Rare Music Collection

Rare Music comprises music manuscripts, printed scores, books, archival collections, photographs and other music-related materials that are rare and in some cases unique.

Fragment from a sanctorale MS ANON 3 — Fragment from a sanctorale (13th century; MS ANON 3)

The collection includes items from the late 11th century through to the present day. Our rich holdings of European music have at their core the Hanson-Dyer Collection of 15th to early 19th century music imprints, first editions and music manuscripts. Transferred to Melbourne in 2005, this 245-item strong collection includes French operatic works, British publications, works of the Italian renaissance and books on music theory, establishing collection strengths that have been built upon with substantial acquisitions over the past 15 years.

Rare Music also includes the very substantial archive of the French music publishing house, Editions de l’Oiseau-Lyre (1932–2013), founded by expatriate Louise Hanson-Dyer (1884–1962). Editions de l’Oiseau-Lyre is celebrated for its scholarly and pioneering editions and sound recordings of early music.

Other highly significant collections in Rare Music that are associated with individual musicians include the professional archive of internationally renowned French horn virtuoso Barry Tuckwell. There are also a number of smaller personal archives associated with professional musicians active in Australia such as Adolf Spivakovsky, Isobel Carter, Elsa Haas and John Simons.

Large instrumental collections include the Stockigt Clarinet Collection: music previously owned by Jim and Hugo Stockigt; and the White Clarinet Collection: the professional music library of Thomas White.

Smaller collections of instrumental music of significance are associated with Tasmanian flautist F.E. Burbury and Melbourne violinists August di Gilio and Paul McDermott.

The personal library of orchestral scores owned by Australian conductor John Hopkins is another significant collection; John Hopkins had a long and distinguished association with the University's Faculty of Fine Arts and Music.

Rare Music also features manuscript and printed scores, chiefly by Australian composers, from the colonial period to the present day. Some of the Australian scores were commissioned by recipients of the annual Albert H. MAGGS Composition Award, administered by the University of Melbourne. A large collection of Concert and Theatre Programs, has a focus on musical life in Melbourne (1860–). Popular music is represented in both commercial sheet music and in a collection of Australian-manufactured pianola rolls.

The majority of Rare Music is catalogued with over 13,000 items searchable through the University Library Catalogue. The business and personal papers of the Editions de l'Oiseau-Lyre Archive are searchable through the catalogue of the University of Melbourne Archives.

Library Catalogue

Access Collection

The 245-item strong Hanson-Dyer Collection comprises European music imprints, first editions and music manuscripts from the 15^th to the early 19^th centuries.

Unique items from the Hanson-Dyer collection have engendered significant musicological studies such as Michael Treder’s volume on the Album für die Laute (LHD 243). And an issue of Musica Disciplina (v. 60) presents a full facsimile and research articles by six scholars about the compendium of theoretical texts from the collection, Regole del canto fermo (LHD 244).

A Guidonian hand, Regole del canto fermo (LHD 244)

The collection was purchased and assembled by Louise Hanson-Dyer (1884-1962) in Paris between 1929 and 1931. Hanson-Dyer went on to found and run the groundbreaking music publisher, Editions de l’Oiseau-Lyre until her death. The Hanson-Dyer Collection arrived at the University of Melbourne in 2005.

Gregor Lange 1580 - 1610, p. 7 — A motet by Gregor Lange (d. 1587). From a collection of manuscript part books, Cantiones sacrae, ca 1580-1610, LHD 240

This highly significant collection includes rare French operatic works and British publications, works of the Italian renaissance and books on music theory. There are also rare volumes of instrumental music and a number of fine instrumental “methods”.

Frontispiece to Traite de la musique — Frontispiece to Borjon de Scellery, Traité de la musette, 1672, LHD 179

You can browse the collection in the University of Melbourne Library catalogue or consult the published catalogue, compiled in 2006, by Denis Herlin, Catalogue de la collection musicale Hanson-Dyer, Université de Melbourne... .

Marin Marais 4th book of viol pieces — Marin Marais, Basse continues du quatriême livre…, 1717, LHD 083

Since the arrival of this collection, Rare Music has acquired many additional items consistent with Hanson-Dyer’s interests, making pre-1900 European music and books a notable collection strength for Rare Music.

To view items

Requests to view items from the collection are welcome; click the "Request to view in Reading Room" button located to the right of the Library catalogue record for each item from the Hanson-Dyer collection. The Reading Room is on the 3rd floor Baillieu Library.

For more information, including opening hours, see the Reading Room website.

In 2013, the Monaco-based music publisher Éditions de l’Oiseau-Lyre (Lyrebird Press), established by Australian Louise Hanson-Dyer in 1932, closed and in September that year its archive arrived at the University of Melbourne, where it is now a part of the Rare Music collection.

