Stories and Lessons from the World’s Leading Opera, Orchestra Librarians, and Music Archivists, Volume 2

Europe and Asia

Patrick Lo, Robert Sutherland, Wei-En Hsu, Russ Girsberger

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781802626605
• eBook ISBN: 9781802626612
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Library & Information Science
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Volume 2 of the two part collection Stories and Lessons from the World's Leading Opera, Orchestra Librarians, and Music Archivists, explores the current trends and practices in the field of music performance librarianship. Featuring interviews and conversations from over twenty orchestra, opera, and ballet librarians and archivists working for some of the world's leading performing arts and educational institutions from Europe and Asia, this book is a helpful resource to librarians, and archivists who need to manage artifacts in a variety of situations in the world of performing arts.

For music and library science professors, this serves as a useful teaching tool or reference material by allowing students to gain a glimpse into the profession of music performance librarianship. Finally, this book functions as a unique and important reference tool for all students who are considering a career in music performance librarianship or a profession in archives in the world of performing arts.

Chapter 1

Richard Payne, Librarian, Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Based in Glasgow, Scotland, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) is one of the five national performing arts companies of Scotland, with a rich history stretching back over 125 years. Originally founded in 1891 as the Scottish Orchestra, it became the Scottish National Orchestra in 1950. The Orchestra continued to use the name Scottish National Orchestra until 1991, when it briefly used the title Royal Scottish Orchestra (after being awarded Royal Patronage in 1977), before changing to its present name. Throughout its history, the RSNO has played an essential part in Scotland’s musical life, including performing at the opening ceremony of the Scottish Parliament building in 2004.

Richard Payne is the current Librarian at the RSNO. Prior to joining the RSNO in 2009, he served as orchestra librarian for a number of leading orchestras in England, including Hallé Concerts Society (1988–1992), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1992–1996), and London Philharmonic Orchestra (1996–2009). As the Librarian for the RSNO, Richard Payne is responsible for acquiring and preparing performance materials for all orchestral and chorus performances, recordings, auditions, and chamber music activities, as well as providing instrumentation requirements and other relevant information to the administration and other parties as needed.

Could you tell about your education background? For example, where did you study music? Do you come from a family of musicians or music educators?

RP: I’m fortunate to belong to the generation that grew up at a time when instrumental music lessons were readily available within schools. I started learning French horn in school, and before too long was playing in local and county youth orchestras, with my parents shuttling me back and forth like a bespoke taxi service! As the thing I seemed to do best, it was a logical progression to continue study at tertiary level, so I studied French horn as part of a combined studies degree from the University of Exeter, alongside English literature. Neither of my parents were professional musicians, but my father played in brass bands and my mother was a keen amateur pianist and has sung in church choirs and choral societies throughout her life.

Have you always worked as a music performance librarian? Could you tell us more about your path to becoming the Librarian at the RSNO? Did you have any other non-music-related careers, prior to entering a career in music performance librarianship?

RP: Although it’s clear that for many of my colleagues a library position was an aspiration from early days, in truth for me it wasn’t until after some postgraduate study, when I got a job working in the rental library at Universal Edition in London that the spark was ignited. By a somewhat sideways move, that related professional experience, coupled with a little luck, enabled me to become librarian at Manchester’s Hallé Orchestra. It was all very new to me; I was as green as the grass, but somehow you either survive or you don’t. That was my baptism of fire, and a proving ground that led to my spending a number of years at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra when Simon Rattle was Music Director, after which I moved to London in 1996 to join the London Philharmonic Orchestra, where I spent the next 12 years. A change in family circumstances led me north of the border in 2009.

Prior to joining the RSNO, you served as the Librarian for the London Philharmonic Orchestra. How does your previous professional experience earned at the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) contribute to your current work as the Librarian at the RSNO?

RP: Although the ultimate function of the library is the same, each orchestra is governed by its own work schedule, and here the differences will manifest themselves. Typically, the LPO diary was extremely varied; concert rehearsals in one venue would rub shoulders with commercial sessions, often with different personnel, on the same day, most likely in a different venue. Therefore, the requirements of each project were both different and, importantly, entirely separate and one adapts to the differing requirements of each project. In that regard, one sees the necessity of having the librarian present on all the orchestra calls.

