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A n A d d i t i o n to Musical Bibliography 

A Bibliography of Early Secular American 
Music (18th century) by Oscar George 
Theodore Sonneck. Revised and enlarged 
by William T r e a t Upton. [Washington], 
T h e Library of Congress, Music Division, 
1945, xvi, 6 1 7 P . 
No matter how long and illustrious the 

annals of American musicology may become, 
the name of Oscar Sonneck will always-

of Sonneck's splendid example, not sufficiently 
disappeared to make the path easy for his 
follower. 

W e can, therefore, welcome all the more 
the successful completion of Upton's task. 
Its succeggis seen most obviously in statistical 
comparisons but hardly less so in the care 
with which^the additions have been made. 
As for tHft length of the bibliography itself, 

occupy in them a place of honor. At a tinr<!^ Upto*^contents himself with the statement 
when few in this country were interested in that "surprisingly large gains have been 
its musical history, and when fewer still were made." An estimate suggests that the ap-
trained in historical research in music, Son- ^proximately one thousand titles of Sonneck's 
neck began systematically to lay the.founda-* list have grown to three thousand in Upton's 
tions for the study of the history of music • revision. In recording this remarkable in-
and musical life in the United States. H e 
accomplished this work both in developing 
the Music Division at the Library of Con-
gress and by producing a number of important 
articles, bibliographies, and special studies. 

One of Sonneck's cornerstones was his 
Bibliography of Early Secular American 
Music, privately printed in Washington in 
1905. It was a title list of secular music and 
of books, pamphlets, essays, etc., relating to 
secular music, issued by the American press 
before 1800 or written by native or natu-
ralized Americans, whether or not published 
or extant. This fundamental volume, ob-
viously long incomplete, has been brought up 
to the present state of our knowledge by 
William T r e a t Upton, also a distinguished 
historian of American music. It is again 
published in Washington, but this time by 
the Music Division of the Library of Con-
gress, with the most appropriate assistance of 
the Sonneck Memorial Fund, which the divi-
sion administers. 

When one considers the meager rewards of 
bibliographical work, it is remarkable that 
we should have one scholar—and providential 
that we should have had two—who were 
willing to brave the wilderness of our early 
music publishing. Upton had Sonneck to 
build on, but the difficulty of his task could 
not have been substantially less. Some of 
the difficulties of which Sonneck complained 
—rapid growth of collections, inadequate 
cataloging, the general lack of interest in the 
history of United States music—have, in spite 

crease, Upton has studied the resources of 
twenty-seven libraries, including the seventeen 
covered by Sonneck and ten private collec-
tions in addition to Sonneck's three. N a t u -
rally, therefore, many more locations of copies 
are given in Upton's edition than in 
Sonneck's. 

T h e other striking difference between the 
two editions is Upton's provision of several 
new indexes. In part, these represent a divi-
sion into separate indexes of the kinds of 
information found in Sonneck's single one; 
in larger part, however, they represent new 
means of using the material of the bibliog-
raphy. Upton has provided lists of articles 
and essays relating to music; composers, with 
biographical information; songsters; first 
lines; American patriotic music, vocal and 
instrumental; and titles of opera librettos. 
T h e complete index of publishers, printers, 
and engravers is arranged by city and con-
tains a separate entry for each style of firm 
name, with biographical notes in some cases, 
changes of address with dates, and page 
references to the main title list. Finally, 
there is a general index containing names of 
individuals not included in the composer 
index, pseudonyms, titles of dramatic pro-
ductions, musical forms and mediums of per-
formance, and other categories. 

It will be a matter of regret, but not of 
surprise, that paper and binding, though 
satisfactory under present circumstances, are 
not worthy of the content of this otherwise 
unexceptionable volume.—Richard S. Angell. 

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