Guide to the Bedrich Vaska Papers

© Copyright 2008 Special Collections & University Archives. All rights reserved.
2008-01-11
5500 Campanile Dr. MC 8050
San Diego, CA, 92182-8050
URL: http://library.sdsu.edu/scua
Email: scref@rohan.sdsu.edu
Phone: 619-594-6791

Guide to the Bedrich Vaska Papers 1875/1978

Special Collections & University Archives

Overview of the Collection

Collection Title: Bedrich Vaska Papers
Dates: 1875-1978
Identification: MS-0262
Creator: Vaska, Bedrich, 1879-1979
Physical Description: 2.50 linear ft
Language of Materials: English French German Russian Polish Dutch;Flemish Serbian Croatian Hungarian Ukrainian Finnish
Repository: Special Collections & University Archives
5500 Campanile Dr. MC 8050
San Diego, CA, 92182-8050
URL: http://library.sdsu.edu/scua
Email: scref@rohan.sdsu.edu
Phone: 619-594-6791
Note:
Other Information:
Bedrich Vaska's family tree is available in the Louis A. Kenney Reading Room.

Biographical Information:

Cellist Bedrich Vaska was a native of Czechoslovakia who resided in the United States from 1911 until his death in 1978. He was a pupil of Antonin Dvorak, and studied at the Prague Conservatory where he met three other pupils of Dvorak -- Oscar Nedbal, Josef Suk, and Vitezslav Novak. Vaska became the last living pupil of Dvorak. He was the founder of, and had a long association with the Sevcik Quartet, 1899-1911.

Access Terms

This collection is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.

Genre/Form of Material:

Personal Papers
Publications

Personal Name:

Smetana, Bedřich, 1824-1884. Má vlast
Vaska, Bedrich, 1879-1979 -- Archives
Vaska, Bedrich, 1879-1979 -- Correspondence

Title:

Violoncellists -- Czechoslovakia -- Biography -- Sources Violoncellists -- Czechoslovakia -- Correspondence Violoncellists -- United States -- Biography -- Sources Violoncellists -- United States -- Correspondence

Administrative Information

Accruals:

December 1986

Conditions Governing Use:

The copyright interests in these materials have not been transferred to San Diego State University. Copyright resides with the creators of materials contained in the collection or their heirs. The nature of historical archival and manuscript collections is such that copyright status may be difficult or even impossible to determine.  Requests for permission to publish must be submitted to the Head of Special Collections, San Diego State University, Library and Information Access. When granted, permission is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical item and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder(s), which must also be obtained in order to publish. Materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials.

Conditions Governing Access:

This collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation:

Identification of item, folder title, box number, Bedrich Vaska Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Library and Information Access, San Diego State University.

Related Materials:

Lida Brodenova Papers
Jan Lowenbach Papers

Arrangement of Materials:

The collection is arranged chronologically.

Scope and Contents

The collection primarily consists of correspondence, but it also includes postcards, newspaper clippings, and photographs.  Especially notable is Vaska's explanation of Bedrich Smetana's innermost, most personal feelings of Ma Vlast, which Vaska used to better explain the scores to performing musicians. This From My Life is written in Vaska's hand in Czech, Finnish, German, French, and Polish languages, as he conducted Ma Vlast in those countries.
Most of the correspondence is written in Czech, but some is also written in German, Russian, Polish, Dutch, French, Yugoslavian, English, Hungarian, Ukrainian, and Finnish.

