AUSTIN, TX (October 17, 2001) -A unique resource for the study of Brazilian music of the twentieth century, the David P. Appleby Brazilian Collection, has been acquired by the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection at the University of Texas at Austin.
The collection consists of approximately 2,000 musical scores, both manuscript and published, correspondence with composers, photocopies of manuscripts, books and articles, 350 sound recordings on LPs, CDs, and tapes, and taped interviews. There is a wealth of material for each of the more than 120 composers represented in the collection. These materials include copies of correspondence, conductor's scores with markings, and concert reviews for Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazil's most widely known composer.
Dr. Appleby's research trips to Brazil in the 1970s led to the formation of his principal work to date, The Music of Brazil, published by the University of Texas Press in 1983. The author was greatly aided in his research for this publication by the request issued by the Brazilian Society of Contemporary Music to all major composers active at that time to furnish scores, recordings, biographical data, articles, and other data for the proposed book. "What resulted," according to the author, is "a collection of materials unique among American scholars of Brazilian music." In some cases, the manuscript scores by contemporary composers are the only written sources for pieces that have been recorded. Accompanying biographical notes, concert programs, newspaper clippings, and other material related to the composers provide a rich source of documentation for research about twentieth-century Brazilian music.
Appleby's passion for music began at an early age in Brazil, the country of his birth. His collection of musical scores dates from his first piano lessons at the age of seven years and continued throughout his career as a professional pianist and professor of music at Eastern Illinois University. Appleby now resides in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Appleby Brazilian Collection complements extensive holdings of Latin American music at the Benson Collection and the Fine Arts Library, both units of the University's General Libraries. Acquisition of the collection was made possible through a generous gift from an anonymous donor.
# # #
In 2001-2002, the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection celebrates seventy-five years of the University of Texas at Austin's commitment to create and maintain a specialized research library dedicated to the culture and history of Latin America. The internationally recognized Benson Latin American Collection acquires and provides access to materials on Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and the Hispanic presence in the United States. The Benson Collection is located in Sid Richardson Hall, Unit 1, on the east side of campus at the northwest corner of Red River and Clyde Littlefield Drive (formerly Manor Road).
For more information please contact:
Ann Hartness, Acting Head Librarian
General Libraries
Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection
hartness@mail.utexas.edu
512-495-4520
General Libraries news releases are located on UT Library Online at:
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/about/news/newsreleases.html
