Tales of a Music Librarian

What, exactly (you may ask), does a Ballet music librarian have to do?

Surely dusting off the music for Sleeping Beauty and Romeo and Juliet every few years and schlepping it onto the orchestra’s music stands can’t take a lot of time and effort.

Ahhh, but behind the scenes, away from the glitter and glamour of the stage, deep in the teeming bowels of the Opera House, scenes of tragedy and triumph are taking place every day. And in the midst of this is the music librarian, issuing budget projections, music copies for practice, piano rehearsal scores, conductor’s scores, scores for stage managers and sound technicians and television producers, as well as information for all of the Ballet’s departments on the instrumentation, duration, available recordings, composer, publisher and copyright status of every piece of music the Ballet performs.

This blog will be a window into the complex, exciting (to me, at least), somewhat surreal world of ballet music preparation.

A little about me: I was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1947 and began playing the violin and writing music when I was eleven years old. I have a degree in music performance from Northwestern University, and have played professionally in orchestras and chamber ensembles for almost forty years. I began working as a music librarian in 1987 and became the music librarian of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra in 1997. I am also a composer and arranger, and my music (including three ballet scores) is played by orchestras and chamber ensembles around the world. I have a son and a daughter and three grandchildren (geniuses, all).

Matt Naughtin

Here is my domain, the Music Library in the basement of the Opera House.

Another shot of the Library

The music for each ballet is stored in these boxes (the music has to lie flat).

This the Opera House from my perspective, looking up into the Orchestra Pit from beneath the front lip of the stage.

Patrons begin filling the seats before the performance begins.

As we go through the year, I will be posting comments about what’s interesting and challenging about the music we’re performing. I will also be describing the legal, technological, and artistic processes that go into assembling the music for a new ballet. I hope that I can convey the joy of working with the amazing, gifted, dedicated people, both on and off the stage, who make up this wonderful ballet company.