Box 1, Folder 1

Thesis by Eleanor Jackson, the graduate Faculties of C.W. Post Center, Long Island University on a thema Bedrich Vaska, Brookville, New York May 11, 1973

Scope and Contents

two copies
Box 1, Folder 3

March 16, 1875 - July 24, 1883

Box 1, Folder 4

March 29, 1891 - November 15, 1895

Box 1, Folder 5

September 30, 1896

Box 1, Folder 6

April 12, 1897 - December 14, 1897

Box 1, Folder 7

January 11, 1898 - December 17, 1898

Box 1, Folder 8

January 21, 1898 - December 24, 1899

Box 1, Folder 9

Bedrich Vaska to Gusta Ondrickova January 12, 1900 - November 11, 1900

Box 1, Folder 10

Family correspondence January 20, 1900 - December 6, 1900

Box 1, Folder 11

Gusta Ondrickova to Bedrich Vaska January 30, 1901 - November 15, 1901

Box 1, Folder 12

Pictures of Bedrich Vaska and his friends; Bedrich Vaska to Gusta Ondrickova June 10, 1901 - December 14, 1901

Box 1, Folder 13

Post cards only from all over June 6, 1901, 1903, 1909 - June 1, 1910

Box 1, Folder 14

Bedrich Vaska to Gusta Ondrickova January 5, 1901 - August 28, 1901

Box 1, Folder 15

Bedrich Vaska to Gusta Ondrickova January 16, 1901 - December 31, 1901

Box 1, Folder 16

Gusta Ondrickova to Bedrich Vaska post cards only January 28, 1902 - December 30, 1902

