Paul Sacher Stiftung

The sources examined in the Conlon Nancarrow Collection of the Paul Sacher Foundation include autograph music manuscripts, hand-made tempo templates and graphs, original player piano rolls punched and annotated by the composer, documentary open-tape recordings, and the composer’s correspondence. One important outcome of this examination is a cross-referenced list of the newly identified documents. The list includes more than 1’680 manuscript pages, 79 rolls, and several hours of documentary recordings.

The identification of these items has significantly enhanced the Nancarrow Collection through: 

• the completion of important autograph scores [Ex. 1]
• the further documentation of known works with sketches, graphs, drafts, fragments, scores, rolls, and recordings corresponding to definitive as well as early versions [Exx. 2 and 3]
• the description and organization of material belonging to previously unknown works [Ex. 4]
• the re-organization of extant materials based on new evidence of chronology [Ex. 5]

The incorporation of the identified materials into the official inventory of the Paul Sacher Foundation is underway. Once this process is finished, the updated inventory will be made available through the present website. An annotated list of player piano rolls (Bugallo, 2021) will be available under Online Resources (in preparation).

Ex. 1: Conlon Nancarrow, Study No. 48c, punching score of definitive version, p. 74.

Ex. 2: Conlon Nancarrow, Study No. 19 (canon 12:15:20), temporal and rhythmic scheme.

Ex. 3: Conlon Nancarrow, Study No. 21 (canon X), punching score fragment of early version, p. 61.

Ex. 4: Conlon Nancarrow, unknown early piece, player piano roll (R179).

Ex. 5: Conlon Nancarrow, Study No. 34, early version, player piano roll (R093). The roll is placed chronologically between the earlier roll R180 and the definitive roll R046.