In the 25 years that Piero Weiss served on the faculty of the Peabody Institute, from 1985 until his death in 2011, he transformed the Conservatory’s academic scholarship.
The noted pianist and author also amassed a rich collection of scholarly material, from manuscript drafts and lecture notes to marked up librettos and personal correspondence, some with acclaimed pianists who were also close friends—such as Gary Graffman and Seymour Lipkin. His collection also includes a treasured, signed photograph of acclaimed conductor Arturo Toscanini, a family friend, who was “an absolute hero to him,” explains Weiss’ son, Antonio Weiss. Together with his family, he recently made a gift of his father’s papers to the Peabody Archives at the Arthur Friedheim Library.
The elder Weiss’ affection for Peabody ran deep, explains his son, and it was Piero’s own decision to donate his musical archives to the institute. “The collection really reflects him,” Antonio says. “It reflects the range of his interests, the range of his erudition. It made sense to keep it all in one place, and Peabody was the obvious choice. His time there was the happiest 25 years of his professional life.”
The Weiss Collection is now available for use onsite at the Peabody Archives, and in the coming years, it will be fully digitized to support remote access. “We think this collection is going to be of interest because Piero was a notable scholar and there’s more about his activities in the field in these unique documents, in his own papers, than you might gain from just reading his published work,” explains Matt Testa, who directed the Peabody Archives when the gift was made.
While scholars and performers from around the globe access the Peabody Archives to research everyone from Leon Fleisher to Enrico Caruso, the archives also provide a valuable resource for those closer to home: students and others who want to delve deeply into the history of the institution.
Created in the 1980s by the late Elizabeth Schaaf, Peabody’s archives evolved out of a need to organize and retain the institute’s historical records. Housed in the Arthur Friedheim Library (which opened in 1990), the archives hold what Testa calls “institutional records of many stripes,” including the founding letter from George Peabody and recordings of campus events since the 1960s (first on reel-to-reel tapes and now, digitally). There are also more than 200 special collections of people or organizations that have connections to Peabody, such as lyric soprano Rosa Ponselle, who lived in Baltimore for the second half of her life.
While scholars and performers from around the globe access the Peabody Archives to research everyone from Leon Fleisher to Enrico Caruso, the archives also provide a valuable resource for those closer to home: students and others who want to delve deeply into the history of the institution.
Created in the 1980s by the late Elizabeth Schaaf, Peabody’s archives evolved out of a need to organize and retain the institute’s historical records. Housed in the Arthur Friedheim Library (which opened in 1990), the archives hold what Testa calls “institutional records of many stripes,” including the founding letter from George Peabody and recordings of campus events since the 1960s (first on reel-to-reel tapes and now, digitally). There are also more than 200 special collections of people or organizations that have connections to Peabody, such as lyric soprano Rosa Ponselle, who lived in Baltimore for the second half of her life.
The holdings are an obvious starting point for Peabody faculty and students who want to examine the people and practices that have shaped the institution—research work that has come to the fore since the 2013 launch of Hopkins Retrospective, a university-wide public history initiative sponsored by the Office of the President.
The staff of the archives has supported independent research commissioned by the Peabody Institute into founder George Peabody’s personal and professional connections to slavery and also worked with students in classes that utilize archival holdings. For Pink Noises: Women Making Electronic Music, a class taught by Christopher DeLaurenti in 2023, students dove into the work of Jean Eichelberger Ivey, a composer and former faculty member who founded the electronic music studio.
Testa also points to awards such as the Hugh Hawkins Research Fellowships for the study of Hopkins history and the recently established Peabody Archives Research Recital Award as “gateways for students who probably came to Peabody for reasons related to their performance craft and were not necessarily thinking about historical research.”
The research that results from these projects not only furthers understanding of the history of the institution, but also helps students see the connection between their own interests and practices as students and performers and those who came before them.
In recent years, Peabody students awarded Hugh Hawkins Research Fellowships have used the archives to research representation and inclusion of African- American musicians at Peabody, explore the role of international students, and investigate how Peabody’s founding as a public conservatory evolved into the more elitist model of the mid-20th century, which informs the educational and training innovations catalyzed by the Breakthrough Curriculum.
Their findings have culminated in public presentations as well as in research papers and digital projects.
An Antique Land
Rebecca Regan (MM ’24, Vocal Studies) conceived the idea for her archival research project during her first week of classes at Peabody after noticing plaster casts of neoclassical sculpture around campus, reminders of the institute’s art collection—and gallery from the mid- 1870s to 1924—that was sold to the state of Maryland in 1996. Intrigued, the former classics student wanted to know more about how (and why) the sculptures—copies of classical subjects—had become part of campus décor.
For her project, “Peabody and the New Classical: Tracing the Origins of the Peabody Institute’s Classical Statues,” Regan examined meeting minutes of the 19th-century art committee, a ledger detailing donations and purchases, and letters from agents who were acquiring art for Peabody.
“One interesting thing that emerged from the archive research was that there was a blurry line between decoration and art collecting,” Regan says. “The members of the art gallery were doing a lot of work that was actually more focused on decorating these buildings than collecting works of art that were ‘museum-worthy.’”
“There’s a letter from the Maryland sculptor William Henry Rinehart,” she explains, “where he writes, ‘I’m confused about why you want these things.’ And the committee tells him it’s for decoration.”
Regan says her research also hinted that the early trustees of the institute were motivated by the belief that art improved the public taste. “They relied on the idea of the classical as an arbiter of what is aesthetically right,” Regan says. “And I think that’s something that in the musical world, we still grapple with today in terms of how we value some kinds of music over others.”
Throughout her research, Regan would consult periodically with Archives staff, who pointed her toward resources. “In some ways I thought I could figure this out for myself, and then I would get lost in the weeds, and say, ‘Help!’’ Regan says.
Regan, who is currently an Access Services Supervisor at Sarah Lawrence College Library in Bronxville, New York, shared her findings through creating a concert and an accompanying lecture around the theme of copying works of art and the fleeting nature of meaning. A performance of a song fragment by Elgar, based on Shelley’s poem Ozymandias, encapsulated both.
Rebecca Regan (MM ’24, Vocal Studies) conceived the idea for her archival research project during her first week of classes at Peabody after noticing plaster casts of neoclassical sculpture around campus, reminders of the institute’s art collection—and gallery from the mid- 1870s to 1924—that was sold to the state of Maryland in 1996. Intrigued, the former classics student wanted to know more about how (and why) the sculptures—copies of classical subjects—had become part of campus décor.
For her project, “Peabody and the New Classical: Tracing the Origins of the Peabody Institute’s Classical Statues,” Regan examined meeting minutes of the 19th-century art committee, a ledger detailing donations and purchases, and letters from agents who were acquiring art for Peabody.
“One interesting thing that emerged from the archive research was that there was a blurry line between decoration and art collecting,” Regan says. “The members of the art gallery were doing a lot of work that was actually more focused on decorating these buildings than collecting works of art that were ‘museum-worthy.’”
“There’s a letter from the Maryland sculptor William Henry Rinehart,” she explains, “where he writes, ‘I’m confused about why you want these things.’ And the committee tells him it’s for decoration.”
Regan says her research also hinted that the early trustees of the institute were motivated by the belief that art improved the public taste. “They relied on the idea of the classical as an arbiter of what is aesthetically right,” Regan says. “And I think that’s something that in the musical world, we still grapple with today in terms of how we value some kinds of music over others.”
Throughout her research, Regan would consult periodically with Archives staff, who pointed her toward resources. “In some ways I thought I could figure this out for myself, and then I would get lost in the weeds, and say, ‘Help!’’ Regan says.
Regan, who is currently an Access Services Supervisor at Sarah Lawrence College Library in Bronxville, New York, shared her findings through creating a concert and an accompanying lecture around the theme of copying works of art and the fleeting nature of meaning. A performance of a song fragment by Elgar, based on Shelley’s poem Ozymandias, encapsulated both.
Discovering Connections
The Peabody Archives Recital Research Award supports students such as Marjorie Sheiman (MM ’24, Vocal Studies) in developing a recital that utilizes material from the archives’ collections.
