Collection context
Summary
- Abstract:
- This collection documents the musical activities and compositions of the brothers Alfred and Joseph Leonard.
- Extent:
- 18 Linear Feet (36 boxes)
- Language:
- Materials are in English.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Alfred Leonard and Joseph Leonard Collection (Collection PASC-M 180). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Background
- Scope and content:
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Collection consists of documents, clippings, music programs, brochures, correspondence, recordings and photographs relating to the careers of Alfred and Joseph Leonard. Correspondence includes communications with Artur Schnabel, Ernst and Lilly Toch, pianists Babin-Vronksy, Joseph Szigeti, Peter Heyworth, and others. Collection also includes other printed publications, monographs, German language newspapers from 1920s and 30s, musical compositions and manuscripts by Ernst Toch and Joseph Leonard. Recordings include published and unpublished 33, 45 and 78 rpm records, reel-to-reel audiotapes, CD transfers of 78s.
- Biographical / historical:
-
P. (Peter) Alfred Leonard (ne Alfred Levi; b. Mannheim, Germany 1909; d. September 10, 1988) was an entrepreneur, director of symphonic programs on KFAC, radio host for The Golden Hour in 1935 for which he also published several monographs for subscribers, owner of a Los Angeles music store, Gateway to Music (1939-1958), founder of the Los Angeles Music Guild (1944) and director of its concert series (1945-1952). His family was originally from Mannheim, and he came to the United States in 1933. As an avid supporter of classical music, his circle of friends included Ernst and Lilly Toch (also from Mannheim), Artur Schnabel, piano duo performers Vitya Vronsky and Victor Babin, among others whose concerts he sponsored and careers he followed such as Joseph Szigeti, and Otto Klemperer. His relationship with the Tochs was very close, and correspondence included exchanges of gifts, poetry, and musical manuscripts. As Ernst shared the same birthday as Alfred's daughter, Barbara, for several years he sent musical compositions and a theme and variations based on her name in celebration of their joint birthday. Alfred was also a writer; this collection includes his articles published in magazines and a collection of essays, and other unpublished writings and lectures. He published Gateway to Music - Bulletin (1939-1952) as an adjunct to his store with reviews of recordings. As the host to the radio show, he also kept reel to reel recordings of his shows, and maintained recordings of Music Guild concert performances.
His brother Joseph Julius Leonard (ne Josef Julius Levi) (b. August 7, 1903; Mannheim, Germany d. May 20, 1979) was a blind, talented pianist and organist, who had an extensive performing career in Germany before immigrating to the United States. In 1936 he was invited by Manuel Compinksy to join the faculty at the Pacific Institute of Music and Fine Arts, where he served on the faculty. In Los Angeles, he served as organist and choir director at Beth Am synagogue (1953-?) and performed in secular and religious concerts as a soloist and choir director.
This collection provides valuable documents on Los Angeles Western classical musical programs, local Jewish community musical events, Toch materials not found in other collections, German and German Jewish newspapers from the 1920s-30s, and correspondence with important composers and performers. In addition, this collection provides supporting material on the lives of Ernst Toch, Artur Schnabel, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, piano duo Vitya Vronsky and Victor Babin, and Joseph Szigeti.
- Acquisition information:
- Gift of Eleanor Rubin, 1999, 2000.
- Processing information:
-
Processed by UCLA Library Special Collections staff.
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form located on our website: Report Potentially Offensive Description in Library Special Collections.
- Arrangement:
-
Arranged in the following series:
- Sheet music - Published
- Sheet music - Unpublished manuscripts
- Correspondence
- Newspapers, Newsletters, Magazines
- Clippings, Advertisements, Reviews
- Books and Monographs
- Articles, Lectures, Sermons, Other Writings
- Scrap books
- Music Programs
- Documents
- Catalogues and Brochures
- Photographs
- Sound recordings
- Physical location:
- Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
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.Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
- Terms of access:
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Property rights to the physical objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other 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], Alfred Leonard and Joseph Leonard Collection (Collection PASC-M 180). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
- Location of this collection:
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A1713 Charles E. Young Research LibraryBox 951575Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
- Contact:
- (310) 825-4988