Eric Simon Correspondence
Finding aid prepared by Performing Arts Special Collections staff: reprocessed by Keri Marken with assistance from Julie Graham,
September 2014; machine-readable finding aid created by Caroline Cubé.
UCLA Library Special Collections
Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1575
(310) 825-4988
spec-coll@library.ucla.edu
©2014 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Title: Eric Simon correspondence
Collection number: PASC-M 128
Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
1.2 linear ft.
(3 boxes)
Date: 1927-1985
Abstract: Eric Simon was an Austrian-born American clarinetist, conductor, music editor, teacher, and composer. He was a prolific correspondent
regarding both business and personal matters. The collection consists of 300-plus letters to and from Simon and various composers,
performers, conductors, musicologists, and publishers.
Language of Materials: Mostly English and German, with a small amount in French and Spanish.
Physical Location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library Special
Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Restrictions on Access
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Library Special
Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright
and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Eric Simon Correspondence (Collection PASC-M 128). Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young
Research Library, UCLA.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Purchase, 1995.
Biography/History
Eric Simon was born in Vienna on October 2, 1907. He began studying piano when he was 8 years old, playing the clarinet at
14 and conducting in his 20s. While studying for his doctorate in law and economics he studied clarinet, piano, and music
theory. He was closely associated with the Schoenberg circle and frequently performed with Rudolf Kolisch and Eduard Steuerman.
He worked for the Vienna music publisher, Universal-Edition.
Simon emigrated to the United States in 1938 where he became the assistant of conductor Fritz Stiedry. During the 1940s he
worked as a music editor with Edward B. Marks, published arrangements and transcriptions of music for clarinet, and taught
at Mannes College of Music and other schools. He also taught/advised Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw. During the 1950s and 1960s
he organized a series of contemporary music concerts in New York City, which brought him in contact with many composers and
performers. During his career, Simon played clarinet for orchestras led by Leonard Bernstein, Pablo Casals and Leopold Stokowski.
Upon his retirement he devoted himself to composition. Eric Simon died on October 8, 1994 in Connecticut.
Scope and Content
The collection consists of correspondence related to the career of musician, composer, and conductor Eric Simon. Included
are 300-plus letters to and from Simon and various composers, performers, conductors, musicologists, and publishers, including,
but not limited to, Ernst Krenek, Erich Leinsdorf, Darius Milhaud, Rudolf Serkin, Roger Sessions, and many others. A small
number of files contain correspondence about a particular individual, and do not include letters from that individual. The
correspondence documents the contemporary music scene in New York, during the postwar years. The bulk of the collection represents
composers and performers. Letters are largely written in English and German, with a small amount in French and Spanish. Additionally,
a small number of files contain ephemera.
Organization and Arrangement
The collection is arranged in the following series: Series 1. Composers; Series 2. Performers; Series 3. Conductors; Series
4. Musicologists, Critics, and Writers; Series 5. Music Publishers; Series 6. Unidentified Correspondence; Series 7. Ephemera.
UCLA Catalog Record ID
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Musicians--Archives.
Musicians--Correspondence.
Composers
Scope and Content
The series consists of letters to and from Simon and composers such as Jan Meyerowitz and Leopold Mannes. The files for Alban
Berg, Hanns Eisler, Carl Maria von Weber, and Anton Webern only contain correspondence about the individual. The series is
arranged alphabetically by correspondent’s last name.
Box 1
Aharonian, Antaram (1 item)
1958
Box 2
Barber, Samuel (2 items)
1957
Box 2
[Berg, Alban] (9 items)
1971, 1975, 1977
Scope and Content Note
Correspondence to and from Eric Simon about Berg. No correspondence to/from Berg himself.
Box 2
Borris, Siegried (5 items)
1958, undated
Box 1
Bowman, Carl (1 item)
1959
Box 2
Cone, Edward (11 items)
1942
Box 1
Copland, Aaron (1 item)
1957
Scope and Content Note
Contains ephemera only.
