Conditions Governing Access
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Conditions Governing Use
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
Processing Note
UCLA Catalog Record ID
Biography
Scope and Content
Arrangement
Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Eric Zeisl papers
Creator:
Zeisl, Eric, 1905-1959
Identifier/Call Number: PASC-M.0029
Physical Description:
31 Linear Feet
(62 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1862-1987
Date (bulk): 1925-1959
Abstract: Zeisl's music manuscripts, published
scores, correspondence, documents, recordings, and other materials.
Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access
special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on
this page.
Language of Material:
English .
Conditions Governing Access
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in
advance using the request button located on this page.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
CONTAINS UNPROCESSED AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS: Audiovisual materials are not currently
available for access and will require further processing and assessment. If you have
questions about this material please email spec-coll@library.ucla.edu.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights to the physical objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All
other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the
responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the
copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not
hold the copyright.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Eric Zeisl papers (Collection Number PASC 29-M). UCLA Library
Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Gertrude Zeisl, 1975. Gift of Barbara Zeisl Schoenberg.
Processing Note
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make
them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and
resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level
of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts
more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to
national and local standards and best practices.
Processed by Library Special Collections staff. Additions to collection processed in 2010
by Nina Sholtz in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT).
The processing of this collection was generously supported by
Arcadia
funds.
UCLA Catalog Record ID
Biography
Zeisl was born in Vienna on May 18, 1905. A student of Richard Stöhr, Joseph Marx and Hugo
Kauder, Zeisl achieved early recognition, publishing his first songs at the age of 16 and
winning the Austrian State Prize in 1934 for the Requiem concertante (1933-1934). He was
compelled to leave Austria and went first to Paris (1938) and then to the USA (1939). He
moved from New York to Hollywood to work for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1941), then settled in Los
Angeles and became professor of theory and composition at Los Angeles City College in 1949.
His gifts for melody, orchestration and dramatic expression were first developed in the
songs of his Austrian years. Evident in his other Austrian compositions are the variation
techniques and contrapuntal textures that would become lifelong preoccupations. In the USA,
where he produced roughly half of his output, he abandoned song in order to devote more
attention to instrumental pieces, sacred music and especially dramatic works, which
powerfully express his Jewish heritage. Throughout his career he derived his large forms
principally from those of the Baroque and Classical periods, but after his emigration
earlier Austro-German Romantic elements were replaced by a combination of soaring,
cantillation-like melodies, modal harmonies, metric shifts, flexible rhythmic patterns and
dark orchestral colours. Zeisl died in Los Angeles on Feb. 18, 1959.
Scope and Content
The collection consists of Zeisl's music manuscripts, published scores, correspondence,
documents, recordings, and other materials. It also includes correspondence and papers of
the family of Gertrude Jellinek Zeisl, Eric Zeisl's wife.
Arrangement
The collection is organized into the following series:
- Series 1. Manuscripts
- Series 2. Miscellaneous Printed Material
- Series 3. Zeisl's Professional Library
- Series 4. Clippings and Programs
- Series 5. Correspondence and Family Papers
- Series 6. Photographic Material
- Series 7. Miscellaneous and Realia
- Series 8. Sound Recordings
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Composers -- California -- Los Angeles -- Archives.
Zeisl, Eric, 1905-1959
Zeisl, Gertrude S.