archives.nypl.org -- Kurt Schindler papers (original) (raw)

The papers, music, correspondence, and programs gathered here represent the activities of Kurt Schindler and his influences from 1882 to 1946. The bulk of the collection falls between 1905 and 1930, and as a whole the collection covers his entire career. Alphabetical arrangement by letter-writer has been used with the correspondence, with other series divided by subject. An alphabetical index is located at the end of the finding aid.

The Kurt Schindler Papers consist of seven major series. They are correspondence to and from Kurt Schindler, and between others; concert and other musical programs with newspaper and journal clippings; articles, speeches, and prefaces written by Kurt Schindler; booklets and pamphlets on local music or travel guides; posters of operas and concerts; photographs; miscellaneous personal and other materials (such as recommendation testimonials, Schindler's will, and holograph translations of song lyrics); and lastly, printed and holograph music by Schindler or collected by him. The correspondence and music constitute the largest part of the collection.

The correspondence files consist primarily of letters written to Kurt Schindler, some of which are from important musical figures of the time. The letters are in English, German, Russian, Spanish, and French. This series also contains some letters written by Kurt Schindler, and his wife Vera Androuchevitch Schindler. The letters are written in the period between 1889 and 1936.

The second series is one of loose programs, clippings, and a scrapbook of clippings and programs. They range in date for the 1890s to 1946. The clippings and programs cover the career of Kurt Schindler, and his friends and associates, from his early youth to his death in 1935. The programs and clippings are grouped together in a rough chronological order, as many clippings refer to various concerts for which there are programs in the collection. This is the original order devised by Kurt Schindler, and has been maintained in this series. The majority of the loose clippings and programs are from the 1910s and 1920s. The scrapbook covers the 1890s and early 1900s. Several programs and pamphlets from the 1940s regarding the Schola Cantorum were added to the collection after Schindler's death.

The Kurt Schindler Papers also contain a series of eighteen articles, speeches, and prefaces written by Kurt Schindler, in holograph and typewritten form. They are primarily from the 1910s and 1920s.

Series four consists of eleven pamphlets and magazines collected by Kurt Schindler. A wide range of topics is covered, including tourist pamphlets from Schindler's trips to Spain, biographical pamphlets about other musicians, the Schola Cantorum of New York, Russian folksongs, and the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, and various German and American magazines on musical subjects. The date range is from 1902 to 1930.

The collection also contains a grouping of opera posters, all of which are from Schindler's early career in Germany in Würzburg, Schweinfurt, and Berlin. They are arranged chronologically, covering 1903 and 1904.

The sixth series is photographs of Kurt Schindler, Vera Androuchevitch, the Androuchevitch family, Kurt's younger brother Ewald Schindler and his wife Nora Nikisch Schindler, a few other friends, and a number of unindentified women, possibly family friends. The photographs are primarily from the late 1910s and 1920s, and are arranged by size in two boxes with subjects grouped together.

The seventh series is a grouping of miscellanea such as notes and corrections relating to the Metropolitan Opera's performance of Richard Strauss' Salomein 1905; bills and receipts; newspaper articles concerning Kurt Schindler and his family (personal); Schindler's Last Will and Testament; song lyrics and poems written and collected by Schindler; and photographs and newspaper articles about the San Francisco fire and earthquake of 1906.

A substantial amount of music, mostly printed and some manuscript, is included in the eighth and final series of the collection. The music is divided into groupings: instrumental music, songs, folk music, works by various composers (not Schindler), and a bound collection of songs by Kurt Schindler. The dates range from 1897 to the early 1930s.

Altogether the Kurt Schindler Papers provide a fairly comprehensive overview of his career, with his early and mid-professional years being the focus of this collection. There is very little personal information in the collection other than the letters from Schindler's parents from the 1890s and early 1900s.

The Kurt Schindler papers are arranged in eight series: