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FILE Identifier: Ms. Coll. 173

Werner Josten collection of printed and manuscript scores, and other material.

Dates

  • Creation: 1917-1971

Extent

5 boxes (272 printed and manuscript scores; 15 folders of ephemera including 1 bound manuscript notebook; 1 oversize portfolio of newspaper clippings)

Biographical / Historical

Werner Josten (1885-1963) was an American composer and conductor of German birth. He trained in Munich, Geneva and Paris, and was assistant conductor of the Munich Opera from 1918 to 1920. During a tour of the United States in 1920, Josten chose to emigrate. He became professor of composition and counterpoint at Smith College, where he conducted several American premieres, most notably of works by Claudio Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea, Orfeo and Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda.

In the 1920s and 1930s, several of Werner Josten's works were performed by leading orchestras: his Ode for Saint Cecilia's Day (1925) and Jungle (1928) were premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Serge Koussevitsky, and Jungle was selected by Leopold Stokowski for his opening concert of the 1932-3 program with the Philadelphia Orchestra. (Grove music online)

The Werner Josten Performing Arts Library at Smith College was inaugurated on May 3rd, 1968.

Custodial History

Gift of Charles Lowe.

Title
Werner Josten collection of printed and manuscript scores, and other material, 1917-1971.
Status
completed
Author
Christina Linklater
Description rules
dacs
Language of description
und
EAD ID
mus00047

Repository Details

Part of the Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library Repository

The Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library is the primary repository of musical materials at Harvard. The Music Library’s collecting mission is to serve music teaching and research programs in the Music Department and throughout the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. In addition, it supports the musical needs of the broader Harvard community as well as an international scholarly constituency. We collect books, musical scores, serial titles, sound recordings and video formats, microforms, and rare and archival materials that support research in a wide variety of musical disciplines including historical musicology, music theory, ethnomusicology, composition, and historically informed performance practice, as well as interdisciplinary areas related to music. The special collections include archival collections from the 19th, 20th and 21st century.

Contact:
Music Building, 3 Oxford Street
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2794