AIC 53rd Annual Meeting

The American premiere of Peter and the Wolf occurred in March 1938 at Symphony Hall in Boston, with its composer, Sergei Prokofiev, conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Prokofiev conducted from his own handwritten score which he amended by taping English translations over the original text with pressure-sensitive tape. During the rehearsal process, he wrote dynamics and phrasing notes into the score with a blue pencil, sometimes directly over the tape carrier. The tape adhesive stained the manuscript as it degraded, and adhesive creep caused pages to stick together. Some tape had degraded to the point of adhesive failure, risking the loss of both tape carrier and handwritten additions to the score.

Usually, the most appropriate solution is to remove both the tape carrier and adhesive where possible to prevent further damage. In this case, however, there were several complicating factors that made treatment less straightforward. The tape was applied intentionally by the composer and showed evidence of his creative process. In addition to preserving the original intentions and aesthetics of the piece, keeping the tape also preserved the composer’s notes written onto its surface.

Samples were tested prior to treatment to determine the least disruptive and most stable methods for consolidating media, reducing adhesive, and reattaching the tape carrier. Consolidating the friable blue pencil marks on a slick, transparent surface proved to be difficult. It took multiple tests to find a consolidant that firmly adhered to the tape carrier and didn’t dull the surface sheen but could also be easily reversed without removing the friable media underneath.

Tape removal required a flexible approach. Some of the adhesive was heavily deteriorated and had lost all its tack, making it easy to remove. A greater proportion of the tape was only partially degraded and therefore extremely tacky. While a crepe eraser removed excess adhesive from paper easily, the adhesive clung persistently to the tape carrier. To break up the gumminess of the adhesive, dry wheat starch powder was applied in a fine layer.

After the hidden text underneath the taped areas was digitized, the tape carrier and translations were reattached to the paper in their original positions. It was challenging to find an adhesive that readhered the tape carrier to the text while also maintaining its optical properties. After extensive testing with samples, a heat-set application of BEVA® 371 film was selected due to its clarity, ease of application, and reversibility.

Now that treatment and digitization has occurred, the manuscript is stable and much more accessible to its readers. Loose amendments and tape carrier pieces are reattached and the friable blue pencil marks are consolidated. While the damage caused by the tape adhesive can never be reversed, the remaining adhesive has been reduced to protect against future degradation. The previously hidden and never-before-studied text is available for scholars to study via digital surrogate. Despite the unusual challenges presented by this project, conservation honored the future needs of the piece without removing the historic significance of its most damaging aspects.