Roy and Johana Harris Collection of Musical Scores & Personal Papers
Leroy Ellsworth Harris (1898 - 1979) was world-renowned American composer. In 1973, while a member of the Cal State LA Music Department faculty he donated his papers and musical works to the University. The collection consists of approximately 3,000 leaves of original manuscripts and sketches, copies of published and unpublished works, 15,000 letters and other memorabilia, commercial and non-commercial recordings of the major portions of Roy Harris' works, and the complete holdings on microfilm of Harris papers owned by the Library of Congress. In 1987, Mrs. Johana Harris added approximately 70 linear feet of documents, bringing the total to approximately 180 linear feet.
Stan Kenton Collection of Musical Recordings & Personal Papers
Stanley Newcomb Kenton was a renowned bandleader, pianist, arranger, and composer of modern jazz. He made worldwide concert appearances, billed as "artistry in rhythm," progressive jazz, and innovations in modern music. In 1980, the University received the Stan Kenton Collection from his wife Audree Coke, Director of Kentonia, Inc. Approximately 40 linear feet, the collection includes taped radio concerts, interviews, and commercial recordings; honors and awards; scrapbooks; posters; newspaper clippings; programs; and photographs of Kenton and his band dating from the early 1940s, with the bulk of photographs dating to the 1960s and 1970s.
California Arts Commission Collection of Orchestral Scores and Parts
The California Arts Commission Collection, consisting of 170 orchestral scores and parts (30 linear feet), was donated to Cal State LA by the California State Library in 1979. The collection includes works by a number of composers: Bach, Beethoven, Berlioz, Borodin, Brahms, Debussy, Dvorák, Elgar, Franck, Haydn, Mahler, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Musorgsky, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Rinskii-Korsakov, Rossini, Saint-Ssaëns, Schubert, Schumann, Shostakovich, Sibelius, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky,Wagner, and Weber. Each work includes a conductor's score and a complete set of orchestral parts.
Jeffrey Jones Collection of Sheet Music & Music Anthologies
Jeffrey Jones, grandson of composer Harry Warren, died at the age of nineteen. Jeffrey's mother, Cookie Jones donated his collection of sheet music and music anthologies to the Library in 1989. Included are over 10,000 popular music scores, or approximately eighteen linear feet, dating from the middle of the late twentieth century.
Glenn Jordan Collection of Light Opera Scripts & Scores
Glenn Jordan was associated with light opera musical companies throughout the United States and was the director of the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera from 1971 until his death in 1976. In 1986, Mrs. Glenn (Lucy) Jordan donated Mr. Jordan's collection of nineteen light opera musical scores, eighty-nine musical scripts and seventy-four individual files with photographs and other related documents. The collection totals 21 linear feet.
Otto Klemperer Collection of Musical Scores
Otto Klemperer was one of the leading German conductors of his generation and was a conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra between 1933-1939. Approximately 12 linear feet, the Klemperer Collection was presented to the University in the mid-1970s. It consists of 215 orchestral scores,or approximately 12 linear feet, including works by Bach, Bartok, Beethoven, Bloch, Brahms, Britten, Bruckner, Busoni, Kelius, Gluck, Grieg, Handel, Hindemith, Krenek, Liszt, Mahler, Malipiero, Mendelssohn, Milhaud, Mozart, Musorgsky, Pfitzner, Prokofiev, Respighi, Schönberg, Schubert, Richard Strauss, Stranvinsky, Tchaikovsky, and Wagner. Many include Klemperer's conducting notations.
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Jimmy McHugh Collection of Sheet Music
Jimmy McHugh has been hailed as the most successful Irish-American writer of popular songs since Victor Herbert. He wrote such tuneful melodies as I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby, I'm In The Mood For Love, Don't Blame Me, On The Sunny Side Of The Street, It's A Most Unusual Day, You're A Sweetheart, and Comin' In On A Wing And A Prayer. The collection at approximately 4 linear feet, consists of over 550 songs from the late nineteenth century to the early 1970s.
McGrath Sacred Music Collection
Geraldine Biggs McGrath was born in October 8th, 1929 to Richard Keys Biggs, a prominent organist and composer, and Lucinne Gourdon Biggs. Her parents were pioneers in bringing traditional Roman Catholic Church music to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. They moved to California, where the rich church music environment influenced McGrath into pursuing choir and Gregorian chant. She graduated from Mount Saint Mary's College in Los Angeles in 1951 with a bachelor of music degree in choral conducting and became music director at St. John Baptist de la Salle Church in Granada Hills. Through her lifetime, she taught at the Los Angeles Archdiocesan Seminary of Our Lady Queen of Angels, was appointed to the Los Angeles Archdiocesan Music Commission, and was a founding member of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, as well as a recipient of the Papal Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontific awarded by Pope Benedict XVI. She also campaigned for keeping traditional music, such as chant, in modernizing churches. The collection is rich in information concerning Gregorian chant and Catholic liturgical music composed for the organ.
Salli Terri Choral Music Collection
Salli C. Terri (September 3, 1922 - May 5, 1996) was a singer, arranger, recording artist, and songwriter. She earned a B.A. in Music from Wayne State University and an M.A. in Music from the University of Southern California. She was married to composer and director John Biggs for twenty-five years and had two daughters. The family performed medieval and Renaissance music together as the John Biggs Consort. From 1950-1952 she taught music and English at the American School in Tokyo, Japan, returned to the U.S. to teach music theory at Fullerton Junior College, and later directed a woman's choir and was a professor of Music at UCLA. In 1951 she joined the Roger Wagner Chorale and appeared as a solo artist. She also made several solo records, staged a one-woman show, and sang in film and television productions. This collection of choral music arranged by or performed by Salli Terri represents Terri's eclectic musical interest of folk, religious music, love songs, and ballads. The collection also reflects Salli Terri’s deep interest in Shaker history and culture. The Shakers, also known as the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, is a religious sect branched off from a Quaker community and founded in the 18th century in England. The collection’s clippings, periodicals, correspondence, and magazines document Shaker culture and highlight an American folk culture worthy of study.