MSS 68 - The Isidor Achron Papers; 1.5'
The composer and pianist Isidor Achron (1892-1948) studied composition in St. Petersburg with Liadov before immigrating to the United States. From 1922 to 1933 he was accompanist to Jascha Heifetz. Achron performed his Piano Concerto with the New York Philharmonic in 1937. The Papers include many of Achron's compositions, his correspondence, programs, photographs (including many with Heifetz), and recordings, various papers of his wife, the singer Lea Karina, and two compositions of his brother, Joseph Achron (1886-1943). Among the music of other composers are holograph manuscripts of Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Nicolas Slonimsky.
Misc. Ms. 262 - American Dance Band Arrangements; 15'
Printed finding aid available in Music Library.
MSS 61 - The Leroy Anderson Papers; 16'
Leroy Anderson was born on June 29, 1908 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His family was musical, and as a boy he studied double bass, organ, and trombone. He continued his musical education at Harvard, where his teachers included Walter Piston and Georges Enesco; he graduated from college in 1929, and earned the M.A. in 1930. In the early 1930s he did additional graduate work in Scandinavian languages at Harvard; he also directed the Harvard Band and held numerous other musical jobs.
In 1936 Anderson arranged a medley of Harvard songs for Harvard Night at the Boston Pops. In the ensuing decades, he would become famous largely for the many pieces he composed or arranged for Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, including Jazz Pizzicato (1938), The Syncopated Clock (1945), Sleigh Ride (1948), The Typewriter (1950), and Blue Tango (1951). By the early 1950s, Anderson's music had become extraordinarily popular; his recordings sold in the millions, and American orchestras performed his works more frequently than those of any other American composer.
Anderson later turned several of his most popular orchestral works into songs, with lyrics by Mitchell Parish; of these, Sleigh Ride has had the most lasting success. Anderson also composed a piano concerto (1953), as well as Goldilocks (1958), a Broadway musical with words by Walter and Jean Kerr and Joan Ford.
In 1942 Anderson married Eleanor Jane Firke; they had a daughter and three sons. In 1949 the family settled in Woodbury, Connecticut. Leroy Anderson died in Woodbury on May 18, 1975.
The Leroy Anderson Papers document Anderson's life and career as a composer chiefly through his music, both published and in manuscript. The Papers also contain scrapbooks and other items. See also the Leroy Anderson official website.
MSS 128 - The Adelina Carola Appleton Papers; 4.5'
Adelina Carola Appleton (also known as Adeline Carola Appleton or Adelina Carole Appleton) was born in Waverly, Iowa in 1886. She studied music with her mother, at Wisconsin College in Milwaukee, and with Benjamin Blodgett and Carl Eppert. She is best known for her opera about the Salem witch trials, "The Witch's Well" (two of Appleton's own relatives were executed in Salem), for her "Commandos Symphony," which was performed by Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony, and for her symphony "The Phantom." She died in New York in 1958. The collection consists mainly of musical manuscripts by Adelina Carola Appleton. It also includes music by others (including Appleton's mother, Carol Wardwell Lippmann) and miscellaneous other materials.
MSS 136 - The Paul Arma Collection; 0.5'
Born Imre Weisshaus, Paul Arma (1905-1987) studied with Bartók at the Budapest Academy, but left his native Hungary for Germany in 1931, and later settled permanently in France. He was active as a composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. The collection consists of books, published music and programs. The collection consists of books, published music and programs.
MSS 91 - The Daniel Asia Papers; ca. 20'
The American composer Daniel Asia was born in Seattle in 1953. He studied at Hampshire College and received his Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music, where his teachers included Jacob Druckman and Krzysztof Penderecki. Since 1988 Asia has been Professor of Composition and head of the composition program at the University of Arizona. He has received numerous awards and fellowships, and his music has been performed orchestras and chamber ensembles throughout the United States and abroad. From 1991 to 1994 Asia was the Meet the Composer / Composer in Residence with the Phoenix Symphony. The Daniel Asia Papers were purchased by the Music Library in 2005. (Partially processed)
Misc. Ms. 54 - Leonard Woolsey Bacon Papers; 1'
Leonard Woolsey Bacon, Jr. was born in Stamford, Connecticut on February 24, 1865. He should not be confused with his father, Leonard Woolsey Bacon (1830-1907), a clergyman, writer, and doctor. Like many members of his family, Leonard, Jr. attended Yale College (Class of 1888), where he helped found the orchestra. He earned the M.D. from the Yale School of Medicine in 1892, and also studied at numerous other American and European universities. Bacon had a long and distinguished career as a physician in New Haven, but he was also a composer and church organist, and it is his musical activities that are represented in this collection. In 1892 Bacon married Emma Waleska Schneeloch, a prominent singer who usually performed with her sister Emilie. (For more on the Schneeloch Sisters, see MSS 6, the Schneeloch Family Papers.) Emma died in 1925, and two years later Bacon married Esther Louise Oleson. He died in Hamden, Connecticut on January 8, 1939. This collection consists of holograph sketches, scores, and parts for 27 musical compositions by Leonard Woolsey Bacon, Jr., including songs, piano pieces, and chamber music. The Papers also hold a number of works by other composers in copyists' manuscripts. Two letters are also included.
