Guide to the Mario Paci Papers M1917

Department of Special Collections and University Archives
August 2015 ; revised 2017
Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford 94305-6064
specialcollections@stanford.edu


Language of Material: Multiple languages
Contributing Institution: Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: Mario Paci papers
creator: Paci, Mario
source: Zaharoff, Floria Paci
source: Zaharoff, Alex
Identifier/Call Number: M1917
Physical Description: 3 Linear Feet : 2 manuscript boxes, 3 flat boxes, 1 map folder
Date (inclusive): 1897-2002
Language of Material: Languages in the collection include in English, Italian, Dutch, French, German, and Chinese.
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.

Access to Collection

The materials are open for research and must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use.

Preferred Citation

[identification of item], Mario Paci papers (M1917). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

Biographical note

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.

Scope and Contents

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."

Conditions Governing Use

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.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Conductors (Music) -- Italy -- Biography.
Conductors (Music) -- China -- Biography.
Conductors (Music) -- Biography.
Zaharoff, Floria Paci
Paci, Mario
Shanghai jiao xiang yue tuan
Zaharoff, Floria Paci
Zaharoff, Alex

box 1, folder 1

Mario Paci: articles

box 1, folder 2

Mario Paci: correspondence

box 1, folder 3

Floria Paci: correspondence

box 1, folder 4

Floria Paci Zaharoff. Correspondence with Cai and Melvin 2000-2002

box 1, folder 5

Programs Undated

box 1, folder 6

Programs 1901-1919

box 1, folder 7

Programs 1920-1939

box 1, folder 8

Programs 1940-1946

box 1, folder 9

newspaper clippings - translations

box 1, folder 10

newspaper clippings, undated

box 1, folder 11

newspaper clippings 1902-1952

flat-box 3, folder 1

newspaper clippings (photocopies)

box 1, folder 12

Mario Paci: fliers, announcements etc.

box 1, folder 13

Academia Santa Caecilia Document 1897

box 1, folder 14

The China Critic (see p. 455: Triumphs of Mario Paci) 1933-05-04

box 1, folder 15

Robert Bickers. "The Greatest Cultural Asset East of Suez." offprint

box 1, folder 16

Floria Paci Zaharoff. Book drafts

box 1, folder 17

Watercolor 1910

box 2, folder 4

Mozart. Piano Concerto no. 20 in D major, K. 466. Cadenza by Mario Paci Piano part, annotated

box 2, folder 5

Mozart. Piano Concerto no. 20 in D major, K. 466. Ms. parts, incomplete

box 2, folder 6

Insulinde for women's chorus and string orchestra

box 2, folder 7

Alla Menuetto for string orchestra

box 2, folder 8

Mario Paci. Alleluja for mixed chorus (4 voices)

box 2, folder 9

Songs for Floria Zaharoff

box 2, folder 10

Mario Paci. "A la triste histoire"

box 2, folder 11

Mario Paci. "Heimwee"

box 2, folder 12

Mario Paci. "Ich bin so miid"

box 2, folder 13

Mario Paci. "Ich heb je lief"

box 2, folder 14

Mario Paci. "Im Volkston"

box 2, folder 15

Mario Paci. "Nacht"

box 2, folder 16

Mario Paci. "Panteismo"

box 2, folder 17

Mario Paci. "Sognai"

box 2, folder 18

Mario Paci. "Wier wuszten beide dasz es Sunde war"

box 2, folder 19

The 120th Anniversary Album of Shanghai Symphony Orchestra (1879-1999)

flat-box 3, folder 2

Broadsheet-sized announcement (German): April 1, 1910, Leipzig. Performance, with Mario Paci, klavier. (Very fragile). 1910-04-01

flat-box 3, folder 3

Certificate of Qualification, Surabajan Art Society, July 7, 1910, announcing Mario Paci as a member of honour. [In Dutch, accompanying page has rough translation] 1910-07-07

box 4, folder 1

Correspondence to Mario Paci

box 4, folder 2

Piano pedagogy and technical studies

box 4, folder 4

Carabella, Ezio. Andante con variazioni. Miniature score

box 4, folder 5

Casella, Alfredo. La donna serpente. Miniature score

box 4, folder 6

Parelli, Attilio. Symphony, C minor. Miniature score

box 4, folder 7

Rocca, Lodovico. Interludio Epico. Miniature score

box 4, folder 8

Vlachos, George T. V., Jr. My First Composition, dedicated to Paci

box 4, folder 9

Mario Paci (?) Broeders, vormt den Broeder-Keten. Ms. song

box 4, folder 10

Aaron Avshalomov. Imitations of Bach's Little Preludes and Fuges "in Chinese idiom" Ms

box 4, folder 11

Bach. Suites, cello, no. 3, C major arranged for piano by Leopold Godowsky, dedicated to Paci

box 4, folder 12

Beethoven. Sonatas, piano, op. 26, A-flat major. Dedication by

box 4, folder 13

Chopin. Preludes fingering by Cortot

box 4, folder 14

Lovreglio. 3 Etudes-Impromptu and Dessins Animés. Signed

box 4, folder 15

Riccardo Pick-Mangiagalli. Deux Lunaires

box 4, folder 16

Respighi. Notturno and Antiche danze ed arie arranged for piano

box 4, folder 17

Sgambati. Étude Mélodique, op. 21, no. 5

box 2, folder 1

photographs - family & travel

box 2, folder 2

photographs, including some inscribed to Paci

box 2, folder 3

photograph from EJAS

box 4, folder 3

photographs

box 6, folder 1

photographs - dogs

box 6, folder 2

stereographs - 4 small portraits of woman

box 6, folder 3

page from scrapbook with 12 identified photographs

box 6, folder 4

photographs - Mario Paci

box 6, folder 5

stereographs - Paci and others in Java, Borobudur, Sumatra, etc. (some numbered)

box 6, folder 6

stereographs - one captioned Hong Kong 1921

box 6, folder 7

stereographs - seaside

box 6, folder 8

stereographs - groups of people

box 6, folder 9

stereographs - children

map-folder 5

oversize