Germaine Tailleferre - Catalog questions

One of the really frustrating things about working on Tailleferre is not knowing exactly what's there. Why this is so is a huge problem (for which we don't yet have all of the answers, nor do we know whether this will ever really be "solved" on way or the other), but the fact remains that there are several published catalogues who do not give the number of works, nor do they give the same titles. There are also the unpublished records of deposits made in Tailleferre's name at the SACEM, which sometimes match the published catalogues, and often give other information.

The five catalogues are as follows :

• Janelle Gelfand "Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983) Piano and Chamber works", Doctoral Dissertation, 1999 University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music

• Laura Mitgang "Germaine Tailleferre : Before, During and After Les Six" in The Musical Woman, Vol. 11 Judith Lang Zaimont, editor (Greenwood Press 1987)

• Robert Orledge : Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983) : A Centenary Appraisal" Muziek & Wetenshap 2 (Summer 1992) pp. 109-130

• Robert Shapiro "Germaine Tailleferre : a bio-Bibliography" (Greenwood Press 1994)

• Georges Hacquard "Germaine Tailleferre: La Dame des Six" (L'Harmatten 1997)

Out of these five catalogs, the most solid in terms of musicological methodology is without question that of Robert Orledge (not surprisingly, given Dr. Orledge's fine reputation as a musicologist), giving sources, complete scientific descriptions of manuscripts examined, location of said manuscripts, and information about the works themselves. The work by Mitgang only lists published works, as Mitgang was intending on doing more extended work at a later date.

The three other catalogs, Shapiro, Gelfand and Hacquard, are in contradiction in terms of number of works, the composition of various works, the titles of works, instrumentation etc and do not provide complete sources for their information. Shapiro and Hacquard give no localization for manuscript sources. Gelfand frequently refers to a mysterious "Paris Archive" but does not give a specific location. And all of these catalogues have information which is contradicted by the SACEM catalogue.

So, what to do? Who is right? There's no denying that the titles given in the SACEM listings are sourced, as the composer has to provide the work's title, instrumentation, and provide a copy of the work itself. A publisher has to provide a contract with the composer or the rightsholder. The SACEM does indeed make mistakes, but they are not usually in terms of titles or instrumentation. So, it seems logical that the base of any established catalog must start with these records.

Once this has been established, then the questions mainly of sources: who gives their sources and how? In this case, Orledge wins hands down here. Everything else, including the physical existence of the works themselves as well as their titles and instrumentations, must be questioned until sources are located. Once sources are located, then one has to establish if the sources are authentic, if the titles are authentic and if the text has been modified or not.

I'll be writing more about this in the upcoming weeks, but this is a means of beginning an explanation of these issues and what we are doing to establish a completely, sourced, catalog of Tailleferre's works.