At the RSNO, most, if not all, rehearsals take place at base; the necessity of traveling with the orchestra is rather less imperative. In some ways, it is better to have someone at base who could, in the old days, send a fax copy through (or nowadays forward a PDF) of a score or a part for local printing.

Nevertheless, there needs to be some degree of library presence, and here this has traditionally been the role of an assistant who also played in the orchestra.

There are differences in the way that the two orchestras are set up: one is on a contract basis, with a maximum number of playing hours per week, pension scheme, and other benefits. By contrast, the LPO and other orchestras in London are self-governed, in various ways, by the members of the orchestra.

It has been satisfying to have begun professional associations in one orchestra and be able to continue collaborations with another. This applies to musician colleagues as well as conductors and soloists.

Could you provide a brief introduction of the RSNO? In addition, please give a brief account of the overall cultural and classical music scene in Glasgow, and what role the RSNO plays in the overall sociocultural context in Glasgow and Scotland.

RP: In 1843, the Glasgow Musical Association was formed with the purpose of performing Handel’s Messiah the following year. This choir merged with another group, the Glasgow Harmonic Society, in 1855, and thus the Glasgow Choral Union was born.

At first, the orchestra had no name at all; it was simply an ad hoc outfit recruited to accompany the Choral Union and to give orchestral concerts on the side. Then it became known as the Orchestra of the Glasgow Choral Union, gaining its’ own identity in 1891 as the Scottish Orchestra, although it did not give its first concert under that name until 1893. For the next 57 years, the name remained until the orchestra became a full-time ensemble, the Scottish National Orchestra.

From the very first season, besides the Glasgow concerts, the orchestra gave concerts in all parts of Scotland: Edinburgh, Greenock, Dundee, Hamilton, Kilmarnock, Dumbarton, Helensburgh, Paisley, Stirling, Perth, Forfar, and Alloa.

The figure with the most profound influence on the orchestra’s activities was Sir Alexander Gibson, Principal Conductor for 25 years from 1959 to 1984, who launched a pioneering Musica Viva series and led the orchestra on acclaimed tours of Europe and North America. The orchestra also played for the Scottish Opera from its creation in 1962 until 1980. More recent figures – Neeme Järvi, Bryden Thomson, the recently departed Walter Weller, Alexander Lazarev, and Stéphane Denève – are remembered fondly for their huge contributions to the orchestra in concerts, recordings, and tours.

HM The Queen became Patron in 1977. The building of the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall in 1990 prompted a name change in 1991 to the RSNO. The orchestra’s special status in Scottish cultural life was cemented in 2007 when recognized as one of the nation’s five national performing companies, supported directly by the Scottish government.

The Junior Chorus, formed in 1978, rehearses weekly in the RSNO Centre, and on any given Monday night, you’ll see about 400 children from 8 to 18 rehearse in groups big and small and receive musicianship training that stands them in good stead going forward. There are ex-Junior Chorus members all across Scotland’s music-making and further afield.

Home since 1990 has been the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, but the orchestra plays as many concerts in Edinburgh’s Usher Hall as it does in Glasgow and also has regular seasons in Dundee (Caird Hall) and Aberdeen (Music Hall), as well as performing as far south as Langholm (Dumfries and Galloway) and as far north as Kirkwall (Orkneys), although more regularly in Perth, Inverness, Dunfermline (Carnegie Hall), and Stirling.

In 2015, a new bespoke rehearsal hall was built adjacent to the Royal Concert Hall, incorporating the administration offices as well.

How “Royal” is the RSNO? Does “Royal” mean that the RSNO was originally created by a member of the Royal Family, based on their own personal will – and does a large portion of the Orchestra’s operational costs still come from and are covered by the Royal Family? Having a Royal patron, how does it influence the corporate culture of the RSNO?

RP: Her Majesty The Queen has been the orchestra’s patron since 1977. Organizations that wish to receive and use Royal status go through a process of informal application to the Home Secretary (or Scottish Office in the case of Scotland) asking for a favorable recommendation be made to the Crown.

As the Librarian of the RSNO, could you describe in detail your job description and the scope/areas of your responsibilities?

RP: In a nutshell, my role is to manage the orchestra’s music collection, ensuring that the orchestra is supplied with the right music for our projects and performances in a timely manner and prepared to the standards that are expected, thus facilitating trouble-free rehearsals. Each day is a little different, based around what, if any, orchestra activity is taking place.

