Music Research in Italian Libraries: An Anecdotal Account of Obstacles and Discoveries

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While waiting in Rome for a decision from the Ministry, I had surveyed the contents of several other libraries and arranged for the photographing of a great mass of material. Because of their proximity to the governmental offices, the Roman libraries were not very strict about the two laws. I received permission to photograph merely by explaining that the films were for my personal use only, that I had no intention of editing manuscripts in their entirety, and that I would send copies of published research to the library owning the original. The only hindrance to my work in Rome was of a non-bureaucratic nature. On several mornings I emerged from my pension, intending to visit libraries in distant parts of the city, only to find that the busses and trams were not running because the Communist-led General Confederation of Labor had called a transportation or general strike for political reasons. Once it took me over two hours to walk to the Vatican Library, which closed for the day shortly after I arrived. On another evening, while visiting Professor Luigi Ronga, professor of musicology at the University of Rome, all the lights went out because of a previously-announced ten minute walkout by the electrical workers. Our eyes had hardly become accustomed to the darkness when there was a terrific explosion in the immediate vicinity. Unidentified (?) men had taken advantage of the temporary eclipse to toss a bomb into the Christian Democratic headquarters, which was on the ground floor of an adjacent apartment house. The photographers who did most of my work in Rome, Signor V. Gulla and Dr. M. Vivarelli, are the proprietors of the Servizio Italiano Microfilm, with offices located on the upper floor of a small, medieval building (Vicolo de' Burro, No. 165) near the Piazza S. Ignazio. It was Signor Gulla who subsequently accompanied me on my tour throughout Italy. Not knowing how efficient or how expensive the local photographers in provincial cities would be, I decided to rely on the Servizio, whose work I knew to be excellent, and whose fees for microfilming were quite low, even when they included travelling expenses. As was noted previously, all of the Roman libraries (with the exception of the Biblioteca Nazionale) are open only during the morning hours. This enabled me to spend many afternoons in the apartment of Dr. Ulderico Rolandi (Via Lazio, 24), whose accumulation of libretti and vocal scores of operas is one of the