Introduction

The Library of Congress Music Division is a rich collection of musical creativity for composers around the world. Latin American composers, songwriters, and arrangers comprise a rich part of these music collections. This research guide features resources and search methods to find concert music in the Library of Congress Music Division by composers from Latin America: countries in North America, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America. Online resources, such as videos and digitized musical scores, are also highlighted in this guide.

The Music Division's scores, books, special collections, and rare materials are served in the Performing Arts Reading Room.

Did You Know...?

In addition to published musical scores, the Music Division holds a vast amount of unique items like music manuscripts and letters by Latin American composers from the 18th century to the present.

For instance, did you know that the Music Division holds...

20 music manuscripts in the hands of Brazilian composers including Symphony no. 11 by Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) and String Quartet no. 3 by Camargo Guarnieri (1907-1993)
original scores by living Latin American composers commissioned with Library of Congress funds such as Desde (2001) for orchestra by Cuban composer Tania León (b. 1943)
over 40 years of letters from Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983) within special collections like the Aaron Copland Collection, Harold Spivacke Collection, Seeger Family Collection, and more
music manuscripts for operas from the early 1900s such as Ollanta by Peruvian composer José María Valle-Riestra (1859-1925) and Il sogno di Alma by Argentinian composer Carlos López Buchardo (1881-1948)

So much more is yours to discover!

Photographer unknown. Silvestre Revueltas, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing left. Between 1930 and 1940. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

William E. Warne, photographer. Opera House, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1956. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Dominique C. Fabronius, artist. Teresa Carreno, the child pianist: Born on the 22nd December 1853. 1863. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Photo by Harcourt, Paris. Heitor Villa Lobos, half-length portrait, facing left. Undated. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Anatole Saderman, photographer. Alberto Evaristo Ginastera head-and-shoulders portrait, facing right. 1950s. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Carl Van Vechten, photographer. Portrait of Carlos Chávez. 1937 Mar 3. Carl Van Vechten Photograph Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

About the Performing Arts Reading Room

The Performing Arts Reading Room is the access point for the collections in the custody of the Music Division at the Library of Congress. Numbering approximately 20.5 million items and spanning more than 1000 years of Western music history and practice, these holdings include the classified music and book collections, music and literary manuscripts, iconography, microforms, periodicals, musical instruments, published and unpublished copyright deposits, and close to 500 special collections in music, theater, and dance.

Performing Arts Reading Room
Submit a question through our Ask a Librarian service, call us at (202) 707-5507, or visit us in person in Room LM 113 in the James Madison building in Washington, D.C. Please read our policies and rules for using performing arts materials before visiting in person. In addition, researchers must have a reader registration card at time of submitting requests to access material in the reading room.

Latin American Composers: A Guide to Resources at the Library of Congress

Performing Arts: Ask a Librarian