Cliff Mills
On Monday, January 27, the Solo Librarians group of the San Andreas Chapter were treated to a unique event at the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. library in San Jose. Librarian and curator, Patricia Stroh, who has been with the Center since 1986, and gave an overview of the history of this special collection, its mission and how it came to be placed at San Jose State University. Ludwig von Beethoven lived from 1770-1827and the Center focuses on the research, performance and education of his work.
The Center is truly a special library within the City/University library. The Beethoven Gateway gives access to over 350 first editions of Beethoven's works, manuscripts, over 4,000 books related to his life and times, comprehensive musical media and Beethoven realia. The Center also produces the Beethoven Journal (ISBN 1087-8262) which is distributed to an international audience of research libraries, performing arts centers and the American Beethoven Society.
The high point of the event was the demonstration by Ms. Stroh, and her assistant, of various types of keyboards that would have been available during the life of Beethoven. The evolution of the harpsichord to the modern forte piano helped propel creative innovations in music. The Center is open to the public without charge and their website is available at www.sjsu.edu/beethoven.
A special "thanks" to Chapter members Sonia Dorfman and Eric Kristofferson for organizing this program.
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