American Symphony Orchestra Repertoires 1842-1970

Produced By: Indiana University Press, 1973, Bloomington, Indiana

Funding Agencies/Sponsors:

• Rockefeller Foundation
• Indiana University Foundation

Author: Mueller, Kate Hevner

Contributors:

• Mueller, John Henry   --  data collection
• Vrenios, Elizabeth Kirkpatrick   --  supervision of undergraduate workers
• Davidson, Ann Louise   --  typist-linguist-chartmaker-researcher
• Griffith, Robert   --  timings
• Griffith, Mrs. Robert   --  timings
• Document Solutions Inc. (Oakland, CA)   --  digitization

Abstract (CPANDA): American Symphony Orchestra Repertoires 1842-1970, sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Indiana University Foundation, is the result of 32 years of data collection efforts by Kate Hevner Mueller and John Henry Mueller, with assistance from numerous friends and colleagues including Elizabeth Kirkpatrick Vrenios, Ann Louise Davidson, and Mr. and Mrs. Robert Griffith. The study cataloged the repertoires of 27 major symphony orchestras in the United States from the 1842/1843 season through the 1969/1970 season, including the length of the pieces performed, the composers, and their nationalities. "Major" was defined as a symphony whose expenditures exceeded $500,000, as listed in 1972 by the American Symphony League. The population of repertoires included only regular subscription series concerts. As the author stated in the acknowledgements of the print version of these data, "eventually these data must be transferred to the computer, so that future scholars may be spared the tedious tabulations and calculations which constitute the major drawback for socio-musical research." With the gracious permission of the Indiana University Foundation, 127 years of symphony orchestra data, laboriously collected over the span of 32 years, are now easily accessible in an electronic format as the author intended.

Methodology (CPANDA) : By examining the content of orchestra program booklets and other relevant materials, researchers collected data about 87,175 pieces performed by 27 symphony orchestras over a span of 127 years. The following symphony orchestras were included in the study: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York Philharmonic, New York Symphony, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Rochester, St. Louis, San Francisco, Seattle, Utah, and the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington DC. CPANDA commissioned Document Solutions, Inc. (Oakland, CA) to scan and digitize the data collected by the original researchers. The digital file was triple-checked by Document Solutions to ensure that data entry errors were minimized. Potential problems or irregularities in the original data source were noted by Document Solutions, and are provided in the "Review" field of the data set.