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Zeisl (Eric) Papers
PASC-M.0029  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • 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

    UCLA Catalog Record ID: 6107219 

    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.