Oscar George Theodore Sonneck (October 6, 1873 – October 30, 1928) was a U.S.
librarian
A librarian is a person who professionally works managing information. Librarians' common activities include providing access to information, conducting research, creating and managing information systems, creating, leading, and evaluating educat ...
,
editor
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...
, and
musicologist
Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...
.
Biography
Sonneck was born in
Jersey City
Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous . He studied
philosophy
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
and musicology in Germany at the universities of
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...
and
Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
.
From 1902 to 1917, he was head of the music division of the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
, and as such created a significant music library. Since 1915, he was also editor of ''
The Musical Quarterly
''The Musical Quarterly'' is the oldest academic journal on music in America. Originally established in 1915 by Oscar Sonneck, the journal was edited by Sonneck until his death in 1928. Sonneck was succeeded by a number of editors, including C ...
''. As a writer, he specialized in the history of early (before the 19th century) American music. He died in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, aged 55.
The
Society for American Music
The Society for American Music (SAM) was founded in 1975 and was first named the Sonneck Society in honor of Oscar George Theodore Sonneck, early Chief of the Music Division in the Library of Congress and pioneer scholar of American music. The S ...
was created in his honor, and initially named after him.
As a writer, he specialized in the history of American music, and his publications laid the foundation for the scholarly study of music in the U.S. Sonneck understood how important a bibliographical basis was for making musical studies. As a documentary historian, bibliographer, cataloguer, editor and critic, Oscar Sonneck is recognized as the first scholar of early music in America.
From 1918, he was honorary librarian of the New York Beethoven Association. The collection of Beethoveniana he built up came to the
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...
in 1940.
Works
* ''A Bibliography of Early Secular American Music'' (1905, rev. ed. 1945)
* ''Early Concert-Life in America'' (1907)
* ''Report on "The Star-Spangled Banner", "Hail Columbia", "America", "Yankee Doodle"'' (1909)
* ''The Star-Spangled Banner'' (1914)
* ''Catalogue of Opera Librettos Printed before 1800'' (2 vol., 1914)
* ''Early Opera in America'' (1915)
* ''Vier pessimistische Lieder, op. 17'' (Universal-Edition Ä.G., Vienna & New York, 1922)
References
External links
*
*
Sonneck's booksat the Internet Archive
Picture of Sonneck
1873 births
1928 deaths
American librarians
{{US-music-bio-stub