Girard-Farwig Collection, 1932-1979

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Summary

Title:
Girard-Farwig Collection
Dates:
1932-1979
Abstract:
The Girard-Farwig Collection consists unpublished recordings of opera, vocal and orchestral music from the collection of Victor Girard and Stan Farwig.
Extent:
20 boxes : 567 open reel tapes (49 5" reels ; 518 7" reels) ; 20 folders
Language:
Multiple languages
Preferred citation:

Girard-Farwig Collection, ARS-0125. Courtesy of the Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

Background

Scope and content:

The Girard-Farwig Collection consists unpublished recordings of opera, vocal and orchestral music from the collection of Victor Girard and Stan Farwig. Girard and Farwig were discographers and researchers who lived and worked together in Oakland, California. As with many such collections, recordings were obtained from a network of traders and collectors, and many tapes were originally recorded from radio broadcasts (such as KPFA and KKHI, locally). Some are copies from commercial issues; however there are several RCA Victor tapes that appear to be pre-production reference dubs, with notes about the recording quality on the tape boxes. Original concert programs are enclosed with some tapes. The collection features works by composers such as Bellini, Berlioz, Busoni, Donizetti, Janacek, Mozart, Puccini, Rossini, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, and Wagner, as well as more contemporary works such as Joplin's Treemonisha, Berg's Lulu and Wozzeck, and Milhaud's Bolivar.

Aside from 78 transfers, the collection's earliest recording is the San Francisco Opera production of Tosca from October 15th, 1932. There are also SFO Toscas from 1965, 1970 (several from the same run), 1972, and 1976. Other San Francisco Opera and Symphony recordings include Rossini's La Cenerentola, Janacek's Jenufa, Berlioz' Les Troyens, Schuller's Visitation (with a jazz group including John Handy and Mike Nock), Puccini's Manon Lescault, Madame Butterfly and La Boheme, Verdi's Aida and Un Ballo in Maschera, Stravinsky's Rake's Progress, Strauss' Rosenkavalier, Milhaud's Christopher Columbus, and Schoenberg's Ewartung. Other prominently featured performances are by Toscanini and the NBC Symphony, the Oakland Symphony, and the Cincinnati Symphony. Girard and Farwig appeared to be especially big fans of Dorothy Kirsten as well, and among the many recordings of her singing there are three reels of a KPFA biographical feature.

Acquisition information:
The Girard-Farwig Collection was donated to the Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound by Michael Hertz in 2003.
Processing information:

This finding aid was produced with generous financial support from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

Rules or conventions:
Prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Finding aid prepared by Franz Kunst
Date Prepared:
© 2012
Date Encoded:
Produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2012-04-04T16:07-0700

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for research; material must be requested at least two business days in advance of intended use. Contact the Archive for assistance.

Terms of access:

Property rights reside with repository. Publication and reproduction rights reside with the creators or their heirs. To obtain permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Head Librarian of the Archive of Recorded Sound.

Preferred citation:

Girard-Farwig Collection, ARS-0125. Courtesy of the Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

Location of this collection:
Braun Music Center, 541 Lasuen Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-3076, US
Contact:
(650) 723-9312
soundarchive@stanford.edu
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