Guide to the James Schwabacher Collection
ARS.0024
Finding aid prepared by Franz Kunst
Archive of Recorded Sound
Braun Music Center
541 Lasuen Mall
Stanford University
Stanford, California, 94305-3076
650-723-9312
soundarchive@stanford.edu
© 2012
The Board of Trustees of Stanford University. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: James Schwabacher Collection
Dates: 1860-2006
Collection number: ARS.0024
Creator:
Schwabacher, James
Collection size:
70 boxes
Repository:
Archive of Recorded Sound
Abstract: The James Schwabacher Collection consists of sound recordings, correspondence, scores, scrapbooks, clippings, programs, teaching
material and other papers from San Francisco philanthropist and lyric tenor James Schwabacher.
Language of Material: English
Access
Open for research; material must be requested at least two business days in advance of intended use. Contact the Archive for
assistance.
Publication Rights
Property rights reside with repository. Publication and reproduction rights reside with the creators or their heirs. To obtain
permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Head Librarian of the Archive of Recorded Sound.
Preferred Citation
James Schwabacher Collection, ARS-0024. Courtesy of the Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound, Stanford University Libraries,
Stanford, Calif.
Source
The James Schwabacher Collection was donated to the Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound by James Schwabacher in 2006.
Sponsor
This finding aid was produced with generous financial support from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
Scope and Contents
The James Schwabacher Collection consists of sound recordings, correspondence, scores, scrapbooks, photographs, programs,
teaching material and other papers from philanthropist and lyric tenor James Schwabacher (1920-2006). A tireless champion
of vocal music, Schwabacher was extremely active in the San Francisco Bay area, not only as a performer, but as a teacher,
vocal coach, and radio and television host. Perhaps most significantly, Schwabacher founded the Merola Opera Program, an annual
workshop for aspiring singers, in 1957, San Francisco Performances in 1980, and the Schwabacher Debut Recital Series in 1983.
The Schwabacher name belongs to one of San Francisco's more prestigious families: Schwabacher-Frey was a major West Coast
printer and stationer, and Schwabacher and Company was a successful investment banking firm. His grandmother Carrie, who was
a Fleishhacker before marriage, was a composer and pianist, and James grew up surrounded by music. Scrapbooks reveal regular
attendance at San Francisco Opera performances, long before he made it to the SF Opera stage himself.
After graduating from Cal in 1941, Schwabacher taught briefly at Stanford, where he conducted the Glee Club and sang in the
West Coast premiere of Britten's Peter Grimes and alongside Dorothy Warenskjold in her debut in Der Freischütz. In 1948 Schwabacher
joined the San Francisco Opera, playing fourteen roles over four seasons. Schwabacher would soon move away from opera, however,
and the majority of his years performing were in recitals and oratorios. His singing career is most notable for a twenty-five
year run as the Evangelist in The Passions of St. John and Matthew in the Carmel Bach Festival. The collection contains many
recordings from these performances, but it also covers the period where Schwabacher was teaching, mentoring and administrating
(he was president of the San Francisco Symphony Foundation and a member of their Board of Governors since 1959, and he was
also on the board of the San Francisco Opera Foundation). For more biographical information, consult the oral history by Caroline
C. Crawford titled "Renaissance Man of Bay Area Music: Tenor, Teacher, Administrator, Impresario: James H. Schwabacher, Jr."
(available at http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt987006sc).
Arrangement
The collection has been arranged into fifteen series: 1. Awards and honors ; 2. Clippings ; 3. Correspondence ; 4. Media ;
5. Merola Opera Program ; 6. Misc. papers ; 7. Notes and notebooks ; 8. Photographs ; 9. Posters ; 10. Programs ; 11. Publicity
and biographies ; 12. S.F. Symphony and Opera business ; 13. Scores ; 14. Scrapbooks and binders ; 15. Teaching materials.
Related Collections
Indexing Terms
San Francisco Opera.
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.
