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Juilliard Adds Extremely High Resolution Images of Two Original Manuscripts

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Written by Harold Golden   
Monday, 28 December 2009 00:56

Beethoven's original "Kreutzer Sonata" can be viewed online. To view the Collection, go to : www.juilliardmanuscriptcollection.org.

NEW YORK, NY.- Juilliard’s recently acquired, priceless new manuscripts – Beethoven’s "Kreutzer Sonata" and Mendelssohn’s “Elijah” – have been photographed in extremely high resolution and posted with 138 previously-posted acquisitions to the Juilliard Manuscript Collection Web site , where they may be viewed by anyone, just in time for Beethoven’s Birthday!! The clarity of these extremely-high resolution digitizations reveal the pen, pencil, and even crayon strokes (Mendelssohn’s edits after the first performance of Elijah are in red crayon.) of a composer’s original corrections, handwritten notes and instructions, in a collection acquired specifically because those corrections and notations reveal the composer’s mind.

The collection was given to Juilliard for today’s performers, teachers, and scholars who can transform such ‘living’ history. The Juilliard Manuscript Collection now may be viewed by an unlimited number of performers, scholars, and music-lovers worldwide. Forty-two composers are represented in the online presentation of the Juilliard Manuscript Collection, ranging from Arensky to Zemlinsky; as old as Purcell, and as recent as Maxwell Davies, including multiple works by Beethoven, Brahms, Liszt, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Scriabin, Wagner, and many others. A printable list with brief descriptions is available on the Web site.

Images on the Web site were photographed by Ardon Bar Hama, Chief Photographer of the Center for Online Judaic Studies, who also created the digital images of the Vatican’s Biblioteca Apostolica, the Dead Sea Scrolls in The Israel Music in Jerusalem, Chicago Oriental Institute’s extra-biblical source, the Senachreb Prism, and numerous other religious artifacts. The original collection was given to the School in February 2006 by its Board Chairman Bruce Kovner. Last month, he presented the two additional Beethoven and Mendelssohn manuscripts to Juilliard on the occasion of the dedication of the School’s scholars’ reading room where the manuscripts will be housed. The new room is part of Juilliard’s $200 million renovation and expansion, completed during 2009-2010.

Digitization of the Juilliard Manuscript Collection was accomplished in part with generous leadership gifts from Mr. Bruce Kovner and from the New York State Council on the Arts, with support from George S. Blumenthal, President of the Center for Online Judaic studies.

To view the Collection, go to :  www.juilliardmanuscriptcollection.org.

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