Paul Hirsch and his music library

ON 16 July 1946 the lovely garden of 10 Adams Road, Cambridge, the home of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Hirsch, was the scene of a party given for the seventieth birthday of Edward Dent, who had been Professor of Music in the University from 1926 to 1941. It was a happy and memorable occasion; for the guests had come from far beyond Cambridge, not only to honour the most distinguished English musicologist of that day, but also to join their hosts in tacitly expressing to him their gratitude for his inestimable service in helping to secure the Paul Hirsch Music Library for the nation. This garden party marked the final stage in the history of the library - a history which had begun nearly half a century before, in Frankfurt am Main.