Schwabacher, James
Tenors (Singers)
Box 4, Box 1
1. Awards and honors
Scope and Contents
San Francisco Conservatory honorary degree 1983 ; IVI Voice Symposium plaque 2000 ; 40th and 60th Birthday tributes
Box 116, Box 2
2. Clippings
Physical Description:
2 boxes
Scope and Contents
Newspaper clippings and photocopies of reviews, profiles, etc. Includes coverage of Carmel Bach, Ojai and other festivals.
Box 4, Box 96, Box 86, Box 5
3. Correspondence
1955-2000
Physical Description:
4 boxes
Scope and Contents
Almost all incoming. Mix of personal and professional, but mostly personal (holiday and birthday cards, postcards, letters
from Sophie Schwabacher). Includes mail from Kurt Adler, Darius Milhaud, Leontyne Pryce, Sandor Salgo, Wallace Berry, Ned
Rorem, Blanche Thebom, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Ansel Adams, Bidu Sayao, and Leonard Bernstein. Many concerning Merola program,
especially its 20th anniversary.
4. Media
Physical Description:
45 boxes
451 open reel tapes ; 559 audiocassettes ; 711 instantanous discs ; 66 compact discs ; 33 videocassettes
Box 103
Compact discs and CD-Rs
Physical Description:
66 compact discs
and CD-Rs
Scope and Contents
Mix of commercially released and unpublished works. Unrelated published discs were added to regular collection. Among the
titles retained here: Allen Bond Sings Schwanengesang ; The Jewish School/Roslyn Bazak ; Traviata/NYC Opera ; Goerne/Schneider
SF Performances Recital ; Songs of Ned Rorem/Susan Graham ; Twilight Fancies/Ruth Golden ; Tosca Excerpts/Chautauqua Opera
; Joseph Merrick dit Elephant Man/Petit firard ; Kenneth Goodson Recital and Oratorio Sampler ; Robert Breault, Tenor ; Elizabeth
Anker Recital.
Box 107, Box 106, Box 105, Box 104, Box 108, Box 109, Box 110, Box 111
Instantaneous discs and custom pressings
Physical Description:
711 instantaneous discs
59 5-7" discs ; 550 8-10" discs ; 102 10.5-12" discs
Scope and Contents
Discs are in no particular order, although most multi-part sets are in sequence. Original sleeves have been retained when
information is written on them. Variety of brands, some locally recorded. Many of the 12" discs are NBC Reference discs originally
used in broadcasts. Majority are opera broadcasts, especially from the Metropolitan Opera. A partial list of these discs (dated
1939-1944) is available. There are also many Schwabacher performances and interviews (including one on KBFC from 1948 and
several KPFA airchecks), as well as Schwabacher family recordings. Other discs with local interest include recordings of a
Stanford-WSC Playoff from 3/14/41, the Tom Coakley Orchestra at the Palace Hotel over NBC on 11/15/34, the St. Francis Orchestra
in 1946, and several recordings of Schwabacher's friend Harry Owens, the Hawaiian orchestra leader. Some custom pressings
are by MacGregor and Ingram, others are unlabeled microgroove vinyl discs, possibly for teaching use. Other airchecks and
recordings, including Bing Crosby (also one custom press), Burns and Allen, Eddie Cantor, and Jack Benny, are actually from
Cynthia Schwabacher's donation from 1993-94.
Box 95
James Schwabacher, "If Music Be The Food Of Love... Recital Performances 1952-1967" (Cambria CD 1127)
2002
Physical Description:
3 compact discs
Box 113
James Schwabacher, "My Life in Music" with tapes of broadcast
Physical Description:
2 audiocassettes
Box 96, Box 94, Box 95, Box 93
Schwabacher Debut Recitals
Physical Description:
97 items
50 CD-Rs ; 47 audiocassettes
Scope and Contents
Recordings of performances from the Schwabacher Debut Recital series on cassette and CD-R, each in a manila envelope with
the singer's name and date. A few contain only the program and no recording. There are also two folders of promotional material
(programs, brochures, mailers), a folder of reviews, one folder of correspondence, and two folders of miscellaneous SDR material.
Tapes, cassette
Physical Description:
559 audiocassettes
Scope and Contents
Opera, recitals, demos, interviews, off-air recordings, lectures, classes, copies of commercial releases, etc. Relatively
few feature Schwabacher performances.
Box 103, Box 91, Box 92, Box 89, Box 90, Box 87, Box 88
cassettes 1
Physical Description:
228 audiocassettes
; 1 DAT
Scope and Contents
Selected titles: San Francisco Opera Gala 11/78 ; Leontyne Price 4/84 ; Fromm Lecture 1995 ; Opera Quiz: Tenors ; Singher
Inrterview, SFO Pelleas Broadcast 9/79 ; Piano Practice Tape ; Roberto Devereux SFO Broadcast 10/79 ; Dialogue of the Carmelites
SFO 1982 ; various Met broadcasts ; Shere, The Bride ; Boy’s Chorus Lunch for Schwabacher ; Norskog Town Hall Concert 1980
; Johansen Interview ; JHS Das Lied ist Aus ; Mildred Warenskjold Class 1982 ; Winther Anderson Memorial Concert 1982 ; Cantor
Joseph Portnoy Musical Reminiscences 1939-1986 ; Merola Memories ; Cenacolo Lectures ; Death In Venice Spring Opera Preview
1975 ; Monte Pederson Recital ; KKHI Merola Marathon ; A Guide to Pronouncing Medieval and Renaissance French.
Box 128, Box 129, Box 126, Box 125, Box 127, Box 122, Box 130, Box 124, Box 123
cassettes 2
Physical Description:
331 audiocassettes
Scope and Contents
Selected titles: Hawaiian Favorites ; San Francisco Bach Choir ; SF Opera House: Pacific Voices ; German Lessons ; Berg, Lulu
; Marc Coles Recital ; Lesson with William Pell ; Robert Swenson Radio Interview ; answering machine cassettes ; Lotte Lehman
Farewell Recital 2/16/51 ; Merola Finals ; N.Y. Auditions 1981 ; Met Finalists 1981 ; SFOA Finals ; Carmel Excerpts 1986 ;
Opening Broadcast, Tribute to KHA, with JHS 1978 ; Chanticleer Season Highlights 1990-1991 ; Merola Memories 1991 ; Hawaiian
78s ; James Schwabacher Sings Hawaiian ; James Schwabacher, Tales From the Vienna Woods ; Merola Auditions ; Joseph Ciami
Recital ; 1993 Adams Fellows ; William Corbett-Jones ; Saint Ignatius Church Gala Organ Concert ; JHS Berlioz, Te Deum ; Baroque
Arts Ensemble, SF Girls Chorus ; Opera Favorites ; William Sharp, Baritone ; DAT Transfer of JS Disc ; Jeff Carney Demo Tape
; Jose Garcia (Bass) ; Polva Frijsh ; Didi Boring's Songbook ; Bonynge - Schwabacher Interview ; Carrie Schwabacher ; A Chinese
Soprano With A Wobble ; JHS KDFC 10/31/85 ; JHS Salvation Army 1950, Stern Grove 1972 ; Dorothy Warenskjold, Jan Popper Tribute
to JHS, SF Boys Choir Luncheon 4/19/84 ; Gunnar Johansen ; Bing Day, KMPX ; JHS TRibute to Otto Guth 11/79 ; Tekanawa Interview
; Alan Farley Speaks About Discography ; Margaret Price, J. Reginald DeFoe Interviews ; San Francisco Profiles: Jim Schwabacher's
SF Opera 10/31/85 ; Il Mio Tesoro, Schipa, McCormack, Schiotz, Hackett, JHS ; JHS Informances - The American Song 3/21/96
; Lecture on Wozzeck 11/4/81 ; SF Opera Intermissions ; Men, Women, And Wagnerian Tenors, Complete Broadcast ; KKHI Musical
Quiz 11/2/90 ; Opera Preview, Henze Elegy ; Tenor, Before and After Lessons ; JHS Interviews for Schwab Song Series ; Fromm
Lectures ; SFO Stern Grove ; SF Conservatory Of Music 3/20/83 ; JHS Heather Boy Trial 10/84 ; SF Opera Gala 1978 ; My Life
In Music 1932-11/86 ; JHS Sings Poulenc ; Ferrugio Interview, Commentary ; Marie Louse's 60th Birthday ; Conversation with
Riegelman ; Haugtassa Performance, Mills ; James Schwabacher's 60th Birthday
Box 73-85, Box 131
Tapes, reel
Physical Description:
451 open reel tapes
2 12" reels ; 6 12" reels (1/2 inch tape) ; 350 7" reels ; 91 5" reels ; 3 3" reels
Scope and Contents note
The majority recordings feature Schwabacher in performance or as host. There are many recitals (some of which are airchecks
