Conservatorio de Música Alfredo Levy collection, MSS 443

MSU Special Collections is pleased to announce that the recently acquired Conservatorio de Música Alfredo Levy collection (Alfredo Levy Conservatory of Music collection), MSS 443, is open for researchers.  The Conservatorio de Música Alfredo Levy collection (1880-1996) consists of the personal files of Cuban pianist and composer Alfredo Levy Nadal (1914-1999) and the music library of the Conservatorio de Música Alfredo Levy (active 1947-1962). The collection is comprised of correspondence, artifacts and ephemera, and approximately 1,000 manuscripts, first and very early editions, and printed musical scores. Notable correspondents include Gonzalo Roig, Rosalía Chalía, Joaquín Nin, Joaquín Nin-Culmell, Alejandro García Caturla, and Frank LaForge. Highlights of the musical collection include early editions by Louis Moreau Gottschalk and Henry Cowell, and works by significant Cuban and Latin American composers such as manuscripts by Ignacio Cervantes, José White, Ernesto Lecuona, and Gonzalo Roig; including music for Roig’s celebrated zarzuela, Cecilia Valdés, and lullaby, Canción de Cuna. Works by many women composers are found in the collection, including manuscripts attributed to Cuban composer María Matilde Alea and published music that had belonged to influential performers such as Cuban opera star Rosalía Chalía, Graciela de los Reyes, Carmen Levy, and Maria Toler. Some scores have hand-written dedications and ownership autographs, which, along with a variety of memorabilia and correspondence, reflect a vital and cosmopolitan period in Cuban musical history.  To explore this collection, please visit MSU Special Collections.