I am posting this question on behalf of Klaus Zehnder-Tischendorf, the
owner of an excellent and comprehensive website on the life and works of
Norbert Burgmueller (and many others, including a page dedicated to Robert
Volkmann, with several sound samples - I highly recommend it, not only for
your enlightenment, but also for a link from Classical.net).  In case you
should not have seen it yet, the URL is

   http://www.burgmueller.com/

Mr. Zehnder-Tischendorf is hoping that list members might be able to
assist him in his search for scores and other paraphernalia connected to
Burgmueller.  There are two leads in particular that he is following:

1) Pianist Ernst Perabo (1845-1920), a German who settled down in Boston
and was a teacher of Amy Beach, promoted Burgmueller's compositions with
many public performances; he also arranged several of his works for
piano.

Allegedly, Perabo published six volumes of piano arrangements of pieces
by various composers, including these Burgmueller arrangements; two of
the volumes seem to be in the holdings of the LoC, where scanned pages
can be accessed online.

http://lcweb2.loc.gov./ammem/smhtml/mussmauthindex1.html

The publisher is Koppitz, Pruefer & Co. in Boston, MA.

Does anyone know anything about the remaining four volumes, or any other
arrangements, particularly of Burgmueller's compositions, by Perabo? Even
any details regarding titles and dates of publication would be appreciated.
The online edition of the New Grove does not reveal much about these
pieces, but perhaps older editions might hold more information on Perabo.
So far, the only information available purports the existence of these
transcriptions, but nothing more.

I have contacted a descendant of Perabo's half-brother (Henri Perabeau)
who lives in Chicago and provided fascinating details of her family
history, but has no more such material in her possession.  I might try an
inquiry to the LoC, but would be grateful if anyone could come up with any
more information concerning this material first, so that my request could
be a little more specific.

2) A composer and teacher by the name of Hubert-Ferdinand Kufferath was
a supporter of Burgmueller's oeuvre and avid collector of his scores
and manuscripts.  He was born in Muelheim/Germany in 1818 and settled
in Brussels in the mid-19th century.  A few years ago a score of one of
Burgmueller's string quartets, apparently from the bequest of Kufferath,
surfaced in the U.S., but Mr. Zehnder-Tischendorf has been unable to
locate the original owner.

Does anyone have any leads or any suggestion where to look? I have tracked
down the descendants of a branch of the family to Honolulu, but they are
not directly descended from Hubert-Ferdinand, and I have not yet received
any reply to my inquiry there.

I know that I am not offering much to work with, but perhaps some of you
good people can think of an avenue of investigation that has not yet come
to Mr. Zehnder-Tischendorf's or my attention, or have even come across
the names of Perabo and Kufferath in the past (particularly those in the
Boston area, where the chances may be best to find any remaining documents
connected to Ernst Perabo).  In any case, any advice or assistance would be
greatly appreciated by me or by Mr. Zehnder-Tischendorf (e-mail:
[log in to unmask]).

Daniel Christlein