from stations such as KQED, KPFA, and KEAR), as well as auditions, studio master recordings (on half-inch tape), soundtracks,
rehearsals, and previews. Schwabacher was the host of a long-running (1968-1975) program on KKHI titled "Your Symphony: News,
Views, Previews" which aired features and interviews with such people as Josef Krips, Seiji Ozawa, Andre Watts, Placido Domingo,
the Siegel-Schwall Band (about their collaboration with Ozawa and the SF Symphony), Peggy Salkind, György Ligeti, Yehudi Menuhin,
Sandor Salgo, and Oliver Messiaen. There are many tapes from these programs, as well as audio from Schwabacher's 1958 television
program on KQED titled "History of Song." The San Francisco Opera and Symphony are well-represented in recordings, and there
are also a number of Metropolitan Opera and BBC broadcasts. The tapes are minimally annotated. A compact disc has been released
of material from Schwabacher's recitals on tape (Cambria CD-1127, also in the collection).
A sampling: Opera Jazz Group 1965 ; Tel Aviv recital 1963 ; London recital 1967 ; KPFA recitals 1955, 1957 ; 1750 Arch recital
; audition tapes (many from 1963) ; SFOA Finals 1982 ; Carmel Bach Festival ; Washington DC recital 1973 ; Cabrillo Festival
KPFA ; KQED Meistersinger 1959 ; Stalingrad ; Schumann duets 1963 ; Lesson with Riegelman 1958, 1960 (also lessons with others)
; Spring Opera Preview ; Metropolitan Opera 1951-1974, etc. ; Tristan, Covent Garden 1936 ; San Bernadino Symphony 1966 ;
Popper, San Francisco Symphony 1960 (and many other SFO) ; KEAR American Singers, Critics Choice, Opera in English, George
Livermore Interview, etc. ; Bernstein, Rosenkavalier ; KKHI Your Symphony: News, Views, Previews (NVP) 68-75 (JHS host) ;
SF City College Recital 1961 ; Musgrave, Mary Queen of Scots BBC ; Stanford Recital 1961 ; KEAR Request Program ; JHS Recording,
Coffing 1970 ; Vancouver recital 1956 ; Oakland Museum Concert 1961 ; Faust intermission, spoken excerpts ; Schubert Lieder
and Duets SF Chamber Concert 1972 ; JHS Singing 1953 ; Carmel Consort Rehearsal ; SFO 50th Anniversary, Stern Grove 8/20/72
; JHS 40th Birthday Party ; Gianni Cigna Dinner Party 1957 ; Robert Weede Last Recital 9/20/68 ; JHS Fol De Rol 1958 ; SF
Opera Debut Auditions 1957, 1963 ; Golden State Recorders recording session 1972 ; Telemusic Quiz 1973 ; SFO 25th Anniversary
Tosca with Dorothy Kirsten 11/29/70 ; History of Song 1958 ; Kiss Me Kate, Hallmark Program (TV) 11/20/58 ; St. John Passion,
New York 1963 ; KEAR Types of Voices, etc. ; SF Conservatory Lieder Recital 1959 ; Prince Orlovsky Garden Party 1972 ; Stanford
recital 1961 ; General MacArthur Speech 1951
Box 85, Box 131
Videocassettes
Physical Description:
33 videocassettes
Scope and Contents
There do not appear to be many Schwabacher performances on the videotapes. Many are semi-commercial or recorded from television
programs. A few highlights: Debut Recital Auditions ; Yi-Kwe Sze Memorial Service ; Vienna Excerpts 1982-87 ; Metropolitan
Opera ; Yehudi Menuhin Conversations ; SFO Dangerous Liasons World Premiere 9/10/94 ; Great Tenors vol. 1-2 ; Barbara Bonney
Symposium on Jenny Lind, Herbst Theatre 2000 ; Regine Crespin interview ; 1982 Anderson Memorial Concert, SFO Adler, Schwabacher
; Legendary Singers on TV ; SFO Gala 1977 ; S.V. Symphony 1994 ; Schwabacher John Callaway Interviews 1982
Box 86
5. Merola Opera Program
1981-1985
Physical Description:
5 folders
Scope and Contents
Applications and evaluations of participants in the annual Merola Opera training program.
