The Spanish Piano Roll collection of Stanford University: a rare study case of the Archive of Recorded Sound

Abstract

The present collection of piano rolls was donated in 2015 to one of the five most outstanding sound archives within the United States of America, in particular, the Archive of Recorded Sound which belongs to Stanford University. This collection was found after several documentary searches through the web and its study turned out to be an interesting project. After two months of field research, we were able to obtain all the data necessary for the preparation of a complete catalogue of this collection, which allowed us both to compile the names of the authors and the titles of the works, and to identify and describe the related typologies, musical styles or genres. Furthermore, we photographed the documents and collected further information for a subsequent and exhaustive bibliographic catalogue.

Keywords

• piano roll
• Archive of recorded sound
• Stanford University