Music Collections at Pendlebury and University Library

14/01/2025

At the Hans Keller Forum with MusiCB3

Trio Thalassa from the Royal Academy and the Sonas, Seion and Heartwood Quartets from the Guildhall, Royal College and Royal Northern respectively were gathered together once more at West Road for …

22/12/2024

Best wishes for the festive season to all our readers from the staff at the Pendlebury Library and the UL Music Department.

20/12/2024

MusiCB3 celebrates the festive season with a look at 72 years of Christmas No. 1's (they're not as seasonal as you might expect) -

This year, for the first time, I took up the Whamageddon challenge. For those who aren’t aware of what this is, it’s an attempt to avoid hearing Wham!’s festive classic Last Chris…

06/12/2024

One of our music librarians spotted this and thought that the choir book looked amazingly like a volume of Victoria at the UL. Sure enough Guerrero and Victoria commissioned volumes from the same Roman publisher within a few years of each other. Who knows the two volumes may have even been within a shelf of each other before they headed off on their separate travels.

06/12/2024

As one of the music team retires, MusiCB3 catches up on Helen's memories of her time at the Pendlebury -

Helen at the Pendlebury The Pendlebury and the UL department are very sorry to bid farewell to Helen Snelling, Music Collections Supervisor at the Pendlebury Library of Music, and sometime MusiCB3e…

22/11/2024

Celebrate St. Cecilia's Day with MusiCB3 -

Today (22 November) is the feast day of St Cecilia, a Roman Christian martyr who lived in the first part of the third century CE. She is the patron saint of music and musicians, owing to an ac…

09/11/2024

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/nov/05/what-are-you-haydn-the-hoaxers-who-fooled-the-classical-music-world?CMP=twt_a-culture_b-gdnculture

One wrote six sonatas and claimed they were by Haydn. Another used a ghostwriter to write his symphony – and pretended to be deaf. So how did they manage to hoodwink the experts?

08/11/2024

Musicologist and music critic Hans Keller was arrested by the N***s and forced to leave Austria for England following the Anschluss in 1938. He died in 1985. Listen to a BBC recording telling of his escape.
https://holocaustmusic.ort.org/politics-and-propaganda/keller-hans/

08/11/2024

A meeting of minds - Alexander Goehr and Hans Keller

This little post follows on from Joseph Lander’s tribute on 24th October. MusiCB3 cannot possibly ignore the fact that – aside from his Professorship here in Cambridge – it was Sandy who was respon…

24/10/2024

A tribute to Alexander Goehr, now on

We were saddened to hear in August of the death of Alexander Goehr, Professor of Music at Cambridge from 1976-1999. Lydia, Sandy’s daughter, was kind enough to pass on this tribute to her fat…

23/10/2024

The Pendlebury Library of Music supports teaching, learning and research at the Music Faculty of the University of Cambridge. It has an excellent collection of books, scores, microfilms and audio-visual materials and is accessible to all members of the university.

Cambridge University Library (popularly known as the UL) is a Legal Deposit Library, and holds one of the largest collections of borrowable music in the United Kingdom, as well as books about music, musicians and musicologists archives, and a range of music related special collections. The UL welcomes researchers, readers, and members of the general public.

18/10/2024

Greetings to old and new readers from the Pendlebury Library. Find out what's happening this term at https://musicb3.wordpress.com/2024/10/18/hello-from-the-pendlebury/

11/10/2024

The Music Department at Cambridge University Library welcomes our new readers. May you have a wonderful time in Cambridge.

A very warm welcome to all new students and readers who have joined us this week. Welcome back too to returnees. We’ve missed you over the summer. MusiCB3 is the joint blog for all things mus…

09/10/2024

Welcome to all our new students - post-graduates toured yesterday, undergraduates today. We look forward to meeting you all.

27/09/2024

MusiCB3 goes the wrong way into the forest at the Hans Keller Forum. Curious?

It’s Thursday morning and I’m sitting in the foyer of the Music School here at West Road awaiting the arrival of the four ensembles and their mentors ‘cellist John Myerscough and violinist Donald G…

25/09/2024

https://www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk/impact-of-giving/impact-stories/jeanne-marie-dolmetsch

In a leafy Surrey village, an extraordinary musical story has unfolded over the course of more than a century, with its roots in mid-19th century France and a narrative spanning Belgium, London, the USA and Haslemere, Surrey. Its next chapter? At the University Library, Cambridge.

13/09/2024

It's Maurice Jarre's centenary. Celebrate with MusiCB3.

Today marks 100 years since the birth of Maurice Jarre, one of the most acclaimed composer of film scores of the 20th century. He was most famous for his partnership with David Lean, composing the …