6. Miscellaneous papers
Physical Description:
9 folder
Box 86
speech draft notebook, radio scripts, Fol De Rol cue sheets
Physical Description:
3 folders
Box 4
UCB Oral History interview transcript [printed and bound 1994]
1986
Physical Description:
1 book
Box 113
Gold Curtain, KEAR. Program Notes and Letters
1955
Physical Description:
1 folder
Scope and Contents
Scripts for Schwabacher's radio program The Gold Curtain on San Francisco station KEAR, along with correspondence from listeners.
Box 4, Box 116
misc. essays, papers, reports, periodicals
Physical Description:
4 folders
Box 112, Box 5, Box 1
7. Notes and notebooks
Physical Description:
5 folders
Scope and Contents
Various bound notepads containing notes, song lyrics, travelogues, etc. Two folders of loose notes, clippings, correspondence
and other ephemera removed from book collection in boxes 5 and 112.
Box 86, Box 1
8. Photographs
Physical Description:
2 boxes
Scope and Contents
Majority are publicity portraits, especially of Schwabacher. Some inscribed portraits of former students. Some snapshots,
family photographs (including 1920s-era Fleishhacker family photos), travel pictures (especially from Spain and North Africa,
1981), and an album of a circa-1940s costume party.
Folder 137, Folder 135, Folder 136, Folder 133, Folder 134
9. Posters
Physical Description:
5 folders
Box 116, Box 3, Box 112, Box 4, Box 5
10. Programs
Physical Description:
5 boxes
Scope and Contents
Programs, handbills, fliers, press releases, radio and television program guides, etc. Includes programs from Carmel Bach
Festival, San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Symphony, etc. A folder in box 4 contains theatre handbills from the 1860s-1880s
originally owned by James H. Schwabacher, Sr.
Box 4, Box 86
11. Publicity and biographies
Physical Description:
3 folders
Scope and Contents
Brochures, reviews, programs and handbills, N.Y. debut correspondence 1962, etc.
Box 4, Box 96
12. San Francisco Symphony and Opera business
Physical Description:
2 folders
Scope and Contents
Correspondence, memoranda, board minutes, etc.
Box 112, Box 138, Box 139, Box 6
13. Scores, annotated and inscribed
Physical Description:
4 boxes
Scope and Contents
Some are manuscripts or copies. Many are inscribed by their composer to Schwabacher (including works by Francis Poulenc, Gian
Carlo Menotti, Charles Boone, Francis Parmentier, Richard Felciano, Harry Owens, Ernst Bacon, Ellis Kohs, Frederick Jacobi,
Hans Linne, and Anthony Milner). Others are personally inscribed to Schwabacher's friend Noel Sullivan by Langston Hughes,
W.C. Handy, and Ernest Bloch. There is also the sheet music for James' grandmother Carrie Schwabacher's Philomath March.