You may wonder what defines the “right music.” It’s best when the music is already in the library ready to take off the shelf but, if protected by copyright, a work may need to be rented from a publisher. In certain other cases, a bespoke version for the project must be created.

Much research is done in advance; this process begins when the advance schedule comes across my desk, and scores and individual sets of parts are sourced. This involves acquiring music from a variety of locations, by purchase, rental, from the orchestra’s own library, or other sources (begged, borrowed, etc.). Information on musical requirements is acquired and absorbed, to be passed on where necessary. Knowledge of copyright law is essential, as the librarian will be the primary contact with publishers when protected works are programmed. Managing any necessary licensing negotiations is now also a requirement. Colleagues home and abroad may also be consulted as specific editions or keys, special versions, or transpositions are hunted down so that they arrive in good time.

There are now wider choices of editions available, but one should have a reasonable knowledge of what editions are currently preferred. In the standard repertoire (Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven), the choices might appear simple at first glance, and the rule of thumb for me was always Bach and Mozart would be Bärenreiter, and Haydn would be Doblinger or Haydn-Mozart-Presse (both edited by H. C. Robbins Landon). In the latter case, this choice is today nuanced by the addition of Bärenreiter editions based on more recent scholarship.

Now we have to opine about two critical editions of Beethoven symphonies, a new Schubert edition, and an almost quarterly array of new performing editions of other nineteenth-century repertoire. In some sense, having an established library could almost be a disadvantage since one always defaults to the material in the library, and sometimes it would be better if you obtain new parts reflecting more recent scholarship (such as Schubert, Schumann, or Mahler symphonies). Additionally, if the orchestra hasn’t played a work for 20 years or so, it’s probably best to start again from scratch. The orchestra’s playing style has evolved and parts last used in the 1990s probably won’t cut it now. So, it’s not always a case of resorting to the set that’s on the shelf!

I want music here six weeks in advance of the first rehearsal; that isn’t always possible for a variety of reasons, both internal and external, but if there’s a framework in place, then it can be adapted to deal with any issues that may arise. This balances the amount of time that the publisher is willing to rent the materials without additional fees with a reasonable period available to prepare the parts. The goal is to get the parts into a condition where rehearsal time isn’t wasted dealing with illegibility, inconsistencies, or navigation issues.

The music obtained – work begins. At some level, the orchestra librarian is almost always a former or current instrumentalist. Attention to detail and an elephantine memory are essential assets to have, as well as a working knowledge of languages, music theory, and music history. In terms of actual language, obviously you must have grasp of musical terms and especially instrument names in a variety of languages including Italian, French, German, English, Russian, and Spanish. There are musical puzzles to be deciphered, so we must be accomplished score readers, perhaps second only to the conductors themselves. From this point, we’re liaising with conductors, soloists, and orchestra musicians to deliver our services in the best way possible, demonstrating our skills as exacting problem solvers. While we operate principally with paper and pencil, modern technology comes into play when the occasion demands: digital tools such as Photoshop and music engraving software such as Sibelius or Dorico are found in most self-respecting orchestral libraries nowadays, and where would we be without the humble PDF?

At the next stage, attention must be given to bowing for the strings; bowing is an important part of a librarian’s daily life, as the library staff may prompt conductor or principal strings to review or originate the bowings in advance. Then they are marked in pencil to the remaining parts. Rehearsal markers or bar numbers may need coordinating; older editions of even standard repertoire don’t always have these indications, and it’s increasingly a requirement, especially in an environment such as a recording, where time spent searching for the elusive rehearsal letter might be the difference between getting one last take in, or not. Editing, with regard to dynamics, inserts, even retouches of orchestration may be necessary, in accord with the conductor’s specific requirements.

There will always be something around the corner to (potentially) trip you up, but the thing is how you deal with the problem, how you find the solution. In the run-up, if you have any doubts, you need to ask the right questions.

Are you currently working as a solo librarian at RSNO? Could you describe the staffing structure of the RSNO Library?

RP: At various times, there has been support from one of the string players in the orchestra, who was also the touring librarian when the orchestra was away from home. In fact, my colleague Michael Rigg has just retired from this position; one can see his handiwork on many, many sets of parts since the late 1980s. His meticulous methods have been a model to aspire to, and he’s not going to be easy to replace.

As we proceed without public performance, it does give us an opportunity to decide how we will fulfill this role in the future. To that end, we will shortly appoint a part-time Library Assistant to work within the administration and seek to make another appointment from within the orchestra to concentrate on the best way of delivering library resources to the orchestra when away from home.

