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Guide to the Harold Schmidt Collection
ARS.0120
ARS.0120
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Table of contents
Title: Harold Schmidt Collection
Dates: 1940-1993
Collection number: ARS.0120
Collection size:
12 boxes
: 333 open reel tapes (13 10.5" reels ; 276 7" reels ; 41 5" reels ; 3 3" reels) ; 40 audiocassettes ; 2 video reels ; 40
discs (2 10" instantaneous ; 34 12" instantaneous ; 4 custom pressings) ; one small box of slides and photographs
Repository:
Archive of Recorded Sound
Abstract: Sound recordings from Stanford University professor and choral director Harold C. Schmidt (1910-1993), including performances
from the Stanford University Chorus, Choir, and Chamber Chorale.
Language of Material: Multiple languages
Open for research; material must be requested at least two business days in advance of intended use. Contact the Archive for
assistance.
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.
Harold Schmidt Collection, ARS-0120. Courtesy of the Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford,
Calif.
The Harold Schmidt Collection was donated to the Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound by Carl Schmidt in 1994.
This finding aid was produced with generous financial support from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
The Harold Schmidt Collection consists of sound recordings from Stanford University professor and choral director Harold C.
Schmidt (1910-1993), including performances from the Stanford University Chorus, Choir, and Chamber Chorale. After graduating
from Harvard, Schmidt studied with Walter Piston and Gustav Holst, and taught at Fisk University. In 1947, Schmidt joined
Stanford as an associate professor. As director of the choir, he presided over nearly thirty years of commencements and Sunday
services at Memorial Church before his retirement in 1975.
Schmidt programmed works by Berlioz, Brahms, Handel, Haydn, Mechem, Milhaud, Poulenc, and others, including many 16th and
17th century choral works he edited himself. Some recordings were used by Schmidt in his classes for demonstration and testing.
Those tapes identified as lectures may contain the entire lecture or only the musical excerpts used. However some tapes are
clearly of lectures by Schmidt, such as an intermission feature on KKHI's San Francisco Symphony broadcast (Schmidt established
the Symphony's early morning open rehearsal series in 1972 and served as lecturer). The collection also includes rehearsals,
auditions, pre-recorded electronic accompaniments, and worship services at Memorial Church, particularly from Christmas and
Easter programs.
While not always identified, the principal performers are the Stanford University Chorus (whose name was later changed to
Stanford University Symphonic Chorus), Stanford University Choir (later changed to Stanford Memorial Church Choir) and the
Stanford Chamber Chorale. In most cases, Schmidt is conducting. Some recordings also feature contributions from professors
Putnam Aldrich, Herbert Nanney, and Sandor Salgo, as well as the Stanford Symphony Orchestra. Highlights include the Stanford
Summer Chorus performing the music of Randall Thompson, conducted by Thompson, Seiji Ozawa working with the University Chorus
in 1970, the Chorus performing Lou Harrison’s La Koro Sutro from 1974 with Harrison directing, and the Memorial Church Choir
performing a piece by Ligeti while he was a resident composer at Stanford.
The recordings are largely on open reel tape and cassette, but there are also a substantial number of instantaneous discs
in the collection. Some recordings are indexed on a series of cards available at the Archive of Recorded Sound. Please note
that identification here may not be correct; in many cases tapes appear to have been reused, and reels and boxes may have
been shuffled. Additionally, handwriting is sometimes illegible, abbreviated, or conflicting. Many say "blank" or "erase"
in addition to other information.
Other ARS collections that include Schmidt material include
ARS0112, Stanford Tape Collection and
ARS0116, Meyer Library Lecture Tapes . There are also instantaneous discs from Harold Schmidt in the Archive of Recorded Sound's Transcription Disc Collection:
one 12" disc in box 12-811 and fourteen 16" discs in boxes 16-174,16-179, and 16-180.
Schmidt, Harold
Stanford University. Chamber Chorale.
Stanford University. Choir.
Stanford University. Chorus.
Choral music