Samuel Adler Collection, Box 8, Folder 19, Sleeve 5
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SAMUEL ADLER PAPERS (1999–2018 Gifts) RUTH T. WATANABE SPECIAL COLLECTIONS SIBLEY MUSIC LIBRARY EASTMAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER Processed by Gail E. Lowther, Spring 2019 1 Photograph of Joseph Polisi and Samuel Adler, at induction to the American Classical Music Hall of Fame (2008). From Samuel Adler Collection, Box 8, Folder 19, Sleeve 5. Photograph of Samuel Adler conducting an Eastman Ensemble. Photograph attributed to Louis Ouzer, from ESPA 30-7 (8x10). 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Description of Collection . 4 Description of Series . 7 INVENTORY Series 1: Sheet Music Sub-series A: Original Compositions . 9 Sub-series B: Transcriptions and Edited Music . 18 Series 2: Papers Sub-series A: Correspondence . 18 Sub-series B: Papers . 144 Series 3: Publicity and Press Materials Sub-series A: Concert Programs and Publicity . 149 Sub-series B: Press Clippings . 152 Sub-series C: Scrapbook . 153 Series 4: Audio-Visual Materials . 153 Series 5: Oversized Sub-series A: Oversized Sheet Music . 155 Sub-series B: Oversized Papers . 156 Sub-series C: Oversized Publicity and Press Materials . 157 3 DESCRIPTION OF COLLECTION Shelf location: C4B 9,7 – 10,3 Extent: 30 linear feet Biographical Sketch Photograph from ESPA 30-10 (8x10). Samuel Adler was born on March 4, 1928, to American parents living in Mannheim, Germany. In 1939, his father, who had served as cantor in the Mannheim Synagogue, accepted a position in Worcester, Massachusetts. There, in Boston, the younger Adler studied composition with Herbert Fromm and later at Boston University with Karl Geiringer, Hugo Norden, and Paul Pisk. After completing a bachelor’s degree at Boston in 1949, he entered Harvard University, where he studied under Irving Fine, Walter Piston, and Randall Thompson. In addition, Adler studied composition with Aaron Copland and conducting with Serge Koussevitzky during a summer at Tanglewood. After receiving his master’s degree from Harvard in 1950, he joined the US Army and is credited with founding the 7th Army Symphony Orchestra, which, under Adler’s baton, performed extensively throughout Europe as part of the American cultural diplomacy initiatives; for his work with the 7th Army Symphony Orchestra, Adler was awarded a Medal of Honor in 1953. He then moved to Texas, where he served as musical director for the Temple Emanu-El in Dallas from 1953 until 1956. In 1957, he was appointed to the faculty of North Texas State University, where he taught composition until 1966. Adler then moved to Rochester, NY, to assume a position as professor of composition at the Eastman School of 4 Music. He taught at Eastman from 1966 until 1995 and served as chair of the composition department from 1974 until his retirement. From 1997 to 2016, he was a member of the composition faculty at the Juilliard School of Music, and, in 2009, he was awarded the William Schuman Scholars Chair. Dr. Adler has also taught at several major music festivals in the US, including Tanglewood, Aspen, Brevard, and Bowdoin, as well as others in France, Germany, Israel, Spain, Austria, Poland, South America, and Korea. Dr. Adler has received commissions and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (1975, 1978, 1980, and 1982), the Rockefeller Foundation (1965), the Ford Foundation (1966-71), the Koussevitzky Foundation, the Wolf Trap Foundation, the City of Jerusalem, and the Welsh Arts Council. He has also received commissions from numerous performing ensembles, including the National Symphony; major orchestras in Cleveland, Dallas, Pittsburgh, Houston, and Atlanta; and many chamber ensembles, such as the American Brass Quintet, the Berlin-Bochum Bass Ensemble, the Ying Quartet, and the American String Quartet. His catalog includes more than 400 published works, including six symphonies, five operas, a ballet, twelve concerti, ten string quartets, four oratorios, as well as many other orchestral, band, chamber and choral works and songs, which have been performed all over the world. His publications include the texts Choral Conducting (Hold, Reinhart, and Winston, 1971; Schirmer Books, 1985), Sight Singing (W. W. Norton, 1979, 1997), and The Study of Orchestration (W. W. Norton, 1982, 1989, 2001); the latter received the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award in 1983. In addition, Dr. Adler published a volume of memoirs in 2017, titled Building Bridges with Music: Stories from a Composer’s Life (Pendragon Press). Among his many honors are the Charles Ives Living Prize (1961), the Lillian Fairchild Award (1974), the Guggenheim Fellowship (1975–76), the MTNA Composer of the Year Award (1988–89), the Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1990), the Special Citation from the American Foundation