Music does not live only in performance. It also endures in the scores, letters, inscriptions, and printed traces that carry it across generations. A recent donation from the Camner family is now further enriching the collection at the Marta and Austin Weeks Music Library and Technology Center in the Frost School of Music, deepening a resource for teaching, research, and performance at the University of Miami.
Received by the University Libraries in December 2025, the latest addition to the Alfred Camner, Anne Camner, and Camner Family Music Collection includes 40 printed music scores, signed letters, and other music ephemera. Like the family’s previous donations, it centers on rare and early editions that offer a closer view of how music has moved through the worlds of composition, publication, and performance across four hundred years.
Among the highlights are a 1795 edition of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s “Orfeo,” which includes an engraved plate; an early edition of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte” and a first edition of his “Haffner Symphony”; a manuscript of Ildebrando Pizzetti’s “Trio in La”; and a caricature of the opera singer Pol Plançon drawn by Enrico Caruso and autographed by both. The donation also includes multiple first and early editions of works by Ludwig van Beethoven.
Taken together, the materials offer more than rarity. They provide students and scholars with the opportunity to encounter music not simply as repertory but as artifact: something shaped by composers, printers, performers, collectors, and the passage of time.
Detail of the engraved overture from the 1774 edition of Gluck’s “Orphée et Euridice”; Camner Family Music Collection, University Libraries. Photo: Creative, University Libraries
“This latest gift strengthens a collection that invites students and researchers into direct engagement with the history of music,” said Sara Manus, director of the Weeks Music Library. “Materials like these allow users to study not only the works themselves but also the physical and cultural contexts that shaped how they were published, performed, and preserved. We are grateful to the Camner family for continuing to build a resource that supports teaching, research, and discovery.”
The donation continues a long-standing family commitment to placing rare musical materials in an academic setting where they can be preserved, studied, and shared. Over time, the Camner Family Music Collection has grown into a distinctive holding within the University Libraries, reflecting both connoisseurship and a belief in access.
“We are glad to continue to give these materials a life beyond private ownership,” said Andrew Camner. “To give them to the University provides a place where they can be studied, appreciated, and performed by students and faculty for years to come. It is wonderful to know that they will continue to teach and inspire future musicians.”
The timing of the donation carries added resonance during the centennial era of the University of Miami. Alfred Camner recently received a Libraries Centennial Medal. He is also a University Trustee Emeritus and a member of the Frost School of Music’s Dean’s Advisory Committee and the Libraries’ Dean’s Advisory Committee. The family’s latest gift underscores a broader legacy of generosity to the institution. Even so, the spirit of the donation remains collective. With each new accession, the collection becomes not only larger but richer in depth and range.
“The gift from the Camners reflects an extraordinary and sustained commitment to the Libraries and to the study of music,” said Charles Eckman, dean and University librarian. “The family’s continued generosity has helped shape a collection of lasting scholarly value, while also creating meaningful opportunities for experiential learning and research for current and future generations of students, scholars, performers, and music lovers.”
If you have any questions about the Camner Family Music Collection or other resources at the Weeks Library, reach out to the director of the Marta and Austin Weeks Music Library, Sara Manus.
