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Preferred Citation:

Anthony Reiff Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary

Acquisition Information:

Purchase. Accessioned as 1992.35.

Biographical Information:

Anthony (or Antoine) Reiff had an extensive career in America as a conductor and composer that extended from at least 1861 (when, as Anthony Reiff, Jr., his patriotic song "An American Star!" was published in New York) to 1914 (when his opera Under the Greenwood Tree was written).

His compositions included the score to the American pantomime Humpty Dumpty (1868), the comic operas Zozina (1888) and Brides of San Marco (1893), and several separate songs and orchestral works.

Reiff's father, also named Anthony, was one of the founders of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

Scope and Contents

Two incomplete speeches of Anthony Reiff, President   of the Musical Mutual Protective Union, New York and an incomplete diary (journal), written as if a book with chapters and page numbers, of a trip beginning in 1856 where he traveled in the United States and Europe. He talks of music venues, performers, composers and his personal experiences.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Diaries
• Europe--Description and travel--19th century
• Manuscripts (document genre)
• Music--19th century.
• Musical Mutual Protective Union (N. Y.)
• Opera--19th century
• Orchestra
• Speeches, addresses, etc.
• United States--Description and travel