A slew of archival material from the works of the late Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim has been acquired by the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Manuscripts, music and lyric drafts, recordings, notebooks, scrapbooks and various ephemera from Sondheim’s oeuvre comprise the approximate 5,000 items included in the acquisition. The music and lyric items will be available in the library’s performing arts reading room by July 1, and the remaining items will be available later in summer 2025.
Notable pieces from Sondheim’s collection include an inner monologue that Sondheim wrote as subtext for the character Desirée when she sings “Send in the Clowns” from “A Little Night Music”; lyrics for a reprise of “Side by Side by Side” that never made it into “Company”; 40 pages of lyric sketches for “A Little Priest” from “Sweeney Todd”; drafts of variations on the lyrics to “I’m Still Here” from “Follies” and “Putting It Together” from “Sunday in the Park with George” that Sondheim wrote at the request of Barbra Streisand; a music book filled with early compositions titled “Notes and Ideas” from Sondheim’s college years; three boxes of specialty songs, such as the birthday songs he wrote for friends Leonard Bernstein, Harold Prince and others; and manuscripts for “Company,” “Follies,” “Here We Are,” “Into the Woods” and “Sweeney Todd,” among others.
In a career that spanned nearly seven decades, Sondheim collected eight competitive Tony Awards for composing and/or crafting the lyrics to “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” “Company,” “Follies,” “A Little Night Music,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Into the Woods” and “Passion,” and was honored with a special Tony for Lifetime Achievement in 2008. Sondheim won the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his work as composer and lyricist of “Sunday in the Park with George.” Additionally, Sondheim wrote the lyrics for “West Side Story,” “Gypsy” and “Do I Hear a Waltz?” Other accolades include an Academy Award, several Grammy Awards, a Kennedy Center honor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2010, Broadway’s Henry Miller Theatre was renamed in his honor. Sondheim passed away in November 2021 at the age of 91. A revue of his work, titled “Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends,” will conclude its twice-extended limited engagement at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on June 29.
“Stephen Sondheim has been credited with reinventing American musical theater, and his papers support that claim,” the library’s music division chief Susan Vita said in a statement. “The wit, intelligence and theatrical daring of his work has succeeded in the way most great art does — it illuminates our shared human condition. This incredible collection now enjoys a permanent home at the nation’s library, which celebrates creativity in all its forms. As a treasured addition to our performing arts collection, it serves to honor and preserve Sondheim’s legacy.”
Sondheim first donated to the library in 1995, having gifted his collection of 13,000 records. Sondheim also sat for interviews with the library’s senior music specialist Mark Horowitz in 1997. Items from Sondheim’s earlier works, including the aforementioned “West Side Story,” “Gypsy” and “Do I Hear a Waltz?,” were donated to the Wisconsin Historical Society, located in the state’s capital, in the 1960s.
Other Broadway artists whose works are held at the library include Sondheim’s mentor Oscar Hammerstein II, as well as Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Laurents, Harold Prince, Mary Rodgers and Richard Rodgers.
