Federal Music Project Copyists in the Free Library
From Our Collections
Item Info
Source: Music Dept.
Notes:
When Parkway Central Library opened in 1927, this room in the southeast corner of the second floor housed the Music Room.
This reproduction of a photograph shows the room circa 1935-1940 when it was home to the first music copying project in the United States.
At its height, the Federal Music Project (FMP) at the Free Library employed over 100 professional copyists and musicians to create performance sets for the stage from composers' unpublished manuscripts. The project made it possible for major North American orchestras to perform the music of composers such as Aaron Copland for the first time.
The Fleisher Collection of Orchestral Music is now located in the southwest corner of the first floor of Parkway Central Library. The room in this photograph is now the Science and Wellness Department.
Creation Year (Single Year or Range Begin): 1940