Oscar George Theodore Sonneck

Oscar George Theodore Sonneck , 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.

Sonneck, Oscar [George Theodore] (1873–1928), historian. One of the most important figures in initiating studies of the early American musical stage, he was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, but was raised by his widowed mother in Germany. Sonneck returned to America at the turn of the century and in 1902 was appointed the first chief of the music division of the Library of Congress. His Early Opera in America (1915) offered much valuable material on 18th‐century American comic opera, while additional material could occasionally be gleaned from his other books.