Tel-Aviv University
David and Yolanda Katz Faculty of Arts

The Archive of Israeli Music

The Archive of Israeli Music was founded in 1977 and has become a center for Israeli music and musical life. The archive includes material from personal estates and institutional archives.

The Archive collects and absorbs all items connected to the subject of music in Israel and of Israeli composition - notes, books, photographs, recordings etc. The Archive serves also as a memorial to musicians whose work and creativity contributed much to the building and development of the State of Israel.

There are three departments:

1. The department of bequests, collections and archives, both private and public.
   
2. The library, which holds books, sheet music, manuscripts and concert programmes.
   
3. Bibliographic card index.

1. Bequests, private and public collections and archives

This department contains every sort of documentation concerning Israeli music life from the very start of renewed Jewish settlement in the land, i.e. from the late 19th century and until the present. There are 50 complete private archives and over 100 which are only partial.

The material of the bequests consists of completed works; sketches in composers' own handwriting; photocopies and published (printed) works. It also holds letters, polemical correspondence and articles on new compositions or on musical theories, relevant press cuttings, photographs, documents, as well as some recordings and magnetic tapes.

All the above constitute a foundation and the basis for systematic research and study of every aspect of music in Israel.

2. Library

The library has four sections: books, magazines, sheet music (in print and manuscript); and concert programmes. Each section is an independent unit. The books and sheet music are arranged in alphabetical order; magazines and periodicals by their titles alphabetically and chronologically; and the concert programmes by the name of the performing bodies and dates of performance.

The section of books contains books on the subject of Israeli music as well as books written by Israeli musicologists. It also holds doctoral theses and MA dissertations the subjects of which concern Israeli music.

The section of magazines and periodicals includes those published in Israel in Hebrew or in any foreign language the main subject of which is Israeli music and music life in Israel.

The library holds printed sheet music by Israeli composers both artistic and folk. This includes scores of single works, anthologies, song books and choir sheets published both in Israel and abroad. A special card index makes it possible to trace every composition or song by the name of its composer.

The library holds programmes of various performing bodies in Israel.

3. Bibliography

To serve as a center for musicological research in the fields of Israeli music, Israeli music life and musical education in the country, the Archives have a card index of bibliography - not complete as yet - which will eventually cover all written material relevant to the subjects mentioned above. The index consists of 5000 cards which enable a researcher to trace every article pertaining to Israeli music which was published in Israel and abroad, entries from encyclopedias and books on at least one of the subjects mentioned. The index is at present being computerized.

A general information brochure is published once a year. Issue No. 10 - List of Collections, Dec. 1998 is now available. A copy may be obtained by contacting Israeli Music Archive.

The Archive of Israeli Music belongs to the Musicology Department of the David and Yolanda Katz Faculty of Arts, Tel Aviv University and is located in hall no. 7 at the Sourasky Central Library of Tel-Aviv University.

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