site search
News
RECENT ARRIVALS TO THE CONSTELLATIONCENTER LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES
The ConstellationCenter Library and Archives has two purposes: to provide resources for ConstellationCenter’s research and design process, and to document the design process itself. The Library consists of books, reports, digital images, DVDs, CDs, periodicals, ephemera, and a film collection that is stored in Los Angeles. But, as S. R. Ranganathan said in his five rules of library science, “The library is a growing organism,” and ConstellationCenter continues to add fascinating material to its collection. The Library and Archives Collection represents the ten years of thinking and work that have gone into our four halls thus far, and will continue to expand and reflect the progress and interests of the Center as we move towards breaking ground and opening. The following represents the most recent acquisitions to the Collection. For more information visit the Library and Archives page.
Some of the most recent additions to the collection have been given to us by Dr. Jürgen Götz after his presentation on the restoration of St. Michael’s Church in Hildesheim, Germany. Dr. Götz kindly donated a number of books on the history of this magnificent church, a large scale plan of the renovated building and a DVD, Sanierung St. Michael, Hildesheim, which chronicles the ongoing restoration process.
Other recent acquisitions include a report by ConstellationCenter’s researcher Rachel Nelson on the History of the Choir Box: 1000-1600 and a report by ConstellationCenter’s researcher Steve Milton entitled Report on Japanese Performing Arts Venues. The Library also recently acquired two books on eighteenth century Venetian painting, along with six books on sound art and installations and four books on musical performance practice in eighteenth and nineteenth century Europe.
These new materials augment our collection of books and reports on medieval chant and churches and the intersection of music and architecture.
Several new CDs were added to the Library: Tournemire in Oberlin; The 1785 Schiörlin Organ: Tryserum, Sweden performed by William Porter; J.C. Bach: Sonatas, The Fenner Douglass Organ performed by Joan Lippincott. The Fenner Douglass organ is a new organ built for a church in Naples, Florida by Taylor and Boody Organbuilders, the company building the organ for ConstellationCenter’s Great Hall. We also received Unchu Kuyo Bosatsu Gaku performed by Mamiko Iwasaki on the C.B. Fisk organ at Old West Church, Boston.
ConstellationCenter had been given a small collection of materials related to Arnold Dolmetsch, an important Cambridge, MA music figure. In the 1880s, Arnold Dolmetsch (1858-1940), of Swiss origin, moved to London to begin the study of early music and of the instruments for which it was written. Skillful as a performer, instrument maker, scholar, and promoter, Dolmetsch was able to understand the problems inherent in studying and re-presenting a tradition that, by the end of the nineteenth century, had completely disappeared. Dolmetsch’s fame spread throughout England, leading him to be invited to the Chickering Factory in Boston, where he directed the making of early stringed and keyboard instruments. The Cambridge house that Arnold Dolmetsch commissioned from the architects Luquer and Godfrey incorporated designs produced by Dolmetsch himself. This newly attained collection of archival papers helps to document the revival of early music in America and helps us inform our design research of early music performance modes.
The ConstellationCenter Library and Archives is available to accredited researchers for work related to performance space and the context of performance. For more information, contact Susan Cole at (617) 939-1900 or
--Susan Cole, Archivist
161 First Street
Cambridge, MA 02142-1247
Tel 617.939.1900
Fax 617.939.1911