The Brian May Collection: two decades of screen composition manuscripts

Brian May (1934-1997) was a pioneer of the Australian feature film revival period. He was one of the most prolific composers in this period, writing the scores for 22 Australian feature films (from 1975 to 1994), in addition to producing music for Australian television projects and a number of American feature film scores and television series. Brian May bequeathed his collection of music manuscripts and other related items to the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia. This article outlines the contents of this collection, the gaps in the collection and problems associated with sorting the many thousands of items. It makes a case for the national heritage significance of the collection and its value as a resource for the research of Australian screen music.