Sutherland and Bryn-Julson donate personal collection, including valuable Dupré score, to Peabody Conservatory
A 1920 score of Trois Preludes et Fugues, hand-annotated by composer Marcel Dupré for organist Arthur Poister, is among an extensive collection of scores, books and music donated to the Peabody Conservatory by faculty artists Donald Sutherland, organ, and Phyllis Bryn-Julson, soprano.
The Dupré score is just one of the highlights of the collection, which also includes an original manuscript of The Head of the Bed by Milton Babbitt, in Babbitt’s hand and inscribed by him, along with a 2008 e-mail from Babbitt.
Original manuscripts or hand annotated copies of scores by Louie White, Robert Anderson, William Albright, Ralph Shapey, Gunther Schuller, Marie-Claire Alain, and Rachel Laurin are also included. Some are inscribed to either Sutherland or Bryn-Julson, and many include fingerings and markings the pair received in their work with the composers. In all, the collection includes nearly 900 books about music and more than 12,000 pages of sheet music and scores.
This collection and earlier donations to Peabody by Bryn-Julson also include autographed vocal scores by such composers as Pierre Boulez, Ned Rorem, George Crumb, Charles Wuorinen, and David Del Tredici. All of the materials will be housed at the Arthur Friedheim Library and Archives on Peabody’s campus.
Sutherland and Bryn-Julson amassed the impressive collection over their long careers in music as students, teachers and performers. In both their solo careers and their frequent joint recital appearances, they have performed on the great stages of the world and been honored with countless awards and accolades. Both have been champions of contemporary music.
“We are delighted that these materials will have a home at the Peabody Conservatory, where students, faculty and lovers of music can access them,” Sutherland said about the donation. “Each of these items has great personal meaning to Phyllis and me, but their significance goes beyond our personal remembrances. There is tremendous historical and pedagogical value in the thoughts and notes of so many of these brilliant musicians; how wonderful that they will be preserved and shared.”
