Large archive of original scores and orchestral arrangements by Pittsburgh composer, band leader and musician W. L. Mayer ca. 1889-1927
Pittsburgh: W. L. Mayer, Ca. 1889-1927. Large collection of musical scores, band music and orchestral arrangements by W. L. Mayer (1868-1931). In his time Mayer was one of the most important and prominent musical figures in Pittsburgh. He was President of the American Federation of Musicians Local no. 60 and national Vice President of A. F. of M. from 1919 to 1927. Born in 1868 in Richmond, where his father was organist in a Catholic church there, the family relocated to PIttsburgh early on. Mayer became an organ architect and builder and caught the attention of Andrew Carnegie, who selected him to install organs in his various libraries, which led Charles Schwab to likewise employ him to build and install organs in his various buildings. He organized several bands and singing societies, including the Braddock Library Band, the Car-Lib Hussars (named after the Carnegie Library), the Knoxville Amateur Band, and was organist at St. Peter's church on the South Side of Pittsburgh. His bands played at the Pittsburgh Expositions for a number of years and he was elected president of Local 60 in 1907. During his tenure, he increased membership in the organization to nearly 2,000 musicians and reorganized the offices and management to the point where it was one of the most successful and powerful musicians' unions in the country. On Rememberance Day at Forbes Field in 1918, Mayer gathered over 600 musicians to participate in the concert and festivities, the largest such performance in Pittsburgh achieved to that time. He died of tuberculosis in Pittsburgh in 1931. We have approximately 20 large manilla folders of scored music by Mayer comprising hundreds of pages in total. These came from an old warehouse in the South Hills of Pittsburgh owned by an old real estate firm that would often put into storage material cleaned out of buildings they purchased, and so the provenance of this material is unclear, and we are offering in this archive everything we were able to find; there is no more. Dates on the music range from 1889 to 1927. Condition of the music ranges from fair (soiled, dusty, torn, taped) to very good, tending toward good-to-very-good. We have: "Celeste," a Tone-Poem (1911); Scherzo - Fanfare (1927); Marche Triomphale No. 2 for Pipe Organ, dedicated to Andrew Carnegie; "Arminius" Suite (1912); March Grandioso or March of the Red Jackets; "Commers-Humoresken;" folder of various marches for a military band including "Our Navy" and "The Declaration;" an arrangement of "Because I Love You, Dear," ca. 1890s; another folder entitled "Celeste" with full orchestral parts; "My Gay Hussar" 2 step march with the original sheet music published by Volkwein's in Pittsburgh in 1910 (quite worn and tanned); "Marche Triomphale" (1893); orchestral arrangements for "Annie" and "The Dawn of May;" "March Triomphale" dedicated to Andrew Carnegie, scored for military band; "Turner Fest March" in parts; ochestral parts for "Macbeth" composed and arranged by Mayer; "Ave Maria" for soprano & flute obligato; March 2-Step "The Declaration" and "Meereskonig;" "Germanenzug" by John Lund, arranged by Mayer (1899); The March of the Red Jackets; "The Old Oaken Bucket;" "Rip Van Winkel" (1898); "Braumeister Commers;" "Quis est Homo?" from Stabat Mater, recitative and solo for tenor by Mayer, and a few other loose sheets. Also accompanying this is a copy of The Musicians' Journal, July 1927, from the AF of M Local 60 Pittsburgh Musical Society, with a photo of Mayer on the cover and news of his accepting a new position as assistant to the national president of the AF of M in New York. Good. Item #H27716
Price: $1,500.00 save 33% $1,005.00