Table of Contents
- Collection Summary
- Biographical Note
- Scope and Content Note
- Subject Headings
- Related Material
- Administrative Information
- Access and Use
- Encoding Information
- Series List
- Container List
Collection Summary
| Repository: | Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries |
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| Creator: | Carreño, Teresa, 1853-1917 |
| Title: | Teresa Carreño Papers |
| Inclusive Dates: | 1860-1991 |
| Bulk Dates: | 1860-1920 |
| Quantity: | 4.5 cubic feet (15 boxes) |
| Abstract: | Includes musical manuscripts of Carreño and others, such as Edward Macdowell, Amy Beach and Teresita Carreño-Tagliapietra; literary manuscripts of Carreño; letters to and from Carreño and to and from Marta Milinowski, her biographer; and a variety of scrapbooks, diaries and other materials relating to Carreño's life and professional career; Among the correspondents are Frances Macdowell, Gioachino Rossini, Edward Grieg, and Ede Poldini. There are also many articles about Carreño and programs of her concerts. |
Biographical Note
Teresa Carreño was born in Caracas, Venezuela on December 22, 1853. She was the granddaughter of the Venezuelan composer Jose Cayetano Carreño. Her father, Manuel Antonio Carreño, was also a musician and composer. He was largely responsible for Teresa Carreño's early musical education and the documentation of the early years of her musical career.
When she was eight years old she was taken to New York where she studied with Gottschalk. Later, she also studied in Paris with Mathias and Anton Rubinstein. Her career was particularly successful in Germany where she lived and taught for over thirty years.
Throughout her life Carreño was recognized as a pianist, composer, conductor, and singer. She wrote many compositions for piano and one String Quartet in B minor. She also spent two years in Venezuela organizing and conducting an opera company in which she also sang.
Carreño died in New York on June 12, 1917.
The source for this brief biography is The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, vol. 3. (London: Macmillan Publishers Limited, 1980). See also Brian Mann's biographical sketch written for the 2003 Archives and Special Collections Library exhibit, Teresa Carreño: Walküre of the Piano.
TopScope and Content Note
Includes musical manuscripts of Carreño and others, such as Edward MacDowell, Amy Beach and Teresita Carreño-Tagliapietra; literary manuscripts of Carreño; letters to and from Carreño and to and from Marta Milinowski, her biographer; and a variety of scrapbooks, diaries and other materials relating to Carreño's life and professional career; Among the correspondents are Frances Macdowell, Gioachino Rossini, Edward Grieg, and Ede Poldini. There are also many articles about Carreño and programs of her concerts.
TopAccess and Use
Access
This collection is open for research according to the regulations of the Vassar College Archives and Special Collections Library without any additional restrictions.
Restrictions on Use
Permission to quote (publish) from unpublished or previously published material must be obtained as described in the regulations of the Vassar College Archives and Special Collections Library.
Related Material
- In his article on the Carreño Collection, MLA Notes (v 47, no 4), Brian Mann notes that Music Librarian, George Sherman Dickinson "must have been delighted, particularly given the hundreds of volumes of practical music it brought to his library." These hundreds of volumes, which also included books and periodical issues on music, were added to the main collection of the Music Library and are now almost indistinguishable from it save for the identifying stamp "Purchased from the Estate of Theresa [sic] Carreño." Since 2002 the Dickinson Music Library Carreño Collection consists of early published editions of music by Teresa Carreño, published music by other composers and dedicated or inscribed to Carreño, and orchestral music with performance annotations in Carreño's hand. For a listing of the published materials in the Music Library see the register of the George Sherman Dickinson Music Library Carreño Collection.
- Photocopies of selected original music manuscript materials and correspondence in the Teresa Carreño Collection of the Special Collections Department in the Main Library of Vassar College have been placed in the Dickinson Music Library Carreño Collection in the Treasure Room.
Subject Headings
Names:
- Beach, H. H. A., Mrs., 1867-1944
- Carreño, Manuel Antonio, d. 1874
- Carreño-Tagliapietra, Teresita
- Grieg, Edvard, 1843-1907
- Macdowell, Edward, 1860-1908
- Macdowell, Frances
- Milinowski, Marta, 1885-1970
- Poldini, Ede, 1869-1957
- Rossini, Gioacchino, 1792-1868
Subjects:
- Concert programs
- Music--Performance
- Pianists
- Women composers
- Women musicians
Document Types:
- Diaries
- Drawings (visual works)
- Photographs
- Scrapbooks
- Sheet music
VCL Categories:
- Music
Encoding Information
Encoded by Elizabeth Clarke, February 2007. Updated by Emma Gronbeck, October 2025.
TopAdministrative Information
Preferred Citation
Teresa Carreño Papers, Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries.
Processing Information
Collection processed by Max Benjamin Valerio, October 1990. Last updated August 2002 by Sarah Canino.
Acquisition Information
Transferred from the Dickinson Music Library, Vassar College, 2002.
Custodial History
Vassar Professor of Music, Marta Milinowski, studied with Carreño and wrote the first biography of the musician, Teresa Carreño, "By the Grace of God," (1940). Her connection brought about the purchase of a large number of materials from the Estate of Teresa Carreño through the Peabody Fund. A letter from the assistant Music Librarian, Natalie Mestechin, of 17 Sep 1943 notes: "On August 21, 1941 the Music Department made a purchase from the Estate of Theresa [sic] Carreño which included manuscripts, papers, photographs, music, costumes, etc., etc. and various books." In the mid-1950's selected materials were sent to the National Library in Caracas, Venezuela. At an unknown date other items were removed to the Special Collections Department of the Vassar College Libraries. In 1990, the materials that made up the Dickinson Music Library Carreño Collection at that time were researched and organized by Vassar Professor Brian Mann, assisted by Geoffrey Hills '91. His article, "The Carreño Collection at Vassar College," MLA Notes, 47 (1991), discusses the collection in detail as it existed at that point. Until 2002 the largest portion of the Teresa Carreño materials resided in the Dickinson Music Library. In 2002, all of the manuscript material and selected other materials were moved to the Archives and Special Collections Library of the Vassar College Libraries and integrated with the Carreño materials already housed there. In this process, separated parts were rejoined and additional materials came to light.
Series List
Series I. MUSIC MANUSCRIPTS, 1860-1914, undated (Boxes 1-6) |
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Series II. LITERARY MANUSCRIPTS, 1885-1886 (Box 7) |
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Series III. CORRESPONDENCE, 1862-1939 (Boxes 8-9) |
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Series IV. SCRAPBOOKS AND MEMORABILIA, 1862-1915 (Boxes 10-12) |
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Series V. DIARY, DATE AND ADDRESS BOOK, 1897-[1917?] (Box 13) |
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Series VI. LEGAL DOCUMENTS, 1894-1915 (Box 14) |
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Series VII. PRINTED MATERIALS AND PROGRAMS, 1863-1991, undated (Box 14) |
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Series VIII. PHOTOGRAPHS, undated (Box 15) |
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Series IX. ARTWORK, undated (Box 15) |
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Container List
Return to the Table of Contents
Details
Includes musical manuscripts of
Carreño and others, such as Edward Macdowell, Amy Beach and Teresita
Carreño-Tagliapietra; literary manuscripts of Carreño; letters to and from Carreño
and to and from Marta Milinowski, her biographer; and a variety of scrapbooks,
diaries and other materials relating to Carreño's life and professional career;
Among the correspondents are Frances Macdowell, Gioachino Rossini, Edward Grieg, and
Ede Poldini. There are also many articles about Carreño and programs of her
concerts.