of Music Clubs (2001), and the ASCAP Aaron Copland Award for Lifetime Achievement in Music (2003); he was inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame in October 2008. Dr. Adler is member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters as well as the Academia Chilena de Bellas Artes and the Freie Akademie der Künste Rhein-Neckar in Mannheim. In May 2018, Adler was awarded the highest civilian honor from the German government (the Bundesverdienstkreuz, 1st class). Dr. Adler holds honorary degrees from Southern Methodist University, Wake Forest University, St. Mary’s College, the St. Louis Conservatory of Music, and Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion. Provenance Dr. Adler began to deposit his papers in May 1993, with additional deposits of papers arriving periodically. As of March 2019, the collection is an open collection, and additional materials are received directly from Dr. Adler in periodic installments. Scope and content note The Samuel Adler Papers is comprised of scores, correspondence, professional papers, and publicity and press materials that document Dr. Adler’s long and prolific career as a composer, conductor, educator, and administrator. Of particular note is the substantial series of professional correspondence (Series 2, Sub-series A) produced and preserved by Dr. Adler, which chronicle his career as a composer as well as his teaching and administrative responsibilities at the Eastman School of Music and elsewhere. The collection also includes a finite series of commercial CD recordings featuring some of Dr. Adler’s compositions. The materials included in this deposit of Dr. Adler’s papers primarily date from 1990-2018. 5 Restrictions on use There are no restrictions on use of the collection other than those restrictions imposed by the provisions of the U.S. Copyright Law. Associations At the time this finding aid was prepared, the Samuel Adler Papers remains an open collection, which is to say that materials continue to arrive periodically. In addition to the materials described herein, the library houses a previous deposit of Dr. Adler’s papers (accession number 999.12), which contains scores, concert programs, awards, publications, photographs, and correspondence from 1940 to the mid- 1990s. In addition to the Samuel Adler Papers, the RTWSC houses the papers of several other composers associated with the Eastman School of Music, including both faculty members and alumni. Others in that number include the collections of Howard Hanson, Bernard Rogers, Wayne Barlow, Burrill Phillips, John La Montaine, Gordon Binkerd, Sydney Hodkinson, Michael Isaacson, and Will Gay Bottje. 6 DESCRIPTION OF SERIES The collection has been arranged into five major series, which are subdivided as described below: Series 1: Sheet Music This series is comprised of drafts, fair and final copies, manuscript reproductions, and publishers’ imprints of works composed, arranged, transcribed, or edited by Samuel Adler. Within the following two sub-series, the scores have been organized alphabetically by title: Sub-series A: Original Compositions and Arrangements Sub-series B: Transcriptions and Edited Music Series 2: Papers Sub-series A: Correspondence This sub-series contains letters and documents pertaining to Samuel Adler’s professional career. The correspondence documents his work and associations as a composer, educator, guest lecturer, and administrator. Within each folder, items are arranged alphabetically by each correspondent’s surname and then chronologically by date. Sub-series B: Papers This series contains documents generated and collected by Samuel Adler, including honors and award certificates, works lists, writings, and photographs and other images. Series 3: Publicity and Press Materials Sub-series A: Concert Programs and Publicity Materials This sub-series contains concert and recital programs featuring compositions by Dr. Adler. Also included in the sub-series are publicity and promotional materials, such as concert posters, flyers, and brochures, for concerts featuring Dr. Adler’s compositions. Sub-series B: Press Clippings This sub-series is comprised of loose press clippings that document performances of Dr. Adler’s compositions as well as human-interest articles that feature Dr. Adler. Items are organized in chronological sequence, and undated clippings are housed in a separate folder within the series. Sub-series C: Scrapbook This sub-series consists of a scrapbook, compiled by Dr. Adler, that chronicles his professional endeavors from 1952-1956. Included in the scrapbook are concert programs for performances of Dr. Adler‘s compositions, press clippings, and photographs. Some loose materials were interleaved in the scrapbook pages, and, due to age, the adhesive on several pages 7 of the scrapbooks has failed. For ease of filing, loose items have been removed;