MSS 34 - The Parker Bailey Papers; 3'
Parker Bailey (1902-1982) came to Yale College in 1919 to study with Horatio Parker, who died that year. He studied instead with David Stanley Smith from 1920 to 1925, with Quincy Porter from 1925 to 1930, and with Roger Sessions. Following his musical studies he received an LL.B degree from the Cornell Law School in 1934 and practiced law the remainder of his life. His Papers contain correspondence, contracts, literary writings, programs, clippings, photographs, and his holograph and published musical works.
MSS 80 - The Earl Banquer Collection; 1.5'
The Earl Banquer Collection consists of musical arrangements of numerous classical, folk, and popular works, arranged for flute, three clarinets, and bass clarinet. The majority of arrangements in the collection were made by Banquer himself, to provide repertroire for his Earl Banquer Ensemble in New Haven. In addition to Banquer's own arrangements, the collection holds musical works which Banquer commissioned from composers Thomas Duffy, Michael Horvit, Collier Jones, and Yehudi Wyner.
MSS 58 - The James G. Barnett Papers; 5'
James G. Barnett (d. 1885) was active as a composer, conductor, and organist in Connecticut during the latter half of the nineteenth century. His Papers consist of his manuscript music (chiefly sacred vocal), a few programs, two of his essays and published compositions of John F. Barnett (two works) and John Barnett (one work), whose relationship with James G. is not known.
MSS 24 - The Marshall Bartholomew Papers; 11'
Marshall Bartholomew (1885-1978) was director of the Yale Glee Club and of undergraduate musical activities at Yale from 1921 to 1953. He founded the International Student Musical Council in 1931 to promote international good will through singing, and he served in various relief capacities during both World Wars. All of his life he was especially active as a composer and arranger of songs for singing groups. His final major project was research into the history of music at Yale in preparation for a book on the subject, which was not completed. All of these activities are represented in his Papers. (Partially processed)
MSS 92 - The Enrico Batelli Papers; 0.75'
Enrico Batelli was one of New Haven’s leading musicians in the first half of the twentieth century. Born in Caserta, Italy in 1875 or 1876, he was trained at the Naples Conservatory. In 1902 Batelli came to the United States, and eventually decided to settle in New Haven, where he was active as a composer, conductor, organist, pianist, and teacher. He had a teaching studio at 890 Chapel Street in New Haven, and he worked at several local churches, culminating in a 38-year career as organist at St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church at 79 Davenport Street. He died in New Haven on July 31, 1944. His papers consist primarily of manuscript scores and parts for Batelli’s original musical compositions and arrangements of music by other composers. The papers also contain manuscript and printed music by other composers, including several by Batelli’s teacher, Paolo Serrao, plus a small number of biographical materials.
Misc. Ms. 157 - Selected Compositions of Robbins Battell; 0.25'
Robbins Battell was born into a wealthy and prominent family in Norfolk, Connecticut on April 19, 1819. He graduated from Yale in 1839, and like several other members of his family, he became an important benefactor of music at Yale; their contributions were largely responsible for establishing the music department, and the former Battell estate in Norfolk is now the home of Yale's summer music festival. Although Robbins Battell was not a professional musician, he was respected as a composer of sacred music. He devoted most of his time to managing the family fortune; he was also a member of the state legislature and served as a judge of probate and as state comptroller. In 1849 he married Ellen R. Mills, who died two years later; they had one daughter. Robbins Battell died on January 26, 1895. This collection contains selected songs and choral arrangements by Robbins Battell, as well as Battell's music arranged for piano solo, band, and orchestra by Gustave Stoeckel and Theodore Hoch. The collection also holds a copy of Music and Poetry of Norfolk , privately printed for Carl and Ellen Battell Stoeckel in 1898.
MSS 22 - The H. Leroy Baumgartner Papers; 3'
Hope Leroy Baumgartner (1891-1968) taught composition and music theory in the Yale School of Music from 1919 to 1960. His collection consists almost entirely of his music, most of which was written for the church: works for solo voice, solo organ, and chorus.
Misc. Ms. 348 - Beethoven Society (Providence, R.I.) Orchestral Parts; 1.5'
This collection contains orchestral parts (not scores) that belonged to the Beethoven Society of Providence, Rhode Island. Most of the music was composed in the nineteenth century; a few pieces are from the eighteenth century. A variety of genres are represented, chiefly dances, overtures, and symphonies.
MSS 50 - The Paul Bekker Papers; 27'
The Papers of the critic and writer on music Paul Bekker (21882-1937) include about 5,000 letters from seemingly everyone connected with the arts in Germany between the two world wars: composers, conductors, cultural organizations, concert and theatrical agents, publishers, and editors of newspapers and journals. Also included are copies of all of Bekker's books and articles, photographs, and correspondence with his family, as well as his collection of historic letters by notable musicians of the past, including Brahms, Mahler, Berlioz, Reger, Joachim, von Bülow, and Hanslick.