Box 2
Csonka, Paul (4 items)
1961
Box 2
[Eisler, Hanns] (6 items)
1963, undated
Scope and Content
Correspondence to and from Eric Simon about Eisler. No correspondence to/from Eisler himself.
Box 1
Filippi, Amedeo (1 item)
1958
Box 3
Foss, Lukas (1 item)
1942
Box 3
Gál, Hans (8 items)
1938, 1980-1981
Box 3
Goodman, Joseph Magnus (1 item)
undated
Scope and Content
Contains ephemera only.
Box 3
Hijman, Julius (9 items)
1957-1958
Scope and Content Note
Includes ephemera.
Box 3
Heiden, Bernhard (2 items)
1957
Box 1
Ginastera, Alberto (1 item)
1966
Box 3
Krenek, Ernst (23 items)
1941, 1943-1944, 1947, 1965, 1976-1978, 1980
Scope and Content Note
Includes clippings.
Box 3
Lang, Walter (3 items)
1957
Box 1
Ley, Salvador (4 items)
1960; undated
Scope and Content Note
Contains ephemera only.
Box 3
Mannes, Leopold (21 items)
1952-1957, 1966-1973
Scope and Content
Correspondence between Simon and Mannes. Also includes correspondence with others regarding Mannes.
Box 3
Mersson, Boris (10 items)
1958-1959
Scope and Content
Correspondence between Simon and Mersson. Also includes correspondence with others regarding Mersson.
Box 3
Meyerowitz, Jan (94 items)
1951-1965
Scope and Content
Includes ephemera.
Box 3
Milhaud, Darius (32 items)
1938-1942, 1961
Box 3
Roetscher, Konrad (11 items)
1958-1959
Box 3
Rochberg, George (5 items)
1957-1958
Box 3
Santoro, Claude (5 items)
1957
Scope and Content Note
Correspondence between Simon and Santoro. Also includes correspondence with others regarding Santoro. Includes ephemera.
Box 3
Sessions, Roger (7 items)
1947-1948
Box 3
Shifrin, Seymour (2 items)
1959
Box 3
Siegmeister, Elie (1 item)
1958
Box 1
Simon, Netty
1959
Scope and Content Note
Contains ephemera only.
Box 3
Thomson, Virgil (1 item)
1942
Box 3
Uhl, Alfred (7 items)
1968
Box 3
Wagner, Joseph Frederick (10 items)
1957-1959
Scope and Content
Includes ephemera.
Box 3
[Weber, Carl Maria von] (8 items)
1947-1948, 1951
Scope and Content
Correspondence to and from Eric Simon about Weber. No correspondence to/from Weber himself.
Box 3
[Webern, Anton] (38 items)
1967-1979
Scope and Content
Correspondence to and from Eric Simon about Webern. No correspondence to/from Webern himself.
Box 3
Wiener, Ivan (1 item)
1958
Performers
Scope and Content
The series consists of letters to and from Simon and performers such as Anastasio Flores Garcia and Peter Stadlen. The file
for Marguerite Willauer only contains correspondence about the individual. The series is arranged alphabetically by correspondent’s
last name.
Box 2
Collier, Gilman (1 item)
1959
Box 2
Flores Garcia, Anastasio (33 items)
1957-1963
Box 2
Grossman, George (1 item)
1958
Box 2
Herbert, Ralph (1 item)
1959
Box 2
Kohon, Harold (1 item)
1958
Box 2
Kolisch, Rudolf (1 item)
1940
Box 2
Kooper, Kess (1 item)
1960
Box 2
Kurka, May (1 item)
undated
Box 2
Lamneck, Esther (63 items)
1970-1979, 1981-1985, undated
Scope and Content Note
With a small amount of correspondence about Lamneck, between Simon and Robert Listokin. With clippings and promotional materials.
