Recent Library Acquisitions: New Special Collections Received by the Albino Gorno Memorial Music (CCM) Library

Gorno Notebooks

The CCM Library received an interesting donation of notebooks about library namesake Albino Gorno (1859-1944), written by one of his students, Mary Venable. Dr. Gorno was a professor of piano and a highly-regarded accompanist who also served as Dean of the College of Music of Cincinnati.

Born near Cremona, Italy, he was selected in 1881 by the prima donna opera singer Adelina Patti to serve as her accompanist on a five-month tour of the United States. The following year, he was engaged by the College of Music as principal of its piano department. Of the 62 years that he was a faculty member at the College, 40 were spent as its dean.

Gorno was eminently successful as a teacher of piano, as a pianist, and as a conductor. In June 1924, Signor Gorno received the honorary degree of Doctor of Music from the College of Music of Cincinnati. After his death, the Albino Gorno Memorial Music Library was founded on May 31, 1949.

Mary Venable’s three-volume notebooks, titled Studies with Gorno, consist of a diary from 1896 to 1900 that includes remarks made by Signor Gorno during her lessons with him at the College of Music, a diary of her hours spent practicing, and an account of her graduation examination and exercises.Volume One is hand-written in ink. Volumes Two and Three are typescript. All three volumes include photos and musical illustrations. Volume Three discusses Gorno’s method book, Material for the Study of Pianoforte Pedals, published in 1900 by Willis Music Company in Cincinnati. Mary Venable worked as Gorno’s secretary and editor (in her words, “critical amanuensis”) in the preparation of his book.

After graduation, Ms. Venable accepted a piano teaching position at the Oxford College for Young Ladies in Oxford, Ohio, remaining there for the academic year 1900-1901. She was later on the faculty of the College of Music of Cincinnati. There is little more known about her.

The notebooks were donated to the library by the Edendale Library Friends Society of the Los Angeles Public Library system, which received them as an anonymous gift. Suzi Rogers, volunteer for the Friends, found a reference to the Gorno Library at UC and contacted the library. We are indebted to Ms. Rogers for the gift of this remarkable piece of local history that somehow made its way across the country and is now home again.

The notebooks have been transferred to the holdings of the University Archives and are available for consultation in the Archives and Rare Books Library, eighth floor of Blegen Library. Accessioned as UA-09-30, they complement two other primary collections of Gorno material, the Gorno Brothers Collection, UA-81-15, and the Albino Gorno Music Collection, UA-03-22.

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MTNA Distinguished Composer Archives

The Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) has partnered with the University of Cincinnati to house its complete Distinguished Composer of the Year archives in the UC Libraries.

Each year, MTNA presents the Distinguished Composer of the Year Award to the composer of the outstanding composition submitted as a state-commissioned work. MTNA first awarded this honor in 1969.

The archives are composed of all composition entries from 1987 to the present and include both scores and recordings. A few earlier scores are also available. The scores will be housed in the Archives and Rare Books Library, while the recordings will be held in the Albino Gorno Memorial Music Library.

This collection of 350 scores, 125 audio cassettes, 195 audio CDs, and 2 videos are being added to the MTNA archives already housed in the Archives and Rare Books Library.

The mission of MTNA is to “advance the value of music study and music making to society and to support the professionalism of music teachers.” For more, visit their Web site at www.mtna.org.

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