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ACDA Archives at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign: Not-So-Hidden Treasures
A CD A A r chiv es a t the U niv ersit y of Illinois Urbana- C hampaig n: N ot-S o -Hidden T r easur es

by Hilary Apfelstadt

In Tallis’s forty-voice motet, Spem in Alium, for example,
Decker mapped the score with cues and placement of
voices in the eight choirs.
Robert Shaw’s materials comprise ten boxes that in-
clude scores edited by Mr. Shaw for the Atlanta Sym-
phony Chorus as well as many marked by his copyist,
Harold Keuper. Seeing the latter brought back personal
memories about my experiences singing with the Rob-
ert Shaw Festival Singers in France and in the United
States. We worked from copies of those meticulously
marked scores that included part transfers between S2
and A1, for example, or T1 and A2. As a young profes-
sional, I recall the experience of learning how to bal-
ance an ensemble by moving voices among the parts
rather than simply relying on dynamic changes within Photo 1. Robert Shaw display
sections. By doubling an alto line with some T1s, Shaw
was able to highlight a soloistic line by brightening the
color and bringing the part into prominence. It seems a
simple concept now, but at the time, it was a novel idea
to me and one I adopted to good effect.

Archival Display
In October 2023, UIUC hosted the Illinois ACDA
chapter’s annual fall conference, for which Scott
Schwartz and his assistants put together an archival dis-
play that was housed in the lobby of the Krannert Cen-
ter for the Performing Arts on campus (Photos 1-3). In
the regular updates on the Sousa Archives website, Mr.
Schwartz posted an article about the display. The de- Photo 2. Robert Shaw display
4
scription included this information:

The Sousa Archives’ latest exhibition, “Singing
Cities: American Choral Directors Leading the
Nation in Song,” which opened last week at the
University of Illinois’ Krannert Center for the
Performing Arts for the American Choral Di-
rectors Association’s (ACDA) 2023 Conference,
has been moved to the Center for the rest of the
school year. The Sousa Archives acquired the
ACDA archives in January 2022.

During the Great Depression and World War
II, American audiences listened and danced to
Big Band performances. But during the post-
war period, many Americans began listening to Photo 3. Elaine Brown display

CHORAL JOURNAL March/April 2025 Volume 65 Number 7 67