Imagine the surprise when the AHS Executive Director received an email from renowned jazz drummer, Tony Moreno. Why would a jazz drummer contact the American Harp Society?  The letter began, "My mother passed away in 1989. She spoke very highly of you, so I wanted to get in touch with you immediately regarding her music."

 

Further reading of the letter indicated that Mr. Moreno's mother was accomplished harpist and Premier Prix de Harpe/Prix Lili Boulanger recipient, Nina Dunkel.  Ms. Dunkel studied at Juilliard and the Fontainebleau Conservatory of Music with Marcel Grandjany, Nadia and Lilli Boulanger and Pierre Jamet.  A 1946 New York Times reviewer noted that during her first public recital in Carnegie Chamber Music Hall at age 19, "she proved mistress of a wide dynamic range and she was not afraid to play loudly and

	From the cover of "Greetings from Holland" recording with Dutch soprano Mieka Duberta

with pronounced rhythms when the music demanded them."  Besides performing solo harp pieces and chamber music, she was an accomplished pianist, musicologist, and educator. She recorded various albums of folk music (Monitor) from The Netherlands, France, Spain and Japan. After a number of years touring, she decided to work in NYC.  Nina also served AHS as advertising manager for The American Harp Journal from the 1960's until 1980.  She was Tony's inspiration to become a musician, and he was looking for ways to honor her legacy and share her collection with other harpists.

Tony has chosen to donate his mother's collection of music, including many original and signed scores, concert programs, correspondence and other harp memorabilia to the AHS Archives at Brigham Young University.  Just a sampling of the items include:

Personal correspondence to Nina Dunkel from Nadia Boulanger, Carols Salzedo, Marcel and Georgette Grandjany, Issac Stern, and Pierre Jamet.

1955 Christmas greetings from Nadia Boulanger

Original editions including:  

Paul Creston's Lydian Song for Harp (signed) 

Caplet's Divertissments pour la Harpe, signed by Nadia Boulnanger

Patrouille petit Marche Caracteristique by Alphonse Hasselmans (late 19^th
Century/no date)

Impromtu pour la Harpe by J. Guy-Ropartz, signed to Nina by Nadia Boulanger

Variations pastorals sur un vieux Noel pour la Harpe by Marcel Samuel-Rousseau, signed by Betty Paret, Nina's first teacher 

Theme et Variations pour la Harpe by Marcel Tournier (1916), Scherzo Romantique (1932)

Piece de Concert pour Harpe by Henri Busser (late 19^th Century)

Contemplation pour Harpe by H. Renie (late 19th Century) 

Alfredo Casella Sonata pour Arpa (first edition)

Children at Play, signed by Marcel Grandjany (1929)

The Archives of the American Harp Society, Inc., along with the archives of the World Harp Congress and personal collections from many additional harpists, are housed in the International Harp Archives located in the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University.  The archives consist of items ranging from over 10,000 harp scores, manuscripts and recordings, to photographs, correspondence, programs and other documents.  Thanks to the persistent efforts and contributions of many individuals and organizations, the International Harp Archives are now perhaps the largest collection of harp materials in the world. This extraordinary collection from Nina Dunkel will enhance the AHS Archives.

 

AHS members may borrow archive-quality recordings (both audio and audio-visual) of workshops and recitals from past American Harp Society Conferences and Summer Institutes, as well as conversations with notables in the harp world recorded as part of the AHS Interview Series.  Visit the AHS Lending Library website for specific help about requests for borrowing or viewing the recordings on site. The IHA is also currently involved in a project to scan all of its pre-1923 published scores and make them accessible through the Internet Archive. To access these scans go the http://www.archive.org/ and in the search box enter the tag (byuinternationalharparchive) including the parentheses. The results of this search provide links to view or download the scores that have been scanned. These scans are available free of charge.