MUSIC MANUSCRIPTS, such as a first edition of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (above), often command high prices at auction, but sales can switch from allegro to pianissimo. The composer’s Grosse Fugue sold for $1.95 million, but another of his works failed to reach the minimum bid.

Music manuscript collections are built around a few basic types of items: manuscripts written and/or signed by the composer; annotated manuscripts, which may have been written out by a copyist but contain the composer’s annotations; and associations, which are printed copies of first editions. Collectors also seek related autographs and early editions of printed manuscripts, with or without autographs or annotations.

The chief criteria for evaluating a music manuscript are the composer and the provenance of the work. Budding collectors should start by asking themselves several questions. "Is it autographed, is it in the composer’s hand and is it complete?" Roe says. "The one constant is the strength of the market for the best-known names: Bach, Mozart and Beethoven." While the increase in the breadth of the market has made it attractive to new collectors, it also means that long-term aficionados are seeing meaningful returns on their investments. "I can’t predict what they may be worth in another 20 years," Roe says, "but the people I know who have amassed large collections and have sold them have done quite well."

Many veteran collectors specialize in a few types of music. James Fuld, a retired corporate attorney in Manhattan and author of The Book of World Famous Music, has been collecting sheet music and music-related autographs for nearly 80 years. Fuld has been lucky enough to obtain many of his autographs in person at no charge. He took his first step along this path in the 1920s when he approached composer George Gershwin during an intermission at one of his concerts. "I collect the music I know," Fuld says. "I am musical myself, and it is exciting for me to see the work in its infancy. I follow the scores and pretend I am at the first performance."

VALUE JUDGMENT  For decades, music manuscript collectors have been a small, intimate cadre of aficionados. But as longtime collectors and their heirs have begun to liquidate prize specimens, they have opened the field to newcomers and driven prices to record highs. While famed collectors such as hedge fund manager Bruce Kovner have successfully built important portfolios, novices are advised to look for undervalued composers and beware of unpredictable swings in price.

Over time, his collection has grown to include about 1,500 autographs and 12,000 first editions. Among them is a letter written by composer George Frideric Handel, a similar copy of which sold at auction at Sotheby’s for £100,000 in May 2005. Even lesser autographs can hold their value. The signed manuscript of Robert Schumann’s Second Symphony Op.61 in C major sold for £344,000 at a Sotheby’s auction in December 2005.

Fuld’s collection is divided into three parts: the first editions of famous classical music of all countries dating back to the 1500s; the popular music of late 19th- and 20th-century American and British composers such as Gershwin, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin and Gilbert and Sullivan; and, lastly, important posters and programs of early performances by the likes of Brahms and Schumann. He prizes the only known first printing of The Star-Spangled Banner among the rarities in his menagerie. "My collection has a focus on well-known music," Fuld explains. "You would probably recognize 50 to 75 percent of it. Others may limit their collecting to Beethoven or any composer that they like."

Ear to the Ground
Former real estate developer Ira F. Brilliant of Phoenix collected 75 rare Beethoven first editions, which he donated to California’s San Jose State University in 1983 to establish the Center for Beethoven Studies. "I admire his music and life, and developed a strong desire to own something that he had touched, so I could make a tangible connection with him," Brilliant says.

His first acquisition was a letter signed by Beethoven; he then began acquiring first editions, in part because they cost less and were easier to obtain than original manuscripts. "First editions published in Beethoven’s time were works of art and held great appeal for me," he says. "They remain most important for scholars since it is possible to trace the first ideas to the final version." Collectors who value a composer’s autograph might be more successful seeking out first editions that were autographed, either in an attempt to control the sale of these early works or as a gift. Jacob Lateiner, who sits on the faculty at Juilliard, holds in his collection a copy of a Ravel piano concerto that contains a dedication by the composer.