Sonneck, Oscar George Theodore

Sonneck, Oscar George Theodore (sŭn`ĕk), 1873–1928, American musicologist, b. Jersey City, N.J., educated in Germany. As chief (1902–17) of the music division of the Library of Congress, he developed one of the outstanding music libraries of the world. He edited the Musical Quarterly from its founding in 1915 until his death, and he held a position at the music publishing house of G. Schirmer, Inc. His writings rank him as one of the first, and one of the foremost, American musicologists, particularly in the field of early American music. They include A Bibliography of Early Secular American Music (1905, rev. ed. 1945); Early Concert-Life in America (1907); The Star-Spangled Banner (1914); Catalogue of Opera Librettos Printed before 1800 (2 vol., 1914); Early Opera in America (1915); and several works of Beethoven scholarship.