To mark the completion of a $200 million addition, The Juilliard School will host a lecture event tonight at Alice Tully Hall. The school is expected to announce the acquisition of two original manuscripts as gifts from Bruce Kovner, chairman of Juilliard and billionaire trader. Including the two newest articles, Kovner will have donated 140 manuscripts to the Juilliard archive.

The two items include a copy of Beethoven’s “Kreutzer” sonata and Mendelssohn’s “Elijah,” each containing revisions and notes by its respective composer. There will be a concert as part of the event showcasing other works whose manuscripts have been obtained. This includes Beethoven’s “Grosse Fuge” and the last act of Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro.”

Kovner has expressed his intent to make these manuscripts available to scholars, having already begun processing the artifacts for access on juilliardmanuscriptcollection.org Read about the event, the acquisitions, and the archive here (source: NYT).

Posted on November 3rd, 2009 at 9:20 pm | Filed under Articles of Interest |