the usual ANNA, orn.s
priations from Congress. Witbort AZ
specific blessing of our lawmaks., o ~
could not survive year. Now can r.,'
imagine any item in this Who'll. -,
land on which our lawmakers n,o.,,s
be more eager to economic than !;
brary of music? Think of the tern..
ton that confronts the House WIZ :.
is studying the need of Crooked c..
Nebraska, for new steamboat docl
Crooked Creek clamors for its morsr !
There is one obvious way out Of ~.
difficulty: Cut down on thaA 49,.
appropriation.
But the music department in the r,
brary of Congress has been abla =.
present its claims SO capably that n
has never suffered for the decenc;sl
OF life. 1t has even, in some vsor1
been granted as much as $4,000 for
the purchase of new music. It haa st
times INDUCED bit in luxurie.. !,
has cabled its bids abroad for rars ala
books from collections put up at su,
tion. 1t contains everything you could
reasonably expect in a library .o
young, and a multitude of thinos
which you would never dream Of 6na.
ing there.
An enormous amount of popular sheet
music goes each year into this librars
BY far the larger portion of il ~
course, is completely useless for IA.
search purposes, simply because it Is
not intrinsically worth a glance. Yet
the better portion of it will be real
value to scholars some years hence IN
the study OF the evolution of the com.
mon denominator of American musicsl
taste (if there is such a thing) and Of
the changing colors of the popular
mind.
The library has unique value be-
cause of the quantity Of Americana
which Mr.. Sonneck accumulated during
his fifteen years Of active service This
collection was based on some of the
many documents of official or historica,
interest, which were in the govern
ment's possession and had long lain
unclassified. The additions have been
: made from multitude of sources and
from them all, duly classified, Mr.. Son.
neck wrote number of invaluable
monographs concerning early American
music and musical life, on some feat
ures of which there was Scarcely word
current in printed books.
The visitor to the Library of Con-
gress will find the music room tho
most hospitable in the world, and in
these days much the quietest spot in
Washington. He will now and thet
hear some Congressman's wife from
the West asking for a copy of "Ths
Rosary" to take home and try on tho
piano, but he may turn from this n
Albert Roussel's "Evocations" and bel
once more in the ideal world.
But it is not necessary to 90 To-
Washington to receive the benefits oI
the music library. Any citizen who
can show that he is engaged in serious
music study of a research nature can
have scores delivered to his door, which
he may retain for month, all for the
price of the expressage. This is rare
privilege-one which no similar library
IN Europe would dream of granting.
The present revision of the classifcs-
tion scheme shows that the treasures Of
the library range ~'from bone-playing
metl.o~s to theoretical incunabula and
compositions for twenty-four violns."
Altogether the shelves contain nearly
eight hundred thousand pamphlets and
pieces. Here you may find music sps
cially written for the ukelele and ths
dolceola, "whistling pieces of every ds-
scription," the songs of the Farmers
Alliance, of the Greenback party, o
the Anti-Cigarette League, "songs decFE
Gated to Presidents, statesmen, ger
erals, etc." songs of the Avesta, MAJ
daznan and Monist sects, the ritaa3
music of the Visigothic and Mozars0s
tribes, books of instruction for :"
Serpent, the Bandurra and the banoV
! Ion, treatises on piano playing ~
moving picture shows, and on sss
number Of other essential and edlfyp
topics.
But, most of all, you will find IN
best collection of Americana and w
best collection of recent music ID ~
country. You may find, too, pera,r
for the first time in your life, vnas
research library can be. And all on
as one Of the tender flowers OF "
despised political system. 80
To which we may be permitted v -
one moral observation, namely: ~
it isn't so much the system that c0'D.
as the kind of man who adninisNt'