UNM John Donald Robb Musical Trust
  • Home
  • About
    • The Trust
    • John Donald Robb
  • Programs
    • Grad Assistantship
    • Música del Corazón
    • New Music Series
    • Robb Award
    • Robb Commission
    • Symposium
    • Underwriting
  • Donate
  • Contact
  • News
  • search
John Donald Robb

Biography

Collected Works

Compositions

Electronic Music

Ethnomusicology

John & Harriet Robb

Listen to Robb's Music

PBS Documentary

Photographs

Publications

​UNM Robb Archives

Collected Works

PictureJD & Harriet Robb, circa 1965
About the Collection

Pursuant to the wishes of JD Robb and his wife Harriet, as set forth in their wills, all personal papers and correspondence, photographs, music scores, field recordings, videos, tapes, and other materials were bequeathed to the University of New Mexico Libraries.

​The extensive collection is housed in the Center for Southwest Research located in the Zimmerman Library on the UNM Main Campus. Visit the Center for Southwest Research and Special Collections website for hours of operation and information on how to access the collection.

Center for Southwest Research

Samples from the Collection

Below are samples from the collection, as well as information on Robb's printed works available for purchase. Click on each tab to view.

  • Manuscripts
  • Digital Images
  • Field Recordings
  • Books
<
>
MSS 497 BC consists of Robb's personal papers and includes correspondence, scrapbooks, manuscripts of his two books, newspaper clippings, lecture notes, recorded interviews, his compositions, concert programs, and CD's of his works. 122 boxes of materials have been digitized and are available online at the UNM Libraries’ Center for Southwest Research.
Browse Manuscripts
Below is a small sampling of manuscripts available at the Center for Southwest Research.
Picture
Cradle Song
Picture
The Jungle
Picture
Scenes from a New Mexico Village: I. The Yellow Aspens
Picture
Post-Impressionistic Paintings: I. Merry-Go-Round
Picture
String Quartet movement I 1st violin part
Picture
Little Jo opera: I. Prologue
Picture
Symphony No. 1 for String Orchestra: I. Dance
Pictorial Collections (PICT 000-497) houses photographs and documents donated by Dean Robb and other family members.
Browse Digital Images
Below is a small sampling of the numerous digital images available at the UNM Libraries' Center for Southwest Research.
Picture
Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979), composition teacher
Picture
John Jacob Niles (1892-1980) friend, composer, singer, and “Dean of American Balladeers”
Picture
Gregor Piatigorsky (1903-1976) Russian Cellist and friend
Picture
A young John Robb in robe
Picture
Portrait of young John Robb
Picture
Early Robb Family portrait
Picture
Friend and conductor, Maurice Bonney, with John Robb and Amplifier
Picture
Robb and his Moog Synthesizer
Picture
John and Harriet Robb with Synthesizer equipment
Picture
Robb with technician
Picture
Dean Robb at the 1986 UNM graduation ceremony
Picture
Robb honored by NM Governor and Mrs. Jerry Apodaca.
​The John Donald Robb Archive of Southwestern Music contains as its core over 3,000 field recordings of Hispanic folk songs recorded primarily in New Mexico and Southern Colorado by Robb from 1946 through 1979.
Browse Field Recordings
Below is an example of a field recording housed in the collection. The entry includes:
  • audio recording
  • lead sheet notating the melody
  • lyric sheet in Spanish translated to English

The audio was recorded in 1963 and features a service at a penitente morada (meeting house/chape). Los Hermanos de la Fraternidad Piadosa de Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno (The Brothers of the Pious Fraternity of Our Father Jesus the Nazarene'), also known as Los Penitentes, Los Hermanos, the Brotherhood of our Father Jesus of Nazareth, and the Penitente Brotherhood, is  a lay confraternity of Spanish-American Catholic men in northern New Mexico. It is not known from which morada the recording is derived.

Picture









Picture
John Donald Robb's printed works are available for purchase through the University of New Mexico Press. Click the images below to purchase.
Visit UNM Press
Picture
Cancionero
Songs of Laughter and Faith in New Mexico
By John Donald Robb
Edited by James Bratcher

$29.95  Spiral  978-0-8263-4564-6  December 2015

Created for musicians and vocalists, Cancionero features arrangements for voice with piano or guitar as well as selected concert versions for voice, oboe, harp, and piano.

Picture
Hispanic Folk Music of New Mexico and the Southwest
A Self-Portrait of a People
By John Donald Robb

$75.00  Hardcover  978-0-8263-4430-4  March 2014

First published in 1980 and now available only from the University of New Mexico Press, this classic compilation of New Mexico folk music is based on thirty-five years of field research by a giant of modern music, composer John Donald Robb.

Picture



Hispanic Folk Songs of New Mexico
Selected Songs Collected, Transcribed, and Arranged for Voice with Piano or Guitar Accompaniment
Revised Edition
By John Donald Robb

$29.95     Spiral     978-0-8263-4434-2     May 2008

Folk music fans and teachers will welcome this new edition of a New Mexico classic, now in a useful spiral binding.

Contact  |  UNM College of Fine Arts  |  Center for Southwest Research and Special Collections
  • Home
  • About
    • The Trust
    • John Donald Robb
  • Programs
    • Grad Assistantship
    • Música del Corazón
    • New Music Series
    • Robb Award
    • Robb Commission
    • Symposium
    • Underwriting
  • Donate
  • Contact
  • News
  • search