Interior of EOL in Monaco, photo by Simon Purtell — Interior of EOL in Monaco

The archive includes business records and correspondence, including letters from leading composers, artists and writers. There are also personal papers, Louise Hanson-Dyer’s memorabilia, her own library and some artworks. The archive features a “President’s Collection” (previously shelved together in Monaco), comprising one copy of almost every one of the Press’s print publications; a substantial collection of manuscript scores, many in the composer's hand; and printed scores and performance parts. There are also 78 and 331/3 rpm audio recordings, publication proofs and press clippings.

The Editions de l’Oiseau-Lyre archive promises significant new insights into one of the twentieth-century’s most important music publishing houses and is an important resource for researchers.

Cataloguing the archive

Portrait of Louise Hanson-Dyer, ca 1930, by photographer Pierre Choumoff — Portrait of Louise Hanson-Dyer,
ca 1930,
by photographer Pierre Choumoff

Library cataloguing or archival listing of the collection, with the exception of the sound recordings, was completed in 2018 and each series (or sub-collection) is discoverable. The first to be completed was “Music for performance and publication”, available through the Library catalogue. Music manuscripts include those in the hands of Canteloube, Daniel-Lesur, Glanville-Hicks, Ibert, Ikonomov, Koechlin, Landré, Milhaud, Oubradous, Sauguet and Sutherland. You can view a description of the entire series and detailed catalogue records have been prepared for each of the 266 items.

Also catalogued is the Editions de l’Oiseau-Lyre’s reference library (254 items); the “President's collection” (308 items); and Louise Hanson-Dyer's personal library (257 items): each of these items can be located in the University Library catalogue. The archive's holding of 33 rpm sound recordings, mostly, but not exclusively, Editions de l'Oiseau-Lyre's own has not been catalogued or listed.

Autograph music and correspondence by the French composer, Jacques Ibert (includes EOLA MU058) — Autograph music and correspondence by
the French composer, Jacques Ibert
(includes EOLA MU058)

During the first half of 2016 an archivist worked intensively on the Editions de l’Oiseau-Lyre archive making detailed listings of fifteen series of records and re-housing much of the collection. These series include “Musicians’, writers’ and artists’ letters”, “Louise Hanson-Dyer photographs, artworks and memorabilia”, “Business records and personal papers of Louise Hanson-Dyer” and “Editorial and administrative records”; they have proved to be a rich resource for researchers. The listings are accessible through the University of Melbourne Archives catalogue and also online.

In 2017 a grant from the Mieugunyah Fund and the expertise of specialist staff at the Grimwade Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation, especially Peter Mitchelson, led to the conservation of an extraordinary visitors' book (sample page below) owned by Louise Hanson-Dyer.

Recent projects and events

Composer Arthur Hoerée and artist Dora Meeson’s entries in a visitors’ book belonging to Louise Hanson-Dyer (EOLA VISI) — Composer Arthur Hoerée and artist Dora Meeson’s
entries in a visitors’ book belonging to
Louise Hanson-Dyer (EOLA VISI)

A number of research projects centered on the archive took place in the University library in 2018. One of these was the digitisation of the archive's holdings of 78 rpm recordings issued by Editions de l'Oiseau-lyre, which will be available as part of a larger integrated online project in the future. Another research project (undertaken by Reetika Khanna) examined and documented the nine artworks in the visitors' book and their context, and shaped them into an online exhibition.

On 18 and 19 May 2018, the University library co-hosted with the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music a two-day international symposium: "Louise Dyer and Editions de l'Oiseau-lyre: The establishment of a music press". The symposium, free and open to the public, celebrated the prodigious achievements of Louise Dyer, focusing on the period from the establishment of the Press until the end of the War (1932-1945). During this time she published, in Paris, beautifully designed and presented volumes of print music edited by leading musicologists: the complete works of Francois Couperin (12 v.) was first, then other groundbreaking "early music" repertoire followed. She also championed contemporary French and Australian composers and visual artists and released a substantial catalogue of 78 rpm discs. Eminent Paris-based librarian/musiciologist Catherine Massip was the symposium's keynote speaker and each day of the symposium closed with a short concert in Melba Hall.

In 2019 the 78rpm disc digitisation work has resumed in collaboration with Presbyterian Ladies College, Burwood. Louise Dyer attended PLC from 1891 to 1901 and maintained strong links with the school throughout her life.

For further information about the Editions de l'Oiseau-Lyre archive please contact the Curator, Music.

The Rare Music collection includes a wealth of Australian music in both manuscript and print.

Composers Richard Mills, Margaret Sutherland, Linda Phillips, Dorian Le Gallienne and others are strongly represented in manuscript. Maggs Composition Award works (listed below) also form part of the manuscript collection.

The Australian print music collection spans nearly 200 years and includes popular as well as western art music. Sheet music associated with World War I, featuring illustrated covers, is a particular collection strength.

Albert H. Maggs of Toorak in Victoria, bookmaker, presented to the University in 1966 a sum of money for the purpose of founding an award to be known as "The Albert H. Maggs Composition Award" with the expressed wish that this award should encourage and assist composers of classical music who might otherwise abandon their efforts for want of means.

The following is a list of the recipients of the award and the works held in Rare Music, Special Collections.