Could you describe the scope and size of the RSNO Library? In terms of your score collection, how far back does it go?

RP: If only the scores and sets of parts could speak! Somewhere among long-redundant sets on the shelves lie many stories of the orchestra’s history. For example, the Cyrillic hieroglyphics on the selected parts of Elgar’s Enigma Variations reveal that these parts were most likely taken by John Barbirolli with him when he conducted in Leningrad (as it would have been) in March 1935. They certainly wouldn’t have been trusted to the post, and there was no FedEx, UPS, or DHL around in those days. Other sets still in use date back to the time of, and bear the stamp of, the Glasgow Choral and Orchestral Union and the collection includes first editions of some Debussy orchestral works, as well as Richard Strauss tone poems, that the orchestra would have played from on his visits to the orchestra in 1902 and 1903.

There are sets of parts from mid-nineteenth century editions of Messiah and Elijah, not used nowadays of course!

How closely do you work with the conductors, concertmasters, and individual guest soloists?

RP: As part of the information gathering mentioned above, the librarian should know if there are issues likely to need attention. If it’s a case of discussing the choice of editions or any special considerations necessary for any of the pieces, I’ll initiate the conversation directly or via their agent as appropriate, and in some cases, this will lead us to arrange to receive the conductor’s own materials.

It’s most important to be fully aware of the requirements for vocal soloists; specifically, in relation to the particular key they may want, but also with...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Introduction
• Opera Ignites: Forging the Union between Librarians, Conductors, Répétiteurs, and Prompters in Arts
• Chapter 1. Richard Payne, Librarian, Royal Scottish National Orchestra
• Chapter 2. Gordon Grant, Music Librarian, Scottish Opera
• Chapter 3. Georgina Govier, Head of Music Library, Welsh National Opera
• Chapter 4. Martyn Bennett, Head of Music Library and Resources, Glyndebourne Festival and Touring Operas
• Chapter 5. James Halliday, Artistic Advisor and Librarian, Monteverdi Choir and Orchestras
• Chapter 6. Inger Garcia de Presno, Orchestra Librarian, Berlin Philharmonic
• Chapter 7. Michael Fritsch, Senior Librarian, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
• Chapter 8. Agnes Thiel and Vincent Marbach, Library Manager, Staatskapelle Dresden/Dresden State Opera
• Chapter 9. Dr Katharina Hötzenecker, Chief Librarian, Vienna State Opera
• Chapter 10. Dr Silvia Kargl, Historical Archives, Vienna Philharmonic
• Chapter 11. Cesare Diego Freddi, Music Library Manager, La Scala Theatre
• Chapter 12. Luca Logi, Music Library Manager, Artistic Direction, Fondazione Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino
• Chapter 13. Virginio Giorgioni, Chief Music Librarian, Teatro San Carlo di Napoli
• Chapter 14. Stefano Lazzari, Head of the Music Library, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma
• Chapter 15. Guido Ricci, Music Library Manager, Orchestra of the National Academy of Santa Cecilia
• Chapter 16. Guillaume Maessen, Orchestra Librarian, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
• Chapter 17. Jan Pieter Lanooy, Librarian, Netherlands Bach Society
• Chapter 18. Rachel Daliot, Orchestra Librarian, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra
• Chapter 19. Mari Rautio and Juhana Hautsalo, Music Librarians, Finnish National Opera and Ballet
• Chapter 20. Erik Hvitfeldt, Head of Music Library, Royal Swedish Opera
• Chapter 21. Erik Hvitfeldt, Head of Archive, Royal Swedish Opera
• Chapter 22. Liisi Laanemets, Music Librarian, Estonian National Opera
• Chapter 23. Alastair McKean, Head of Library Services, Sydney Symphony Orchestra
• Chapter 24. Nadia Myers, Orchestra Librarian, Queensland Symphony Orchestra
• Chapter 25. Jennifer Fung, Music Library Administrator and Peter Alexander, Music Librarian, Opera Australia
• Chapter 26. Hiroshi Tanaka, Librarian, Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa (Japan)
• Chapter 27. Boram Kim, Orchestra Librarian, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra
• Chapter 28. Mei-lee Leung, Assistant Executive Officer (Music), School of Music, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts
• Conclusion: Bringing it All Together