American Symphony Orchestra Repertoires 1842-1970 [United States]

American Symphony Orchestra Repertoires 1842-1970, sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Indiana University Foundation, is the result of 32 years of data collection efforts by Kate Hevner Mueller and John Henry Mueller, with assistance from numerous friends and colleagues including Elizabeth Kirkpatrick Vrenios, Ann Louise Davidson, and Mr. and Mrs. Robert Griffith. The study cataloged the repertoires of 27 major symphony orchestras in the United States from the 1842/1843 season through the 1969/1970 season, including the length of the pieces performed, the composers, and their nationalities. "Major" was defined as a symphony whose expenditures exceeded $500,000, as listed in 1972 by the American Symphony League. The population of repertoires included only regular subscription series concerts. The purpose of this data collection was to transfer these data to the computer so that future scholars may be spared the tedious tabulations and calculations which constitute the major drawback for socio-musical research. With the permission of the Indiana University Foundation, 127 years of symphony orchestra data are now easily accessible in an electronic format.