Jefferson's Music Library, His Catalogue of 1783, and A Revision of Lowens's Haydn in America

Abstract

Jefferson's Music Library, His Catalogue of 1783, and A Revision of Lowens’s Haydn in America R o NA L D R. KIDD It is by now well known that among Thomas Jefferson’s bewildering assortment of talents, music also takes its place. While still a student in Williamsburg, he gained access to the highest rank of society. This access was due in part to his competence as an amateur violinist, capable of tak­ ing his place in informal chamber music. Music was always an important part of life at Monticello, first during his brief marriage and later with the Randolphs, his daughter’s family. His carefully maintained account books inform us that he attended the theater and concerts whenever they were accessible to him in Williamsburg, Philadelphia, London, and Paris.1 Several articles on the subject of Jefferson and music have appeared in popular periodicals over the years, and there also exist single chapters within broader studies.2 Only one book-length study has been published—that of Helen Cripe in 1974.3 The contribution of that study lies in the compilation of references to various musical matters scattered throughout the family correspondence and other documents. Numerous questions, however, remain unanswered. One area that has not received much attention is that of Jefferson as collector and bibliographer of music. This lack is unfortunate, because Jefferson’s music library is undoubtedly the best documented private col­ lection from that period of American life. On this basis alone Jefferson’s music library merits a more thorough investigation than it has yet received. The subject of “Jefferson and music bibliography” may be regarded as an extension of Jefferson’s activities in the world of books and documents, 319 320 / KIDD an area which has attracted much attention. In this field, the most weighty study is the recently reissued, five-volume descriptive catalogue of Sowerby ,4 which focuses on the second of Jefferson’s four collections, the one sold to Congress in 1815. In addition to a catalogue of this collection print­ ed for Congress, Sowerby’s main guide was the manuscript catalogue made by Jefferson himself and completed in its earliest state by 1783.5 (Despite subsequent expansion it is generally referred to as the 1783 catalogue.) Sowerby did not have access to Jefferson’s enlarged catalogue of 1812, only recently recovered in a fair copy.6 Sowerby’s investigation encompassed the chapter of the catalogue of 1783 which lists “music theory” books, as most of these were included in the sale to Congress and, in fact, are still preserved in the Rare Book Room. The ensuing chapters of musical scores she skipped over altogether, as these were not sold to Congress. These chapters then have never been subjected to the careful scrutiny and analysis which Sowerby brought to the rest of Jefferson’s library. So far as we know the 1783 catalogue re­ mained Jefferson’s guide to his musical scores and was not replaced (as in all other subjects) by any later catalogue. It must therefore serve also as our chief reference in interpreting Jefferson’s library of music. In the original state of the 1783 catalogue these musical scores, includ­ ing both owned items and desiderata, were laid out on four successive verso pages, three of which were quite full. Two pages were reserved for vocal works, two for instrumental. Items which were already in the library received a check mark; desiderata did not. With the exception of the penul­ timate opening, the music chapters of the catalogue are quite orderly, as they were not subjected to the extensive additions and emendations charac­ teristic under other subject headings, such as law and agriculture. [Illus­ tration I shows in skeletal outline the contents of the several openings of the music chapters, including that for music theory. In the original state of the catalogue, items would have appeared on the verso pages only.] The catalogue of musical scores documents possession — not in 1783, but at a later date—of roughly 130 printed collections, in addition to loose collections of sheet music, manuscript copies, and desiderata. Each col­ lection would contain many songs, or, in the case of instrumental music, three...