Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Guide to the Ted Fagan Collection
ARS-0008
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: Ted Fagan Collection
Dates: 1920-1990
Collection number: ARS-0008
Creator:
Fagan, Ted
Collection Size:
72 linear ft.
Repository:
Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound
Stanford University Libraries
Stanford, California 94305-3076
Abstract: Fagan's collection consists primarily of reel to reel tapes (1033). The rest of the materials are music memorabilia, Fagan's
own writings and documents concerning the United Nations.
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Collection is open for research. Listening appointments may require 24 hours notice. Contact the Archive Operations Manager.
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.
Ted Fagan Collection, ARS-0008. Courtesy of the Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford,
Calif.
Biography / Administrative History
Theodore Fagan, of Jewish-English background was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Feb. 21, 1921. His early education included
five years at a boarding school in England. Back in Argentina he completed a degree in Civil Engineering (1943). Two years
later he came to New York, and within months was hired as a United Nations Spanish, French and English interpreter. One of
his earlier assignments included the Nuremberg War Trials (1946), and through his thirty-year long involvement with the UN
he interpreted speeches from leaders such as Prime Minister Fidel Castro and President L?opold S. Senghor of Senegal. Fagan
was an indefatigable writer, his many writings include two historical novels --on Evita Per?n, and on the famous 19th century
Parisian lawsuit of La Ronci?re-- a historical drama, Elizabeth Rex, produced in Los Angeles (1963), and his memoirs on his
long association with the United Nations. Fagan had a life-long passion for music and collected music memorabilia and recordings.
After retiring form his work at the UN, at age 55, he collaborated with William R. Moran on The encyclopedic discography of
Victor recordings. Matrix series 1 through 4999: the Victor Talking Machine Company, 24 April 1903 to 7 January 1908, published
by Greenwood Press in 1986. Fagan died in New York in 1987.
Scope and Content of Collection
Throughout his life and multiple travels associated with his UN work, Ted Fagan collected music memorabilia, and over a thousand
reel to reel recordings, which are primarily operatic. Fagan recorded several compilations of selected opera singers, often
organized by voice range. Among the reel to reels are the annual UN Human Rights Day concerts and some intriguing tapes such
as the contested recordings of Richard Wagner conducting a passage of Act II of Tristan und Isolde, presumably from 1880,
and possibly of soprano Jenny Lind singing Ah! non giunge, from Bellini?s Sonnambula, from 1883. Among the music memorabilia
are two Medieval manuscripts, a notated missal leaf with musical notation, from about the late 10th and early 11th century
and a leaf from the church canon from the 12th or 13th century; a British engraved vocal piece from the 18th century; a letter
by Gaspare Spontini from 1847 and a program autographed by Aaron Copland. Among the art works are two engravings depicting
Fryderyk Chopin and Marie Falcon, a lithograph of Jenny Lind, and about a dozen etchings by the Spanish artist Vicente Gand?a.
The collection also includes over fifty photographs, most of which are autographed, Fagan?s multiple writings, and a large
body of documents relating to the United Nations and interpreting.
Series Description: 1. Photographs; 2. Art work; 3. Music memorabilia; 4. Programs; 5. Opera notes; 6. Reel to reel tapes;
7. Discs; 8. Cassettes; 9. Video tapes' 10. Fagan's writings.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Fagan, Ted
Operas--Excerpts