Guide to the Hall Clovis Papers, ca. 1920-1970(bulk 1930s)
Processed by David Seubert;
Department of Special Collections
Davidson Library
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
Phone: (805) 893-3062
Fax: (805) 893-5749
Email: special@library.ucsb.edu
URL: http://www.library.ucsb.edu/speccoll/speccoll.html
© 2002
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Guide to the Hall Clovis Papers, ca. 1920-1970(bulk 1930s)
Collection number: PA Mss 30
Department of Special Collections
Davidson Library
University of California, Santa Barbara
Contact Information:
- Department of Special Collections
- Davidson Library
- University of California, Santa Barbara
- Santa Barbara, CA 93106
- Phone: (805) 893-3062
- Fax: (805) 893-5749
- Email: special@library.ucsb.edu
- URL: http://www.library.ucsb.edu/speccoll/speccoll.html
- Processors:
- David Seubert
- Date Completed:
- 10/21/02
- Encoded by:
- David Seubert
© 2002 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Hall Clovis papers,
Date (inclusive): ca. 1920-1970
Date (bulk): (bulk 1930s)
Collection number: PA Mss 30
Creator:
Clovis, Hall
Extent:
5 linear ft.
(7 boxes)
8 sound recordings
13 films
Repository:
University of California, Santa Barbara. Library.
Dept. of Special Collections
Abstract: Singer Hall Clovis (b. 1900) began his career in Omaha singing operettas. He later moved to New York where he sang the lead
in the premier of Ernest Trow Carter's Blonde Donna, recorded for Gennett records with the vocal quartet the Four Bachelors
and performed widely in the 1930s as the vocal duo Clovis-Steele with his wife soprano Eleanor Steele. Clovis-Steele commissioned
and sang pieces by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Darius Milhaud, H.T. Burleigh, Samuel Richards Gaines, Jeno Takacs, Fannie Charles
Dillon and Katherine Ruth Heyman. The collection includes manuscripts of works written for Clovis-Steele, copies of recordings,
programs, clippings and photos and color films of their travels in Europe in the 1930s.
Physical location: For current information on the location of these materials,
please consult the library's online catalog.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or
quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given
on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.
Access
The collection is unrestricted.
Preferred Citation
Hall Clovis Papers, PA Mss 30, Department of Special Collections, University Libraries, University of California, Santa Barbara.
Acquisition Information
Donated by Douglas Hall, 1999 and 2001.
Biography
Hall Clovis was born in 1900 in Nebraska. He attended Grinnell College, graduating in 19xx. He studied singing with noted
teacher Anna Eugenie Schoen-Rene and began his singing career in Omaha in local operetta productions. He then moved to New
York singing in operetta productions and sang the lead in the premier of Ernest Trow Carter's Blonde Donna, a musical set
in Santa Barbara. He also began singing with a group called the Four Bachelors, which later made several discs for Gennett
Records of Richmond, Indiana.
Clovis married Eleanor Steele in 1930, the wealthy daughter of Charles Steele, a partner in the J.P. Morgan firm. He and his
wife, a soprano formed the duo Clovis-Steele and performed widely in the 1930s, touring Europe several times. Clovis-Steele
commissioned and sang pieces by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Darius Milhaud, H.T. Burleigh, Samuel Richards Gaines, Jeno Takacs,
Fannie Charles Dillon and Katherine Ruth Heyman. Clovis and Steele moved to Santa Barbara and were later divorced. Clovis
lived in Santa Barbara until his death with Charles Lee in the former Summerland home of Leopold Stokowski.
Collection Scope and Content Summary
The collection is divided into six series: Series I: Family History; Series II: Clippings, Reviews and Programs; Series III:
Photographs; Series IV: Scores; Series V: Recordings; Series VI: Films.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Subjects
Tenors (Singers)
Singers--United States.
Schoen-René, Anna Eugénie, 1864-1942.
Genres and Forms of Material
Sound recordings.
Photographs.
Home movies.
Index Terms Related to this Collection
Steele, Eleanor.
Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Mario, 1895-1968.
Milhaud, Darius, 1892-1974.
Heyman, Katherine Ruth.
Takács, Jenõ, 1902-
Burleigh, H. T., (Harry Thacker), 1866-1949.
Four Bachelors (Musical Group)
Carter, Ernest, 1866-1953.
Gaines, Samuel Richards, 1869-1945.
Dillon, Fannie Charles, 1881-1947.
Material Cataloged Separately
Commercial sound recordings are cataloged separately.
Family History
Scope and Content Note
Series I, Family History, contains a small amount of biographical and family information on Hall's family as well as some
biographical information on Steele's family, who's father was a partner in the J.P. Morgan firm.
Box 1: 1
Family history information, n.d
Clippings, Reviews and Programs
Scope and Content Note
Series II, Clippings Reviews and Programs, contains newspaper clippings of reviews of their performances and programs for
their concerts.
Box 1: 2
Clovis-Steele clippings, 1930s
Box 7: 2-3
Oversize clippings and reviews, 1930s
Box 1: 3
Clovis Steele Concert Programs, 1930s
Box 1: 4
Other concert programs, 1930s
Photographs
Scope and Content Note
Series III, Photographs, is primarily photographs of productions of operettas that Clovis performed in New York. The collection
includes one box of publicity photos for the productions, including photos for the first staging of Ernest Trow Carter's Blonde
Donna, or The Fiesta of Santa Barbara. There are also some photos of their European tours, publicity photos for the Four Bachelors
and later snapshots of Clovis after moving to Santa Barbara with his partner Charles Lee and also with friends, including
Lotte Lehmann.
