Beck, Sydney
Beck, Sydney
Beck, Sydney, American music librarian; b. N.Y., Sept. 2, 1906. He studied at the Coll. of the City Univ. of N.Y., at N.Y. Univ., at the Inst. of Musical Art, and at the Mannes Coll. of Music. During this period he took courses in violin and chamber music with Louis Svecen-ski, in composition with Wagenaar and Weisse, and in musicology with Sachs and Reese. In 1931 he became head of the Rare Book and Manuscript Collections of the N.Y. Public Library, holding this post until 1968. He also taught at the Mannes Coll. of Music (1950–68). In 1968 he was appointed director of libraries at the New England Cons. of Music in Boston, retiring in 1976. He prepared eds. of works by F. Geminiani and J.M. Leclair.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire