Hitchcock collection

Hitchcock collection

Addition of the ‘H. Wiley Hitchcock’ collection to the Arts Florissants’ Library. 
Thanks to the donation from Susan Tyler Hitchcock in June 2019

Comprising some four hundred works (books, scores, articles, catalogues and dictionaries), the recently catalogued ‘H. Wiley Hitchcock’ collection considerably expands the resources within the Ensemble’s library. For Susan Tyler Hitchcock, daughter of the eminent American musicologist, this legacy is a continuation of her father’s friendship with Les Arts Florissants; and for the Ensemble, it is not only a mark of great faith in our work, but an immense honour to be entrusted with these works from the bibliographic material collected over the lifetime of an extraordinary researcher.

As a world-renowned scholar, Wiley Hitchcock significantly developed research on 20th-century composers and American music; but he was also a specialist in baroque music, particularly the oeuvre of Marc-Antoine Charpentier, whom he helped bring out of oblivion. Indeed, his catalogue of Charpentier’s works published in Paris in 1982 is the bedside book for musicians dedicated to this repertoire.

From the founding of Les Arts Florissants in 1979, a strong friendship flourished between William Christie and Wiley Hitchcock, who had a way of transmitting his passion with rare generosity and kind attention, always providing knowledgeable insight. He was one of the key figures in the milieu and left his indelible mark on the research world in France and globally.

It was his wish that after his death his works pertaining to baroque music be bequeathed to Les Arts Florissants, as it was his wish for his collection on American music to go to the New York Public Library and the Manhattan School of Music. The recent cataloguing of this collection has produced 500 additions to the library from often rare works on baroque and Renaissance music. This newly acquired treasure trove reflects Les Arts Florissants’ passionate and unfailing dedication to research on its repertoire of predilection.

Fannie Vernaz, library officer

H. Wiley Hitchcock was born in Detroit in 1923. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1944 and earned his Master’s (1948) and PhD (1954) from the University of Michigan. He also studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, and went on to work as a teacher in New York. In 1971, he taught at Brooklyn College where he founded the Institute for the Studies of American Music (ISAM). In 1980, he was named Professor of Music Emeritus. One year after his retirement in 1993, he was made an honorary member of the American Musicological Society. In 1995, the French government awarded him the title of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

He was president of the Music Library Association (1966-1977), the Charles Ives Society (1973-1993) and the American Musicological Society (1990-1992). He was the American music advisor for the sixth edition of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, co-editor of the New Grove Dictionary of American Music and editor-in-chief of the Recent Researches in American Music series (1976-1994). He directed the ‘Prentice Hall History of Music Series’ in which he published Music in the United States: A Historical Introduction, which has been reissued several times. His publications on American music include studies on Charles Ives (1977) and on the Music of the United States (1969), the latter of which shows the distinction between folk traditions and classical music in American music from 1820 to 1920.

His research on French and Italian music from the baroque period made a significant contribution to the study of vocal music, both sacred and secular. His revered Charpentier catalogue The Works of Marc-Antoine Charpentier and his multiple music articles and publications dedicated to this repertoire uncovered some of its major composers and works. Today, musicians and historians all know the debt of gratitude they owe to this indefatigable researcher, who worked tirelessly to ensure the rediscovery and continued appreciation of France’s musical heritage.

Wiley Hitchcock died in New York in 2007.