The collection consists of autographed manuscripts of orchestral works, operas, songs, and chamber music; reel to reel recordings of performances; full scores and parts not necessarily in the composer's own hand; and numerous items of correspondence to and from the composer.

Eugene Zador was born on November 5, 1894, in Bataszek, Hungary. He studied under Richard Heuberger at the Vienna Conservatory (1911) and under Max Reger in Leipzig (1912-14). After completing his doctoral degree at the University of Münster, he returned to Vienna, where he taught at the New Vienna Conservatory through the 1920s. While there, he composed (among other works) a symphony and two operas (both produced by the Budapest Royal Opera). In 1934, he became an honorary professor at the Budapest Academy of Music. Zador was one of many composers with European roots who emigrated to the United States in the 1930s and 1940s, settled in Los Angeles, and made a living in motion pictures while continuing to write music for the concert hall. Unlike Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Franz Waxman, and Miklos Rozsa, however, Zador's original work for films was sparse--and mostly uncredited. Instead, he earned his living in Hollywood as an orchestrator, turning detailed "sketches" by other composers into full orchestral scores. From 1941 to 1963, he worked almost exclusively for Rozsa, who admired his fellow Hungarian's skill so much that he made keeping Zador as his orchestrator a condition of his first contract with M-G-M in 1948. Zador orchestrated over 120 film scores for Hollywood in all. While working as an orchestrator, Zador continued to compose prolifically for the concert hall; and, upon his retirement from that industry in 1963, he devoted himself full-time to composition and never ceased writing music until his death on April 4,1977. His final catalogue comprised numerous works for orchestra, several operas, chamber music, piano pieces, choral works, songs, and various concertos for what he liked to call "underprivileged" instruments--including trombone, cimbalom, double bass, and accordion.

73.7 linear feet (148 boxes)

Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library Special Collections. Literary 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.

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