Victor Hammer collection, MP

Transcription

1 Victor Hammer collection, MP This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit December 04, 2018 Describing Archives: A Content Standard Performing Arts Collections October 30, th Avenue lobby New York, New York, archivist@newschool.edu

2 Table of Contents Collection Overview... 2 Biographical Note... 3 Scope and Content of Collection... 4 Organization and Arrangement... 4 Administrative Information... 5 Related Materials... 5 Keywords for Searching Related Subjects... 5 Other Finding Aids note... 6 Collection Inventory... 6 Collection Overview Repository Performing Arts Collections Creator - Correspondent Hammer, Carolyn Reading Creator - Book designer Hammer, Victor, Creator - Correspondent Lang, Robert, Creator - Author Schenker, Heinrich, Creator - Composer Weisse, Hans, Title Victor Hammer collection Date [inclusive] Page 2 -

3 Extent 1.4 linear ft: 2 boxes Summary Music manuscripts and books collected by Victor Hammer including a copy of Ein Beitrag zur Ornamentik by Heinrich Schenker, musical sketches and three books of lute tablature bound by Victor Hammer, correspondence ( ) of Carolyn Reading Hammer with Clifford Wurfel and Robert Lang of the University of California at Riverside Library, a portrait drawing of Hans Weisse by Victor Hammer, and music manuscripts of compositions by Hans Weisse, with dedications to Victor Hammer: "Zehn biblische Sprüche" (1930); "Drei geistliche Sprüche" (1927); "No. 1 der Sechs Bagatellen für Klavier" (1929); "Canon für drei Frauenstimmen" (1930); "Fantasie für die Laute" (1931); and "Sechs Stücke für die Laute" (1931). Preferred Citation note [Identification of item], [date (if known)], Victor Hammer collection, MP , box, folder, New School Archives, The New School, New York, New York. Biographical Note Victor Hammer ( ) was an Austrian-born artist, active mainly in Florence and Vienna and later in the United States. His output consists largely of portraits and religious scenes paintings, sculpture, drawings, woodcuts, engravings, and mezzotints. He is widely known for his contribution to the book arts as a designer of uncial typefaces and a printer on hand presses. An avid amateur musician, Hammer played the clavichord, lute, and clarinet. A number of his friends were musicians, among them Heinrich Schenker and Hans Weisse, who dedicated several of his compositions to Hammer. Hammer completed a mezzotint portrait of Schenker in 1925, and a portrait drawing of Weisse in His exchange of letters with Schenker (available through the Web portal, Schenker Documents Online) record their discussion of the existence in both music and pictures of the Urlinie, a concept from Schenkerian analysis that represents a reduction of a composition to a single descending line. The influence of Schenker s ideas can be seen in Hammer s essays on the philosophy of art, most of which he published after his immigration to the United States in He taught at Wells College in Aurora, New York, and later at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, where he continued his work in the book arts with his second wife, the printer Carolyn Reading Hammer. - Page 3 -