For the project portion of her capstone, Sheiman originally planned a performance of 19th-century lieder written by German composer Josephine Lang. But after discovering in her archival research that two female composers studied at Peabody at roughly the same time that Lang was composing, Sheiman changed her plan. In a lecture that accompanied her recital, “The Forgotten Genius of Josephine Lang,” Sheiman and her collaborator Leah Wenger (MM ’24, Historical Performance, Vocal Studies, and Musicology) shared details about the lives and careers of Peabody composers Flora Saudek and Emma R. Steiner. Saudek lived in Baltimore and was a prominent member of the city’s Jewish community. Steiner became one of the first female conductors of the Metropolitan Opera.
For their research, Sheiman and Wenger combed through a 19th-century ledger that listed Conservatory students’ entrance dates, pored over booklets of concert programs, and scanned Baltimore Sun archives for news stories and obituaries. Sheiman was thrilled to see one of Saudek’s scores written in the composer’s own hand.
The students also got a taste of the Conservatory of the 19th century and its traditions. “During 1871–72, when Saudek was here, it was interesting to see how many current compositions were being performed by all of the students,” Sheiman says. “The studio recital is such a common format, even today, so it was nice to see that it was even happening way back when.”
Sheiman enthuses about how the world opened up to her through the archives. “I did a little research, and then it snowballed into this,” she says. “There was so much out there that I didn’t realize.”
“If you had asked me, are there any female composers here at Peabody in the 1800s, I would have instinctually said ‘no,’ but that’s actually a lie!”
“I think my biggest takeaway is that research doesn’t have to be a scary word,” she adds. “Good research can provide answers. It can provide solutions.”
THE PIERO WEISS LEGACY
In his 25 years on the Peabody faculty, Piero Weiss mentored a generation of students and authored four books, including the seminal textbook, Music in the Western World: A History in Documents (with co-author Richard Taruskin). The donation of his papers to the archives, as well as a series of Master Classes in Piero Weiss’ name, funded by the Weiss family, are “efforts to memorialize my father’s love of Peabody and his connection to the school,” says his son, Antonio.
The Peabody Archives Recital Research Award supports students such as Marjorie Sheiman (MM ’24, Vocal Studies) in developing a recital that utilizes material from the archives’ collections.
For the project portion of her capstone, Sheiman originally planned a performance of 19th-century lieder written by German composer Josephine Lang. But after discovering in her archival research that two female composers studied at Peabody at roughly the same time that Lang was composing, Sheiman changed her plan. In a lecture that accompanied her recital, “The Forgotten Genius of Josephine Lang,” Sheiman and her collaborator Leah Wenger (MM ’24, Historical Performance, Vocal Studies, and Musicology) shared details about the lives and careers of Peabody composers Flora Saudek and Emma R. Steiner. Saudek lived in Baltimore and was a prominent member of the city’s Jewish community. Steiner became one of the first female conductors of the Metropolitan Opera.
For their research, Sheiman and Wenger combed through a 19th-century ledger that listed Conservatory students’ entrance dates, pored over booklets of concert programs, and scanned Baltimore Sun archives for news stories and obituaries. Sheiman was thrilled to see one of Saudek’s scores written in the composer’s own hand.
The students also got a taste of the Conservatory of the 19th century and its traditions. “During 1871–72, when Saudek was here, it was interesting to see how many current compositions were being performed by all of the students,” Sheiman says. “The studio recital is such a common format, even today, so it was nice to see that it was even happening way back when.”
Sheiman enthuses about how the world opened up to her through the archives. “I did a little research, and then it snowballed into this,” she says. “There was so much out there that I didn’t realize.”
“If you had asked me, are there any female composers here at Peabody in the 1800s, I would have instinctually said ‘no,’ but that’s actually a lie!”
“I think my biggest takeaway is that research doesn’t have to be a scary word,” she adds. “Good research can provide answers. It can provide solutions.”
THE PIERO WEISS LEGACY
In his 25 years on the Peabody faculty, Piero Weiss mentored a generation of students and authored four books, including the seminal textbook, Music in the Western World: A History in Documents (with co-author Richard Taruskin). The donation of his papers to the archives, as well as a series of Master Classes in Piero Weiss’ name, funded by the Weiss family, are “efforts to memorialize my father’s love of Peabody and his connection to the school,” says his son, Antonio.