Founder and Director Emeritus of the Music Division of Brazil’s National Library, Member of the Academia Brasileira de Música, and former IAML Vice President.
It is with enormous sadness that I share the news of the passing of
Jane Ann Pearce Baldwin on Thursday June 25, 2015.
Jane preceded me as Western’s Music Reference Librarian, and was
poised to return as the Director of the Music Library when she was
diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour (19 years ago). Remarkably,
she survived to see her daughter's marriage, and the birth of her
granddaughter last year.
Jane excelled in so many areas of her professional life: flutist,
librarian, and scholar. As a mentor, she was responsible for
influencing a generation of librarians: at one notable Music Library
Association Meeting, four of us at the “First Time Attendees”
gathering realized that we were all there, because of Jane’s guidance
and influence.
Two singers passed away at the end of 2014: Udo Jürgens (1934 – 2014) and Joe Cocker (1944 – 2014).
The Dutch recorder player and early music conductor Frans Brüggen died on August 13. He was born in Amsterdam and studied recorder, flute, and musicology. By age 21, he was a professor of Baroque music at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. He began playing professionally and became famous for his virtuoso technique on the recorder.