MSS 95 - The Hans L. Bilger Papers; 0.5'
Hans L. Bilger (1896-1968) received the B.M. degree from the Yale School of Music in 1920. The Papers consist chiefly of his compositions, both published and in manuscript.
MSS 93 - The Howard and Helen Boatwright Papers; ca. 20'
Howard Boatwright (1918-1999) was a composer, violinist, student of Paul Hindemith, professor at Yale, and for many years Dean of the School of Music at Syracuse University. Helen Boatwright (1916-2010) was a soprano who won acclaim for her interpretations of the song repertoire of the twentieth-century. Among her notable performances are definitive recordings of the songs of Charles Ives with John Kirkpatrick at the piano. The Boatwright Papers document both Howard's and Helen's careers through manuscript and printed music, writings, programs, clippings, pedagogical and biographical materials, and documents relating to the Hindemith Music Centre in Blonay, Switzerland, which the Boatwrights founded and directed in its early years. The Boatwright Papers were the gift of Helen Boatwright in 2002. (Partially processed)
MSS 123 - Variations on Boola-Boola; 0.5'
The collection consists of manuscript variations on "Boola Boola," the Yale fight song, created for the student-faculty party of April 30, 1965. Each variation is by a different composer. They are composed in a variety of historical styles, from the medieval to the avant-garde, and are humorous in intent. The composers are David L. Burrows, Ward Davenny, Richard [Donovan?], Fenno Heath, Charles R. Krigbaum, Claude V. Palisca, Leeman L. Perkins, Leon B. Plantinga, Brooks Shepard, Jr., and William G. Waite. They were members of the faculty of the Yale University Department of Music or the Yale School of Music. Shepard was the Music Librarian. (Not yet processed)
MSS 113 - The Wladimir Boritch Collection; 0.5'
Wladimir Boritch was a Ukrainian impresario who settled in the United States in the 1920s. The collection consists chiefly of music for Kurt Weill's pantomime for children, Zaubernacht, which was rediscovered at Yale in 2005, after being thought lost for decades. Zaubernacht had previously been known only through a piano reduction (which had even become the basis for an orchestral reconstruction by Meirion Brown). The presence of orchestral parts in this collection made it possible for scholars to produce a full score.
In addition to Weill's music, this collection includes additional music for Zaubernacht composed by Konstantin Galkauskas, as well as other materials. (Partially processed)
Misc. Ms. 146 - Organ Music from the Estate of Frank Bozyan; 0.25'
Hagop Frank Bozyan was born in 1899. He studied organ at the Yale School of Music, where he received the B.M. degree in 1920. He joined the faculty that year, and continued to teach at Yale until 1965, the year of his death. The collection consists of 16 organ works, 1 song, and 1 piece for piano by Bozyan and his friends and colleagues.
MSS 124 - The Ruth Bracher Papers; 1'
Ruth Bracher earned the B.A. from Western College for Women in 1918, the B.M. from the Yale School of Music (where she studied piano with Bruce Simonds) in 1921, and the M.M from the College of Music of Cincinnati in 1932. She also studied with Nadia Boulanger. She taught music at Western College for Women (in Oxford, Ohio) from 1921 until her retirement in 1959. The collection contains correspondence (including some with Nadia Boulanger), photographs, and clippings.
Misc. Ms. 286 - The Ole Bull Papers; 1'
Ole Bull was born in Bergen, Norway on February 5, 1810. From an early age he showed a rare talent for the violin, and he made his solo debut in 1819. He took lessons from students of Viotti and Baillot, and also learned much from traditional Norwegian fiddlers, an influence that contributed to his unique style. Bull was interested in the design and construction of violins and bows, and by using a flatter bridge and a rounded bow, he was able to produce unusual polyphonic effects. He made many European concert tours, and he also spent a considerable amount of time in the United States, as a violinist, impresario, and promoter of an ill-fated Norwegian colony in Pennsylvania. Bull was known for his virtuosic and idiosyncratic performances, his personal charisma, and his Norwegian nationalism. (Norway was under Swedish control from 1814 to 1905.) Ole Bull died in Lysøen, Norway on August 17, 1880.
The Ole Bull Papers contain sketches, manuscript scores, or printed editions of 11 compositions by Bull. The Papers also hold music by other composers from Bull's personal library. Among the miscellaneous items are programs, printed works relating to Bull, and 13 manuscript receipts which document a series of concerts played by Bull in 1853 in Charleston, South Carolina.
MSS 25 - The Leonard Burkat Papers; 3'
Leonard Burkat (1919-1992) was active as an assistant to Charles Munch, an administrator for Tanglewood, and head of the Columbia Records Masterworks label. The collection consists of correspondence with well-known musicians accumulated during his career. The largest correspondences are with Samuel Barber, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Henri Dutilleux, Lukas Foss, Charles Munch, and Francis Poulenc.
MSS 104 - Richard C. Burns Archive of Overtone Records, Inc.; 23.5'
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