Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Paci, Mario, Zaharoff, Floria Paci, and Zaharoff, Alex
- Abstract:
- Articles, correspondence, photographs, drawings, programs, newspaper clippings, and musical scores and compositions related to the pianist and conductor Mario Paci (1878-1946), who founded the Shanghai Symphony orchestra.
- Extent:
- 3 Linear Feet : 2 manuscript boxes, 3 flat boxes, 1 map folder
- Language:
- Multiple languages and Languages in the collection include in English, Italian, Dutch, French, German, and Chinese.
- Preferred citation:
-
[identification of item], Mario Paci papers (M1917). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The collection includes correspondence to and from Paci and his family, including his first wife, soprano Elizabeth Mackenzie, his second wife Sara (Hillen) Paci, and his daughter, Floria (Paci) Zaharoff. There are also articles, concert programs, documents, photographs, drawings, newspaper clippings, manuscript compositions by Paci, and published musical scores dedicated to Paci by fellow musicians. There are also drafts for Floria Paci Zaharoff's book "The daughter of the maestro: life in Surabya, Shanghai and Florence."
- Biographical / historical:
-
Mario Paci was born in Florence on 4 June 4, 1878. He studied piano at the Conservatorio di Musica S. Pietro a Majella in Naples, under the tutelage of Giovanni Sgambati in Rome, and conducting and composition at the Conservatorio di Musica Giuseppe Verdi in Milan. After winning the Franz Liszt Prize in 1895 he performed frequently on piano throughout Europe. In 1918 on an Asian tour, he arrived in Shanghai, where he remained several months due to a severe illness. He eventually was approached to form an orchestra to perform European works for the large community of Western businessmen and government officials living in Shanghai at the time. He reorganized the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra in 1919, augmented by players whom he recruited primarily from Italy with the support of the Shanghai Municipal Council. The orchestra was the first major introduction of Western music into the cultural life of China. The audiences and the orchestra were both composed entirely of Europeans, but Paci gradually opened up membership in the orchestra, and eventually the audience, to native Chinese despite considerable opposition from local authorities and officials.
Paci also taught music to Chinese living in Shanghai, and also aided Cai Yuanpei to establish the National School for Music in 1927, which became the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 1956. When the Japanese occupied China in World War II, Paci was forced to resign as conductor, which eventually led to the dissolution of the orchestra. Paci was unable to continue his career as a musician in China and died on August 3, 1946. Paci was a tyrannical conductor known for his temper in rehearsals, but he is credited with raising the level of musical performance to a high degree in Asia, where Western music had no tradition and was generally not known or practiced except by foreigners.
- Acquisition information:
- Gift of Floria Paci Zaharoff and Alex Zaharoff, 2012-2017.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
The materials are open for research and must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use.
- Terms of access:
-
While Special Collections is the owner of the physical and digital items, permission to examine collection materials is not an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any transmission or reproduction beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or assigns.
- Preferred citation:
-
[identification of item], Mario Paci papers (M1917). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
- Location of this collection:
-
Department of Special Collections, Green Library557 Escondido MallStanford, CA 94305-6004, US
- Contact:
- (650) 725-1022