[Schubert, Franz. (1797–1828)]
Important Archive of Letters regarding the 1928 Schubert Centennial
The article "Schubert Ecstasy" published in TIME on Dec. 3, 1928, records in detail the many celebrations worldwide that marked the Schubert Centenary. The present collection records the efforts of the Centennial's director, Frederick N. Sard, to organize this “International Celebration of Masterworks from Song to Symphony,” and consists of 80 letters addressed to him from a wide spectrum of prominent musicians and supporters. Most often, the formal letters consist of “votes of approval” for the festival and the appointment of Otto Kahn as chairman, though some address other related matters as well.The extraordinary collection of letters is housed in a black binder titled "Schubert Centennial Part 1," where the original signed letters are laid in between the pages of their bound facsimile copies. The bound papers consist of: a printed portrait frontispiece; a "Coordination Plan” outlining the “Musical,” “Educational,” “Church,” and “Community” components of the celebration; a 2 pp. typed list of the Advisory Body, Artists Advisory Committee and International participants, juries, and committees; a 3 pp. typed statement by Otto H. Kahn, Chairman of the Advisory Body; 80 facsimile letters.
Many of the letters are from prominent musicians, including: Otto H. Kahn, George Eastman, Leopold Auer, Adolfo Betti, Artur Bodansky, John A. Carpenter, Frank Damrosch, Carl Flesch, Rudolph Ganz, Alfred Hertz, Elly Ney, Felix Salmond, Carlos Salzedo, Frederick A. Stock, Serge Koussevitzky, Josef Hoffman, Georges Barrere, Ernest Schelling, Gustav Strube, and Vladimir Shavitch. Writers, arts patrons, business tycoons, Presidents of Conservatories (Curtis, Peabody) and Universities (University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, Duke, Yale, NYU, Vassar, Barnard), newspaper editors, political figures etc. are also represented and there are letters from Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, Hamlin Garland, Lyon Phelps, William H. Murphy, Samuel Harden Church, Charles E. Hughes, S.W. Goodwin, John W. Davis, Harry Harkness Flagler, Henry W. Taft, and Governor Alvan T. Fuller (MA) among others.
All in very fine condition with usual folds, these letters have been well preserved as filed in the binder of their facsimile copies. This is a truly remarkable collection, commemorating an astonishing worldwide mobilization to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the death of Franz Schubert, and involving a wide array of figures from many disciplines. (1548)
Autograph Letter Classical Music