Box 1: 7
Anne-Marie Schoen Rene, 1920s
Box 1: 8
Steele Family and House, 1920s
Box 1: 9
Snapshots of HC and ES, 1930s
Box 1: 10
Snapshots of HC and Charles Lee, 1970s
Box 1: 13
Snapshots of HC and Lotte Lehmann in Badgastein, 1965
Box 2: 1-2
Four Bachelors publicity photos, 1920s
Box 2: 2
Hall Clovis publicity photos, 1930s
Box 7: 4
HC Oversise publicity photos by George Maillard Kesslere, n.d.
Box 7: 5
Clovis-Steele publicty photos, n.d.
Box 2: 10
The Beggar Student, 1920s
Box 2: 13
Marriage of Figaro, 1930s
Box 2: 17
Unknown production, 1930s
Box 2: 17
Publicity photos of others, 1930s
Scores
Scope and Content Note
Series IV, Scores, includes manuscripts scores of pieces the duo commissioned from several composers, including Six Scottish
Songs and Three Shakespeare Duets by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, four Elegies Darius Milhaud, commissioned arrangements of
negro spirituls by H.T. Burleigh, Four Chinese Lyrics by Jeno Takacs and several songs by Katherine Ruth Heyman and Fannie
Charles Dillon. The collection includes the manuscripts, usually the full score, a vocal score and a set of parts for most
of the works. Some pieces, including works by Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Burleigh and Heyman are autograph manuscripts, others are
in the hand of copyists but are usually have a written dedication to the duo. There is also a collection of arrangements they
had commissioned and a folder of published sheet music signed by the composers to the duo.
Burleigh, H. T., Negro Spirituals, arranged for Soprano and Tenor. (Two bound folders with mss copies of 8 songs.), n.d.
Box 5: 1
Sometimes I feel like motherless Child
Box 5: 1
Joshua Fit de Battl' Ob Jericho, Mss
Box 5: 1
Joshua Fit de Battl' Ob Jericho
Box 5: 1
Deep River, Heav'n Heav'n
Box 5: 1
Little David Play on yo' Harp
Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Mario. Six Scottish Songs., 1939
Box 3: 1
Full score, Mss, 62 pages.
Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Mario. Three Shakespeare Duets., 1938
Milhaud, Darius. Prends cette Rose, n.d.
Milhaud, Darius. Les quatre Elements, 1938
Box 4: 4
Cantate pour soprano, tenor et orchestre. Full Score, Mss.
Box 5: 2
Chequer, John D. Indian Love Song, n.d.
Dillon, Fannie Charles, Songs, n.d.
Box 5: 3
Indian Cradle Song, Op 106.
Box 5: 4
Gaines, Samuel Richards. There is a music, Score, Mss., 1936
Heyman, Katherine Ruth, Songs, 1934
Box 5: 5
Spear Not of Beauty Lightly
Smith, Brooks. Songs and Arrangements., n.d.
Box 5: 6
Sweetly She Sleeps, My Alice Fair (Stephen Foster).
Box 5: 6
I Dream of Jeanie (Stephen Foster)
Takacs, Jeno von. Three Chinese Lyrics, Op 44., 1938
Box 5: 9
Deming, Roger, On Moon-White Shore.; Gainza, Jose. Madrileña.; Goldsworthy, W.A., Go Not Alone.; [unknown], David. Lonesome
Song of the Plains.
Box 6: 1
Brahms, Johannes. So laa uns wandern. Mss score and parts, arr by Alfred Roth, n.d
Box 6: 2
Haydn, Franz Joseph Jahreszeiten. Mss score and parts, arr C. Molinari, München, n.d
Box 6: 3
Haydn, Franz Joseph. O, lass mich holder wissen, Op 102. Mss score and parts, arr. C. Molinari, München, n.d
Box 6: 4
Mozart, Wolfgang, Amadeus. Wie durufst mich. Mss score and parts, arr. C. Molinari, München, n.d
Box 6: 5
Schubert, Franz. Nur dir will ich gehoren. Mss score and parts, arranged., n.d
Box 6: 6
Schubert, Franz. Sie ist's Er ist's! Mss score and parts, arranged., n.d
Box 6: 7
Tchaikovsky, Peter. La passion ne brule plus mon ame. Mss parts, arranged., n.d
Box 7: 1
Autographed sheet music given to Clovis, n.d
Recordings
Scope and Content Note
Series V, Recordings, contains eight instantaneous recordings of Clovis-Steele recorded mostly in the 1930s.
item A2580/D12
Jeannie/Night and Stars, Oct 28, 1937
item A2581/D12
I dream of Jeanie/Pleurs d'or, May 18, 1937
item A2582/D12
So Wahr Die Sonne Scheinet/So Lass Uns Wandern, Oct 28, 1937
item A2583/D12
You're Just in Love/Baby It's Cold Outside, n.d.
item A2585/D12
German Song/I Wonder as I wander, n.d.
item A2586/D12
These Wild Things/Clouds Adrift, n.d.
Films
Scope and Content Note
Series VI, Films, contains thirteen 16mm color films shot in Europe between 1933 and 1940. Includes footage of Nazi occupied
Eastern Europe.