Box 1, Folder 17

Gusta Ondrickova to Bedrich Vaska February 1, 1902 - November 11, 1902

Box 1, Folder 18

Family Correspondence January 17, 1902 - February 16, 1902

Box 1, Folder 19

Gusta Ondrickova to Bedrich Vaska July 15, 1902 - October 31, 1902

Box 1, Folder 20

Bedrich Vaska to Gusta Ondrickova January 12, 1902 - December 31, 1902

Box 1, Folder 21

Postcards of Plzen and Domazlice October 3 and 4, 1902

Box 1, Folder 22

Family Correspondence October 7, 1897 - February 20, 1902

Box 1, Folder 23

Postcards of Poland and Bohemia only January 6, 1903 - December 29, 1903

Box 1, Folder 24

Family Correspondence January 1, 1903 - December 19, 1903

Box 1, Folder 25

Bedrich Vaska to Gusta Ondrickova January 3, 1903 - December 31, 1903

Box 1, Folder 26

Bedrich Vaska to Gusta Ondrickova January 8, 1904 - July 23, 1904

Box 1, Folder 27

Gusta Ondrickova to Bedrich Vaska January 1, 1904 - September 21, 1904

Box 1, Folder 28

Family Correspondence March 3, 1904 - November 28, 1904

Box 1, Folder 29

Postcards of Bohemia only March 31, 1904 - October 1, 1904

Box 2, Folder 1

Postcards of Europe only February 1, 1905 - December 10, 1905

Box 2, Folder 2

Gusta Vaskova to Bedrich Vaska March 9, 1905 - June 19, 1905

Box 2, Folder 3

Bedrich Vaska to Gusta Vaskova March 7, 1905 - August 2, 1905

Box 2, Folder 4

Family Correspondence January 6, 1905 - November 26, 1905

Box 2, Folder 5

Gusta Vaskova to Bedrich Vaska January 23, 1906 - November 19, 1906

Box 2, Folder 6

Family Correspondence June 18, 1906

Box 2, Folder 7

Bedrich Vaska to Gusta Vaskova January 27, 1906 - December 6, 1906

Box 2, Folder 8

Postcards of Europe and business January 28, 1906 - December 19, 1906

Box 2, Folder 9

Gusta Vaskova to Bedrich Vaska January 21, 1907 - May 27, 1907

Box 2, Folder 10

Bedrich Vaska to Gusta Vaskova January 17, 1907 - November 28, 1907

Box 2, Folder 11

Business Postcards July 15, 1907

Box 2, Folder 12

Postcards of Europe only January 11, 1907 - December 10, 1907

Box 2, Folder 13

Business and personell postcards January 12, 1907 - October 29, 1907

Box 2, Folder 14

Gusta Vaskova to Bedrich Vaska January 10, 1908

Box 2, Folder 15

Bedrich Vaska to Gusta Vaskova January 17, 1908 - December 21, 1908

Box 2, Folder 16

Postcards of Europe only January 7, 1908 - December 11, 1908

Box 2, Folder 17

Business postcards January 24, 1908 - December 9, 1908

Box 2, Folder 18

Business Postcards January 29, 1909 - November 22, 1909

Box 2, Folder 19

Gusta Vaskova to Bedrich Vaska June 6, 1909 - November 18, 1909

Box 2, Folder 20

Bedrich Vaska to Gusta Vaskova March 30, 1909 - December 3, 1909

Box 2, Folder 21

Bedrich Vaska to Gusta Vaskova February 18, 1910; March 24, 1910

Box 2, Folder 22

Business Postcards January 1, 1910 - October 12, 1910

Box 2, Folder 23

Gusta Vaskova to Bedrich Vaska January 9, 1911 - March 23, 1911

Box 2, Folder 24

Bedrich Vaska to Gusta Vaskova January 26, 1911 - January 27, 1911

Box 2, Folder 25

Family and other correspondence March 15, 1911 - November 14, 1911

Box 2, Folder 26

Family Correspondence April 17, 1912 - November 18, 1912

Box 2, Folder 27

Family Correspondence March 12, 1913 - November 2, 1913

Box 2, Folder 28

Family Correspondence January 19, 1914 - December 8, 1914

Box 2, Folder 29

Family Correspondence February 12, 1915; November 2, 1915

Box 2, Folder 30

Family Correspondence April 16, 1916

Box 2, Folder 31

Family Correspondence February 5, 1917

Box 2, Folder 32

Family and Other Correspondence May 7, 1918 - September 12, 1918

Box 2, Folder 33

Bedrich Vaska to Gusta Vaskova September 3, 1919 - December 7, 1919

Box 2, Folder 34

Gusta Vaskova to Bedrich Vaska January 29, 1919 - December 19, 1919

Box 2, Folder 35

Family Correspondence August 30, 1919

Box 2, Folder 36

Gusta Vaskova to Bedrich Vaska January 22, 1920 - September 7, 1920

Box 2, Folder 37

Bedrich Vaska to Gusta Vaskova January 1, 1920 - May 5, 1920

Box 2, Folder 38

Family Correspondence February 3, 1920 - April 17, 1920

Box 2, Folder 39

Bedrich Vaska to Gusta Vaskova September 22, 1921 - December 9, 1921

Box 2, Folder 40

Gusta Vaskova to Bedrich Vaska June 28, 1921 - July 11, 1921

Box 2, Folder 41

Family Correspondence June 8, 1921 - November 30, 1921

Box 2, Folder 42

Bedrich Vaska to Gusta Vaskova March 3, 1922 - July 21, 1922

Box 2, Folder 43

Family Correspondence January 9, 1922 - December 2, 1922

Box 2, Folder 44

Family Correspondence January 13, 1923 - November 12, 1923

Box 2, Folder 45

Family Correspondence June 30, 1939, November 4, 1941, September 3, 1945, November 1, 1945

Box 2, Folder 46

Family Correspondence May 10, 1946 - December 31, 1946

Box 2, Folder 47

Family Correspondence September 14, 1951

Box 2, Folder 48

February 20, 1964 - February 23, 1964

Scope and Contents

Summary of Bedrich Vaska's Musical Life, J. Vlach's Quartet in USA - news clipping from "Svobodne Slove" on February 20, 1964
Box 2, Folder 49

December 22, 1978

Scope and Contents

"The Evening Gazette": -A Giant in the World -Great Cellist's Life Ended in Obscurity of a City Flat
Box 2, Folder 50

Correspondence of Gusta Vaskova, Bedrich Vaska, their family members and their friends n.d.

Box 2, Folder 51

June 1876 - February 2, 1910

Scope and Contents

-Business postcards mostly in French -envelopes, stamps, 2 unused postcards and one incomplete letter in German language addressed to Bedrich Vaska -"Ma Vlast," Vaska's handwritten explanation of the musical feeling of Smetana's symphony of the same name. Written in Czech, Finish, German, French, and Polish, and intended to help Vaska explain the symphony to the performing musicians.