4 Hans Weisse ( ) was an Austrian (later naturalized American) teacher, theorist and composer, who studied with Schenker between 1908 and 1919, taught for ten years in Vienna and, after contemplating prospects in Germany, opted to immigrate to the United States, teaching in New York until his premature death. He, more than anyone else, deserves credit for initiating the wide dissemination of Schenker's theory that took place in the U.S. in the mid-20th century. Weisse communicated Schenker's ideas not through publications but through teaching, his pupils including Oswald Jonas, Adele T. Katz, William J. Mitchell, and Felix Salzer. Arriving in New York in late September 1931, Weisse introduced himself to his new colleagues at Mannes School of Music with a successful half-hour talk on "the relationship of a music theory teacher to the other teachers in a school of music," and he soon confirmed his reputation as a gifted educator. Many of the letters he wrote to Schenker during this period (also available through Schenker Documents Online) describe the success he had connecting theory to practice, specifically the ways in which music should be listened to and, especially, performed. Biographical note adapted from legacy finding aid data. Scope and Content of Collection The collection consists of compositions collected by Victor Hammer, as well as materials created by him. The collection also contains correspondence written by Carolyn Reading Hammer many years after his death concerning the disposition of his papers. The correspondence was initiated by Robert P. Lang, Emeritus Associate University Librarian for University of California, Riverside regarding the Victor Hammer-Heinrich Schenker letters. A secondary correspondent is Clifford R. Wurfel, a special collections librarian at the same university. A highlight of the collection is a set of eight scores by Hammer's friend Hans Weisse, five of which bear inscriptions to Victor Hammer. These scores consist of: "Drei geistliche Sprüche," 1927; "Sechs Bagatellen für Klavier," 1929; "Canon für drei Frauenstimmen," (1930); "Zehn biblische Spräche," July 1930; "Sechs Stücke für die Laute" (one undated and one dated January 1931); and "Fantasie für die Laute" (one undated and one dated 1931). These compositions pre-date Weisse's immigration to the United States in late A pencil portrait of Weisse by Hammer is also present. Another notable aspect of the collection are three hand-bound books of music for lute (lute tablature), with inserts indicating that Hammer had bound them. The bindings are leather, with decorative endpapers and handmade paper and calligraphic lettering. It is unclear whether Hammer was responsible for the calligraphy, but it seems likely, as drafts of the compositions in these books are present in a portfolio in the collection. Organization and Arrangement Arranged alphabetically. - Page 4 -

5 Administrative Information Publication Information Performing Arts Collections October 30, 2018 Access Restrictions Collection is open for research use. Please contact for appointment. Use Restrictions To publish images of material from this collection, permission must be obtained in writing from the New School Archives and Special Collections. Please contact: Custodial History note Materials are a gift of Carolyn Reading Hammer, Victor Hammer's wife, given to the Harry Scherman Library of the Mannes School of Music, Immediate Source of Acquisition Transferred from Harry Scherman Library of the Mannes School of Music to The New School Archives and Special Collections, Related Materials Northwestern University holds the Victor Hammer private press collection (MS137). Additionally, the University of California at Riverside's Oswald Jonas memorial collection (MS067) contains correspondence between Hammer and Heinrich Schenker. Examples of Hammer's artwork are held by a number of repositories, including the University of Kentucky, which holds the Victor Hammer papers (2011MS118). Keywords for Searching Related Subjects Corporate Name(s) University of California, Riverside. Library. Genre(s) Correspondence. Drawings. Manuscripts. - Page 5 -

6 Scores. Tablature. Other Finding Aids note For selected item-level description and images from the Victor Hammer collection, see the New School Archives Digital Collections at MP Collection Inventory Correspondence between Carolyn Hammer, Robert Lang, and Clifford Wurfel, Box 1 1 Ein Beitrag zur Ornamentik: als Einführung zu Ph. Em. Bachs Klavierwerken: 1 2 mitumfassend auch die Ornamentik Haydns, Mozarts, Beethovens etc (Vienna: Universal-Edition), Heinrich Schenker, probably 1908 Lute tablature "Dixhuit Basses Dances Garnies de Recoupes et Tordions," undated 1 3 "La Magdalena Basse Dance," undated 1 4 "Tabulaturbuch Fuer Die Lautte," undated 1 5 Manuscripts by Hans Weisse, , undated Portfolio, undated The cover of the portfolio reads, "Fasching briefartige Lieder Scheiben-Dichtungen." Although the year 1909 is inscribed on the cover, it is unclear if the contents date from 1909 or from a later period. Includes drafts of lute tablature in bound copies and sketches of musical notation, both traditional and for the lute. It is unclear who the compiler of the portfolio is, whether it is Hammer's or, possibly, Weisse's Folder Portrait of Hans Weisse, undated Page 6 -