Biblioteca di musica. Studi in onore di Agostina Zecca Laterza in occasione dei 25 anni dalla fondazione della IAML Italia ed. by Marcoemilio Camera and Patrizia Florio (review)

This book was issued in 2019 to mark twenty-five years since the institution (1994) of the Italian branch of IAML. It was conceived as a Festschrift to honour Agostina Zecca Laterza, scholar and librarian, initiator, and first president of IAML Italia, whose professional life has coincided with a period of crucial developments in historico-musicological research in Italy.

The twenty-seven essays in the volume were prepared by librarians, bibliographers, musicologists, and scholars devoted to the study of music sources. The contributors write about subjects of their own choice, and their efforts provide a wide-ranging picture of current research in Italy. The topics covered in the book—from Gesualdo's madrigals to René Leibowitz's music library—reflect the richness of Italy's musical heritage, and the complexity of the librarian's mission. As the editors write in their introduction (p. 16), research and study often bear a direct relationship to the library's location, history, and holdings. Similarly, the acquisition of knowledge and skills can develop in an almost casual way, depending on the unique cultural legacy the librarian is called to administer.

Agostina Zecca Laterza was well prepared for the challenges awaiting her, and for the daily dealing with printed matter. As we learn from her biographical profile (pp. 23–39), she grew up in Bari in pre-war years, born into a family who had founded, in the late 1890s, what would become a distinguished publishing house. As a young girl, she was influenced by the intellectually vivacious environment surrounding her—regular visitors to the household included eminent philosopher Benedetto Croce, who was the major editorial advisor to the publishing firm. Although music-making was not part of the family tradition, Agostina was encouraged to pursue her interest in music. She eventually enrolled at the Scuola di paleografia musicale in Cremona: a decisive step towards her future role as a music librarian.

Milan became Zecca Laterza's adopted home in 1959. She became the head of the library of the Conservatorio 'Giuseppe Verdi' in 1976, a role she maintained until 2004. Her tenure was marked by sweeping innovations affecting the work and the very mission of music librarians: the adoption of national and international cataloguing rules, the development of automation for music library management and bibliographic control of music collections, and the creation of the current network of Italian libraries, the Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale (SBN). Zecca Laterza has faced all these challenges by systematically 'embracing novelty' (p. 31), making a pioneering contribution to the definition of music libraries as places for promoting research, rather than mere conservation.

The essays fall into five sections. Given the diverse fields of expertise implied, and to convey the vast scope of the book, I will necessarily summarise, rather than comment, the contents of each contribution. Prefatory materials are by Tiziana Grande, Patrizia Florio and Marcoemilio Camera, Marcello Abbado, and Roberto De Simone.

1. 1.) Agostina Zecca Laterza: A Profile

   The biographical background, and the endeavours of the librarian the volume is dedicated to, are at the core of the first essay by Marcoemilio Camera.

   Pierluigi Ledda provides the transcript of a 2014 interview with Zecca Laterza, discussing the librarian's research into the Ricordi numerical catalogue—perhaps her best-known scholarly work—as a resource for understanding the workings of the nineteenth-century Milanese opera industry.

2. 2.) Bibliography of Music and IAML Italia

   Federica Riva reviews the first twenty-five years, and the achievements of the Italian branch of IAML. The article includes a list of the librarians who have served as officers of the Association, or actively contributed to its work.

   Massimo Gentili-Tedeschi conveys a critical reflection on the current state of affairs in bibliographic records...