Leland Bard collection on Michael Seyfrit, 1970-1992

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Summary

Creators:
Seyfrit, Michael, 1947-1994 and Bard, Leland
Abstract:
Musical compositions and published writings by composer Michael Seyfrit (1947-1994), including four instrumental compositions, a guide to the Dayton C. Miller Flute Collection at the Library of Congress, and the piano and vocal scores and other materials relating to the musical The Desert Peach, written with Donna Barr and T. Brian Wagner.
Extent:
1 archive box. 0.4 ft.
Language:
Languages represented in the collection: English
Preferred citation:

Folder #, Leland Bard collection on Michael Seyfrit, Coll2006-007, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists of published musical scores and writings by composer and instrumentalist Michael Seyfrit. A significant portion of the collection consists of materials relating to the 1990 musical The Desert Peach, concerning the gay brother of German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, for which Seyfrit composed the music, with book and lyrics by Donna Barr and T. Brian Wagner. The collection also contains scores to four instrumental compositions, written between 1970 and 1976, and Seyfrit s published guide to the Dayton C. Miller Flute Collection at the Library of Congress.

Biographical / historical:

Michael Seyfrit, composer, instrumentalist, writer, and teacher, was born in Lawrence, Kansas, on December 16, 1947, and was raised in Pasco, Washington, and Piqua, Ohio. He earned a B.Mus. and an M.Mus at the University of Kansas, a second M.Mus. at The Julliard School (1972), and a D.M.A. at the University of Southern California (1974). Seyfrit did research and historical orchestrations for the Smithsonian Institution s Divisions of Musical Instruments and Performing Arts, and served as a curator of musical instruments at the Library of Congress for four years, during which time he compiled volume 1 of the catalogue of musical instruments in the Dayton C. Miller Flute Collection (1982). He also wrote the articles on woodwind instruments for the 1986 edition of The New Harvard Dictionary of Music. As a composer, Seyfrit received the Charles Ives Scholarship from the national Academy of Arts and Letters. Seyfrit was also active as an instrumentalist on recorder, baroque oboe, and baroque flute, and performed and recorded with the Smithsonian Chamber Players, as well as Hesperus, Wondrous Machine, the Berkeley Collegium Musicum, the Portland Baroque Orchestra, and the Early Music Guild of Oregon. He spent his final years working as a computer programmer. He died of AIDS in Portland, Oregon, on May 29, 1994, at the age of 46.

Source:

The Estate Project for Artists with Aids, http://www.artistswithaids.org/artforms/music/catalogue/seyfrit.html, accessed on December 19, 2006.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Leland Bard, June 29, 2002.
Processing information:

Collection processed by Michael P. Palmer, December 20, 2006.

Processing this collection has been funded by a generous grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open to researchers. There are no access restrictions.

Terms of access:

Researchers wishing to publish materials must obtain permission in writing from ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives as the physical owner. Researchers must also obtain clearance from the holder(s) of any copyrights in the materials. Note that ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives can grant copyright clearance only for those materials for which we hold the copyright. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain copyright clearance for all other materials directly from the copyright holder(s).

Preferred citation:

Folder #, Leland Bard collection on Michael Seyfrit, Coll2006-007, ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California.

Location of this collection:
909 West Adams Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90007, US
Contact:
(213) 821-2771
askone@usc.edu
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