With the Flow of the Hand

Composer Rossini

A new exhibit at the Music Library on the Tempe campus features a collection of 11 signed opera scores — all first and early editions — by Wagner, Rossini, Verdi, Massenet, Puccini, Poulenc, Hahn, Thomas, Saint-Saëns and Gounod. 

The signed opera scores are from the private collection of ASU faculty member Robert Mills, a clinical associate professor of music and the vocal coach/accompanist for ASU Music Theatre and Opera, part of the School of Music, Dance and Theatre, within the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts.

These autographs and inscriptions serve as physical reminders in our modern world of quintessential opera composers from the 19th and 20th centuries. Included in the collection is a rare signed first edition of Richard Wagner’s Das Rheingold with an inscription to the 19th century poet Mathilde Wesendonck with whom he had a brief but scandalous affair. Another noteworthy score in the collection is a presentation copy of Reynaldo Hahn’s La Carmélite to Jules Massenet, his teacher and mentor. 

This exhibit will be on display in the Music Library, part of the ASU Library, from August 19 to December 20. 

For further information, please contact Robert Mills at robert.mills@asu.edu or Linda Elsasser at linda.elsasser@asu.edu 

The signed opera scores are from the collection of ASU faculty member

Linda Elsasser
ASU Library
linda.elsasser@asu.edu
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Music Library