American musicologist, librarian, first editor of The Musical Quarterly.

Born in the USA, Oscar Sonneck studied philosophy and musicology at the universities of Heidelberg and Munich, as well as piano, conducting, and composition. He was appointed head of the Music Division of the Library of Congress in 1902, where he built up its comprehensive collection of printed books and music, and manuscripts.

In 1915, he became the founding editor of The Musical Quarterly, and in 1917, having resigned from the Library of Congress, he joined the publication department of the periodical's publisher, G. Schirmer.

His many publications include Bibliography of Early Secular American Music (1905) and Early Concert Life in America (1731‒1800) (1907). His classification system, published in 1904, became the basis for the Library of Congress Music Collection's classification. Late in life, he edited Beethoven Letters in America (1927). His works form part of the founding layer of American musical scholarship.

Source: