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The Luigi Silva Papers (192?-1962)

Purchased with Friends of the Library funds in 1963, the Luigi Silva Collection was processed at a time when computers were just being introduced into library work. The Luigi Silva Cello Music Collection is  searchable through the online catalog.

CONTENTS: 13 letter size archives boxes and 1 flat archives storage box

ACQUISITION: Friends of the Library purchase from the Estate of Luigi Silva, 1963.

DESCRIPTION: Silva's research notes; files of reviews of performances, photographs, newspaper clippings, publicity materials, programs, correspondence.
Cellist, teacher and musicologist Luigi Silva (1903-1961) was born in to a musical family in Milan, Italy. His mother was a Viennese singer and his father a voice teacher. Silva began piano lessons at age five years and began his cello studies three years later. The family moved to Parma and then to Rome where Silva entered the Conservatory of Music, but because of his small hands and frail health, he was not accepted for study with famous masters. He received a degree in cello from the Bologna conservatory, and a degree in music pedagogy (cum laude) in 1921.

Silva performed throughout Europe during the 1920s and 1930s. He saved a large file of newspaper announcements and reviews of his performances (Box 8). He was awarded the Boccherini prize in 1933, an honor that may have triggered his lifelong interest in the cello compositions of Boccherini.
In 1939 Silva emigrated to the United States with his wife and father. He settled in California and eventually became an American citizen. The family moved to New York in 1940. During the 1950s his main activities were teaching, research and performances. Silva was on the faculties of many outstanding schools of music including the Eastman School, Juilliard, Mannes, and Hartt. His talent rested in his superb ability to teach young people who were just beginning to play the cello. His special interest in developing the left hand technique possibly stemmed from his own, problematic small hands. The papers include several drafts of his manuscript on left hand technique. His research was based on long term scientific studies left unfinished at the time of his death.

Biographical materials include informal photographs of family, colleagues and students, notices and reviews of performances in Europe and the United States, and a small cache of correspondence. Silva was generous with his ideas and materials and at the time of his death, many of the cello parts for the standard repertoire were on loan to students, friends and colleagues. His generosity accounts for the fact that many cello parts are lacking for certain published pieces in the music collection.

A complete box and folder listing follows:

BOX 1Vademecum: Silva's own method which he proposed to include especially in sections on thumb position technique and 6ths.

BOX 2 Silva's La Tecnica Violoncellistica & Storia - Project for an encyclopedia of bowed string instruments. First is a clean typescript draft identified as "La Tecnica" and a second draft identified as "Storia" is a duplicate with holograph corrections, deletions and additional material in typescript and holograph.


NOTE: Full title of Folders 3-11: Storia della "tenuta" della mano sinistra nelle posizioni del manico del Violoncello secondo la "naturale" conformazione di esse; e conseguente sistemi di diteggiature. (translation: A history of the "posture" of the left hand in the neck positions of the violoncello in accordance with the "natural" conformation of the hand, and resulting systems of fingering.)

BOX 3 Bibliographies of cello methods in collaboration with Joan Mack and Elizabeth Cowling / Performance practice / Pedagogy / Notes on History, technique and performance.

BOX 4 Silva's manuscript and typescript notes taken from various music treatises and methods.


NOTE: A number of these notes were found folded in books in Silva's library. They were removed during the cataloging project in the 1970s.

BOX 5 Index and catalog of cellists/typescripts and manuscripts in various hands.

BOX 6 Silva's notes on students, teaching notes 1950s-1960s.

BOX 7 Papers by Silva's students - 1940s and n.d.

BOX 8 Articles, clippings, published articles by Silva, miscellaneous music topics.

BOX 9 Microfilm in the Silva Collection - 12 reels.

BOX 10 Silva Performances and Programs 1924-1961 and n.d.

BOX 11 Biographical, correspondence, photographs, personal items.

BOX 12 Gifts to the Silva Collection, 1979-

BOX 13 - OVERSIZE

SOUND RECORDINGS
 



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This page maintained by Carolyn Shankle.
Updated January 7, 2003.