New York Pro Musica
New York Pro Musica was a vocal and instrumental ensemble based in New York City, which specialized in Medieval and Renaissance music. It was co-founded in 1952, under the name Pro Musica Antiqua, by Noah Greenberg, a choral director, and Bernard Krainis, a recorder player who studied with Erich Katz. Other prominent musicians who joined included Russell Oberlin (the first American countertenor) and Martha Blackman (the first American gambist) and Frederick Renz, who founded Early Music Foundation after Pro Musica disbanded. The ensemble is perhaps best known for reviving the medieval Play of Daniel in the 1950s, which has since become a popular liturgical drama among early music groups. The group gave its first concert at the New School for Social Research in New York City on April 26, 1953. The ensemble performed in 1960 for the Peabody Mason Concert series in Boston. The group continued after Greenberg's death in 1966 and disbanded in 1974. Greenberg's successor, musicologist John Reeves White, took over the direction of the ensemble in 1966; the last director was George Houle, who tried to bring the group more in line with trends in Europe at a time when the United States was not ready for such changes. Houle went on to teach musicology at Stanford University. In September 1968, the group was devastated by the theft of 10 instruments from a van parked on the street. The New York Times reported that it was unlikely that the thieves knew what was in the boxes, and that there was no ready market for the contents. Although the group made many vocal and instrumental recordings during its existence, few of them were ever released on compact disc (the Plays of Daniel and Herod were combined into a two-disc set). The group's last concert was on May16, 1974, at the Pierpont Morgan Library. The collection of instruments was sold to New York University, where it became the Noah Greenberg Collection of Musical Instruments, in honor of the founder. |
Birth and Death Data: Born Founded 1952, Died Ceased 1974
Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1968
Roles Represented in DAHR: Musical group
= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.
Recordings
| Company | Matrix No. | Size | First Recording Date | Title | Primary Performer | Description | Role | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decca | 120213 | 4/24/1968 | Summer is comin' on | New York Pro Musica | Musical group | |||
| Decca | 120214 | 4/24/1968 | Ite missa est | New York Pro Musica | Musical group | |||
| Decca | 120215 | 4/24/1968 | English dance | New York Pro Musica | Musical group | |||
| Decca | 120216 | 4/24/1968 | Sanctus from Mass of Tournai | New York Pro Musica | Musical group | |||
| Decca | 120217 | 4/24/1968 | Nuper rosarum flores | New York Pro Musica | Musical group | |||
| Decca | 120218 | 4/24/1968 | Ja nun hons pris | New York Pro Musica | Musical group | |||
| Decca | 120219 | 4/24/1968 | Nu alerst | New York Pro Musica | Musical group | |||
| Decca | 120220 | 4/24/1968 | O rosa bella | New York Pro Musica | Musical group |
Citation
Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "New York Pro Musica," accessed December 25, 2025, http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/333742.
New York Pro Musica. (2025). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved December 25, 2025, from http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/333742.
"New York Pro Musica." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2025. Web. 25 December 2025.
DAHR Persistent Identifier
External Sources
Wikipedia: The New York Pro Musica Antiqua
Linked Open Data Sources
LCNAR: New York Pro Musica - https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n81091300
Wikidata: The New York Pro Musica Antiqua - https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q16956406
VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/160403555
MusicBrainz: The New York Pro Musica Antiqua - https://musicbrainz.org/artist/c5cce771-79cf-46dc-9a8f-a26e338c85be
Fast: https://id.worldcat.org/fast/559335 - https://id.worldcat.org/fast/559335
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