The recent acquisition of a Verdi collection by the Sidney Cox Library of Music and Dance is the culmination of years of support by Sidney T. Cox, B.A. '47, M.A. '48.

Cox left his personal collection of Verdi scores, recordings and related materials to the library when he died in October 2005. A longtime supporter of Cornell, particularly the Department of Music, Cox established the Cox Fund for Contemporary Music and supported Lincoln Hall's renovation and expansion. In recognition of his support, the music library in Lincoln Hall was named in his honor in 2000.

The nucleus of the Verdi collection is a number of early printed scores, valuable for research and teaching, especially for those operas that have not appeared in a critical edition, the definitive annotated version of a work. For example, a copy of an early Ricordi orchestral score of "La Traviata" with Czech and German text inked in, has extensive markings by the conductor showing cuts and other indications, and provides evidence of how the work was actually performed.

The collection also includes scores of the first versions of "La Forza del Destino" and "Don Carlos." Both are works that Verdi later revised and have not yet appeared in "The Works of Giuseppe Verdi," a useful source for a study of Verdi's revisions.

Early printed scores are of interest as a resource not only for the music itself, but also for the history of music printing. For example, one highlight of the Verdi collection is a rare Russian edition of "Aida" with text in Italian and Russian.

The collection also includes autographed letters from Verdi and a few rare libretti. Cox had added the recent edition of Verdi's operas, published by the University of Chicago Press, to his library and had assembled an extensive library of secondary source materials including books, reviews and auction records to support his research and collecting activities. Many of the 19th century scores and libretti will become part of the music library's special collections, and the secondary source materials will be added to circulating collections.

Bonna Boettcher is a music librarian and adjunct professor of music. David Rosen is a professor of music at Cornell.