Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Wagner (Joseph) Papers
0029
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Pepperdine University. Special Collections and University Archives.
Title: Joseph Wagner Papers
Identifier/Call Number: 0029
Physical Description:
15.29 Linear Feet
(21 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1923-1974
Abstract: The collection contains materials created by, collected by, and about conductor and composer Joseph Wagner. Materials include
music scores; symphony orchestra sheet music; loose music manuscripts; vinyl records; audio and video recordings; subject
and correspondence files; photographs; Wagner's publications; and colorful sheet music covers. Items range in date from approximately
the 1923 to the 1974.
Advance notice required for access.
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.
[Box/folder# or item name], Joseph Wagner Papers, Collection no. 0029, Special Collections and University Archives, University
Libraries, Pepperdine University.
Joseph Frederick Wagner was born on January 9, 1900, in Springfield, Massachusetts. He was a composer, conductor, and author.
He started piano lessons at the age of 8. Wagner graduated from Technical High School in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1918,
then served in the United States Army from 1918 to 1919. After leaving the army, he studied piano full-time with Felix Fox
and studied organ with Louis Whilemann. He attended the New England Conservatory of Music, graduating in 1923 and receiving
the Encidott Prize in composition. In 1924, he was appointed Assistant Director of Music in Boston Public Schools, then founded
the Boston Civic Symphony in 1925. He served as the conductor for the Boston Civic Symphony for eighteen years.
Beginning in 1929, Wagner held a teaching position at Boston University (as an instructor for orchestration and band scoring)
and simultaneously studied to earn his Mus.B. degree in composition, which he received in 1932. In the 1930s and 1940s, Wagner
traveled making guest conducting appearances and studying. He studied in Paris from 1934 to 1935, under Nadia Boulanger and
Alfredo Casella for composition, and under Pierre Monteux and Felix Weingartner for conducting. He also wrote ballets while
abroad, including the
Dance Divertissement and
Hudson River Legend. In 1945, Wagner was made Special Instructor at Hunter College, and in 1946 became an assistant professor at Brooklyn College
in New York.
Wagner served as the resident conductor of the Duluth Symphony from 1947 to 1950, and then spent approximately a decade writing
and conducting around the world. From 1950 to 1954, he lived in Costa Rica serving as the Musical Director of the Oquesta
Sinfonica Nacional de Costa Rica -- he was recognized with an honorary doctorate degree in 1953 because he was the first American
to be a permanent conductor of a Latin American orchestra. Wagner conducted at appearances in Cuba, Canada, Chile, Finland,
Panama, Sweden, and other countries. He was also the first native-born American to conduct as a guest director of the Orquesta
Filharmonica De Habana in 1949, presenting the first American program performed in the Cuban capital.
Wagner published two music books,
Orchestration: A Practical Handbook and
Band Scoring, as well as two accompanying workbooks. He moved to California in 1959 after receiving a grant from the Huntington Hartford
Foundation, and was appointed head of the Theory Department of the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music in 1960. In 1963, he
was appointed Composer-in-Residence of Pepperdine University, and stayed there for a decade. Wagner died in Los Angeles,
California on October 12, 1974.
The collection is organized into the following series: 1. Subject Files; 2. Audio Reels; 3. Film Reels; 4. Symphony Parts;
and 5. Record Albums. Within each series, materials are arranged alphabetically.
The collection contains materials created by, collected by, and about conductor and composer Joseph Wagner. Materials include
music scores composed by Wagner and collections of scores by others; bundles of symphony orchestra sheet music parts for musicians;
loose sheets of music manuscripts (like drafts, or with notes); vinyl record albums of Wagner's work and other music; recordings
of Wagner's compositions on magnetic audio reels; video reel recordings from Wagner's travels; subject files and unorganized
papers including programs, correspondence, newspaper clippings, publicity, and other items; photographs and photograph albums
of pictures of Wagner's and also groups of photographs of other musicians with personal inscriptions given to Wagner; workbooks
and books written by Wagner; and a small collection of colorful sheet music. Items range in date from approximately the 1923
to the 1974.
Collections with materials related to music include the Pepperdine University Performing and Fine Arts collection 0081 and
the Blanche Ebert and Frank R. Seaver papers 0008 (Blanche Seaver was a pianist and composer).
The finding aid was created by Jamie Henricks in March, 2013. The collection was further arranged and described by Melanie
Greer and Rachel White in February, 2015, under the supervision of Katie Richardson.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Programs
Universities and colleges -- Faculty
Conductors (Music) -- United States
Sheet music
Composers -- United States
Orchestral music
Photograph albums
Photographs
Correspondence
Fliers (Printed matter)
Brochures
Clippings
Advertisements
Articles
Wagner, Joseph
Pepperdine University
Pepperdine College