14. Scrapbooks and binders
Physical Description:
35 scrapbooks
; 3 binders
Box 7
Music
1931-1935
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Scope and Contents note
Programs, review clippings, and ticket stubs from the San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Symphony, etc.
Box 7
Plays, Movies, Sports
1932-1935
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Scope and Contents note
Includes JHS school drama productions
Box 7
Entertainment
1934-1937
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Scope and Contents note
Mostly newspaper clippings with photographs and biographical profiles of opera stars. Also some (unpublished?) reviews written
by JHS.
Box 7, Box 86
opera scrapbooks
1936-1937
Physical Description:
2 scrapbooks
Box 7
Schwabacher clippings and programs
1946-1948
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Scope and Contents note
Chronicles Schwabacher's activity at Stanford in the late 1940s as an assistant professor in the music department, conductor
of the glee club, associate conductor of chorus, and program director for a listening party at the Tressider residence (Music
at Home series). Many clippings are from the Stanford Daily.
Box 8
Schwabacher clippings and programs 5/40-7/48
1940-1948
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Box 8
Schwabacher clippings and programs 8/48-11/50
1948-1950
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Box 8
Schwabacher clippings and programs 9/50-8/51
1950-1951
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Box 8
Schwabacher clippings and programs 8/51-11/52
1951-1952
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Box 8
Schwabacher clippings and programs 1/53-6/55
1953-1955
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Box 8
Schwabacher clippings and programs 7/55-12/56
1955-1956
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Box 9
Schwabacher clippings and programs 2-10/57
1957
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Box 9
Schwabacher clippings and programs 11/57-1/59
1957-1959
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Box 9
Schwabacher clippings and programs 1/59-7/60
1959-1960
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Box 9
Schwabacher clippings and programs 7/60-5/61
1960-1961
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Box 9
Schwabacher clippings and programs 5-12/61
1961
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Box 9
Schwabacher clippings and programs 1-2/62
1962
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Box 10
Schwabacher clippings and programs 2/62-3/63
1962-1963
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Box 10
Schwabacher clippings and programs 5/63-6/64
1963-1964
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Box 10
Schwabacher clippings and programs 6/64-4/65
1964-1965
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Box 10
Schwabacher clippings and programs 4-10/65
1965
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Box 10
Schwabacher clippings and programs 10/65-7/66
1965-1966
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Box 10
Schwabacher clippings and programs 8/66-6/67
1966-1967
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Box 11
Schwabacher clippings and programs 7-12/67
1967
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Box 11
Schwabacher clippings and programs 2-12/68
1968
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Box 11
Schwabacher clippings and programs 1-12/69
1969
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Box 11
Schwabacher clippings and programs 1/70-11/71
1970-1971
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Box 11
Schwabacher clippings and programs 1/72-12/73
1972-1973
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Box 12
Schwabacher clippings and programs 1-9/74
1974
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Box 12
Schwabacher clippings and programs 10/74-3/76
1974-1976
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Box 12
Schwabacher clippings and programs 4/76-7/78
1976-1978
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Box 13
Schwabacher clippings and programs 7/78-4/80
1978-1980
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Box 13
Schwabacher clippings and programs 5-8/80
1980
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Box 13
Merola 20th Anniversary
1982
Physical Description:
1 scrapbook
Box 4
Merola Memorial Fund/The Early Days binder
1956-1970
Physical Description:
1 folder
Box 4
Spring Opera binder
1960-1964
Physical Description:
1 folder
Box 4
Spring Opera Promotions binder
1978
Physical Description:
1 folder
Box 115, Box 114, Box 4, Box 113, Box 86, Box 116
15. Teaching material
Physical Description:
6 boxes
Scope and Contents
Notes, articles, scores, scripts, audiocassettes, etc. Most are in manila envelopes pertaining to a single work. Particular
focus on Verdi, Wagner, Mozart, and Strauss. There are also folders on French pronunciation, humor, and the history of opera
in San Francisco. Classes include S.F. Girl's Chorus lectures, an Eastman masterclass from 1985, and San Francisco Performances
"Informances."