Box 2
Levy, Gerardo (19 items)
1957-1958
Box 2
O'brien, James (3 items)
1956
Box 2
Polatschek, Victor (8 items)
1947-1948
Box 2
Raieff, Joseph (3 items)
1957
Box 2
Réti, Rudolph (2 items)
1957
Scope and Content Note
Appears to be correspondence between Simon and Jean Sahlmark Réti.
Box 2
Serkin, Rudolf (11 items)
1954-1955, 1960
Box 2
Stadlen, Peter (21 items)
1938-1940, 1977
Box 2
Sten, Suzanne (1 item)
1941
Box 2
Swarthout, Gladys (2 items)
1941
Box 2
Thomas, John Charles (1 item)
1950
Box 2
Tudor, David (1 item)
1959
Box 2
Versé, Vittorio (2 items)
1958-1959
Box 2
[Willauer, Marguerite] (1 item)
1958
Scope and Content Note
Correspondence from Ludwig Lustig to Simon re: Willhauer.
Box 2
Wittgenstein, Paul (19 items)
1948, 1952, 1956-1959
Box 2
Zighéra, Bernard (1 item)
1942
Conductors
Scope and Content
The series consists of letters to and from Simon and conductors such as Otto Klemperer, Harold Byrns, and Erich Leinsdorf.
The series is arranged alphabetically by correspondent’s last name.
Box 1
Byrns, Harold (49 items)
1940-1941, 1968-1977, undated
Box 1
Craft, Robert (4 items)
1950, 1953
Box 1
Klemperer, Otto (74 items)
1938-1939, 19653, 1965, 1977-1986, 1989-1990
Scope and Content Note
A small number of correspondence between Simon and Klemperer, otherwise mostly correspondence with others regarding Klemperer.
With small amount of clippings.
Box 2
Leinsdorf, Erich (41 items)
1938-1943, 1945, 1962-1965, 1967-1976, undated
Box 2
Mitropoulos, Dimitri (1 item)
1942
Box 2
Szell, George (1 item)
1939
Box 2
Stein, Erwin (2 items)
1949
Box 2
Scherchen, Hermann (11 items)
1938-1939, 1947, 1964
Musicologists, Critics, and Writers
Scope and Content
The series consists of letters to and from Simon and various musicologists, critics, and writers, such as Kurt Blaukopf, Georg
Knepler, and Hans Wiegel. This series may also include educators. The series is arranged alphabetically by correspondent’s
last name.
Box 1
Blaukopf, Kurt (90 items)
1927, late 1930s, 1940, 1953, 1957-1960, 1968, 1973-1975, 1978-1979, 1981-1983
Box 1
Downes, Olin (3 items)
1951, 1955
Box 1
Einstein, Alfred (12 items)
1939-1942, 1948
Box 1
Klem, Eberhard (1 item)
1964
Box 1
Knepler, Georg (94 items)
1948-1951, 1961, 1964, 1969, 1971, 1974-1975, 1977, 1979
Box 1
Knepler, Georg - published articles (7 items)
1958, 1967, 1969, 1973, 1977, undated
Box 1
Mann, Frances (1 item)
1959
Box 1
Wiegel, Hans (77 items)
1938-1942, 1945-1947, 1963, 1977, 1980, undated
Scope and Content Note
Folder also includes clippings.
Box 3
Music Publishers
Scope and Content
The series consists of one folder of letters to and from Simon and various music publishers.
Box 3
Music Publishers (15 items)
1956-1958
Unidentified correspondence
Scope and Content
The series consists of one folder of letters to and from Simon and unidentified, or partially identified, correspondents.
Additionally, the correspondent's relationship to Simon or the music profession cannot be confirmed.
Box 3
Unidentified correspondence (21 items)
1938, 1949, 1958-1961, 1967-1969, 1974, undated
Ephemera
Scope and Content
The series consists of one folder with clippings and programs related to musicians or music productions not identified with
individuals represented in the collection. Additionally, includes autobiographical material about Simon.
Box 3
Ephemera (6 items)
1948-1949, 1964, 1968, undated
