Arnold Arnstein was born in Budapest in 1898, and came to New York with his family when he was 4 years old. After attending Stuyvesant High School, he graduated from City College in 1919, with a degree in chemistry. He played violin until an accident prevented further study.
In 1925 he began to work for Paramount Publix Corporation as a music copyist. By 1932 he was able to set up his own office on west 72nd Street in New York City which he used until his death. Over the course of fifty-seven years, he was the copyist for Gian Carlo Menotti, Samuel Barber, Leonard Bernstein, Virgil Thomson, and many other leading as well as less well-known composers. In time the staff of his office grew to at least seven regular staff members, in addition to other staff on call.
From the mid-1960s until his death, Arnstein taught classes in the preparation and copying of music manuscript at The Juilliard School of Music. Arnstein died on December 2, 1989.
From the guide to the Arnold Arnstein collection of musical scores, ca. 1950-1989, (The New York Public Library. Music Division.)
