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Preserving the Works of Legendary Twentieth-Century Musicians at the Archive of Recorded Sound

Ensconced in the lower level of Braun Music Center, Stanford’s Archive of Recorded Sound (ARS) is one of the largest sound archives in the nation and one of very few located west of the Mississippi. The archive has become even more impressive recently, with the arrival of several new collections of prominent twentieth-century musicians, including the recorded works of two of the twentieth century's greatest violinists and a renowned American opera singer.

To date, the Archive houses some 300,000 recordings, some of which have been digitized. The new collections haven’t been digitized yet, but ARS sound cataloger and project archivist Frank Ferko, said that is a priority, as digitization is the best way to preserve the material.

A Family Shares Recorded Memories

Spanning 75 years, the career of Yehudi Menuhin included work as a virtuoso violinist as well as a highly respected conductor.  The Yehudi Menuhin Collection, one of the new ARS acquistions, was assembled by his family and consists of fifty-four 78-rpm recordings of Menuhin performing violin works. His sister Hephzibah Menuhin, an accomplished pianist in her own right, accompanies him in many of the tracks. 

The recordings were made primarily for the Victor and the Gramophone companies between 1938 and 1950; they include standard works by composers such as Beethoven, Mozart and Brahms, but also recordings of lesser known pieces, such as Ildebrando Pizzetti’s Sonata in A major, and several identifiable only by their Japanese titles. 


Diverse Collection Chronicles the Evolution of the Record

The Jascha Heifetz Collection, donated by the violinist’s longtime friend and record producer at RCA Victor, Jack Pfeiffer, includes not only Heifetz’s own performances but also his personal collection of recordings made by other artists.  One of the rarities to be found here is the 1920 privately made recording of Heifetz’s teacher, Leopold Auer.  The record is signed and dated by Auer, who was venerated as an instructor but was not commercially recorded. 

The Heifetz Collection, consisting of over a thousand discs and reels of various types produced from 1911-1972, attests to the many technological changes in the recording industry during that period.  Four distinct record formats are found: standard, long-playing records; 78 rpm commercially released records; test pressings (“artist approval” records preceding commercial releases); and instantaneous discs (“temporary” homemade records). 
 


Precious Gems from the Career of a Celebrated Opera Singer

A large number of instantaneous discs can also be found in another newly acquired collection of recordings from the extradordinary career of famed opera singer Lawrence Tibbett. The Lawrence Tibbett Collection, consists of 98 records that document the middle years of the baritone’s career.  Tibbett sang for 27 seasons at the Metropolitan Opera (1923-1950).  Although he mastered and recorded many of the historical baritone operatic roles, he also created roles in the world premieres of operas by noted composers of his day.  An outstanding example is Howard Hanson’s Merry Mount, commissioned by the Metropolitan and first performed in February, 1934.  A pre-premiere recording, made in January of that year, is in the holdings at Stanford. 

The collection also contains Tibbett’s well-known renditions of popular songs, such as Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oh, what a beautiful mornin’” and Harold Arlen’s “Accentuate the positive,” performed on live radio programs in the 1940s.

Exhibit Showcases the Bay Area Music Scene in the 1930’s and 1940’s

Jack Lund (1913-2009) was a long-time patron of the Bay Area arts scene, who, in his early years, was an avid collector of music ephemera. He collected autographed programs, photos, and commercial sound recordings of the many renowned performers who performed in the Bay Area, especially in the 1930s and 1940s. In 2010 the Archive of Recorded Sound acquired this unique time capsule of materials.

A number of the artifacts from the Lund collection are currently on display in the Music Library. The signed programs and photographs on exhibit in the Music Library represent the breadth of world-class performers that graced local stages, including Sergei Rachmaninoff, Lotte Lehmann, Jascha Heifetz, Helen Hayes, John Philip Sousa, and more.

The Lund Collection is one of a growing number of resources in the Archive of Recorded Sound documenting performing arts culture in California. A public exhibit is on view through May 15, 2011.

Experience Music History: Tune in or Visit

Every Thursday between 8pm and 9:30pm, The Music Treasury, a KZSU radio program plays selections from the Archive of recorded Sound. The Archive of Recorded Sound is open weekdays 1-5 pm or by appointment. Please visit the website for details.

This story was first published in ReMix, the Stanford Libraries e-newsletter. Click here to subscribe to ReMix.