The Emerging Masters Collection consists of recordings of events sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Music Department, highlighting the various musical groups at the University, as well as concerts by visiting musicians and lectures by noted music scholars. These performances took place in a number of venues, including the Frick Fine Arts Auditorium, the Stephen Foster Memorial, and Bellefield Hall. The concerts were free and open to the public.

Ethelbert Nevin (1862–1901) was a pianist and composer from Sewickley, Pa. He published his first composition at the age of twelve. In 1878, he attended Western University (now the University of Pittsburgh) but left at the end of his first year in 1879. In 1882 and 1883, he studied piano with B. J. Lang and composition with Stephen A. Emery in Boston. Then, from 1884 to 1886, he studied piano with Karl Klindworth and theory with Otto Tiersch in Berlin. He made his professional debut in a recital in Pittsburgh in December of 1886.

This collection contains approximately 1,500 music compositions, all in Fidelis Zitterbart’s hand. Many of the scores feature Zitterbart’s personal calligraphy in the noting of titles, often with pasted-over images that were evocative of the music's meaning to the composer.