Inventory of the Composers' Forum records, 1947-1983

Processed by The Music Library staff; machine-readable finding aid created by Xiuzhi Zhou

Music Library

Hargrove Music Library

University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, California, 94720-6000

Phone: (510) 642-2623

Email: music_reference@berkeley.edu

URL: https://guides.lib.berkeley.edu/music_library_archives

Inventory of the Composers' Forum Records, 1947-1983

Collection number: ARCHIVES COMPOSERS' FORUM 1

The Music Library

University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, California

Contact Information

Hargrove Music Library
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California, 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-2623
Email: music_reference@berkeley.edu
URL: https://guides.lib.berkeley.edu/music_library_archives

Processed by:: The Music Library staff
Encoded by:: Xiuzhi Zhou

Descriptive Summary

Title: Composers' Forum Records,

Date (inclusive): 1947-1983

Collection number: ARCHIVES COMPOSERS' FORUM 1

Creator: Composers' Forum (Northern Calif.)

Extent: Number of containers: 3 boxes

Repository: The Music Library

Berkeley, California 94720-6000

Shelf location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

Language: English.

Administrative Information

Donor:

The Composers' Forum.

Access

Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of the Music Library.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Composers' Forum records, ARCHIVES COMPOSERS' FORUM 1, The Music Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Brief History

Founded in 1947 as an independent organization called Composers' Forum by Jane Hohfeld and others, centered in Northern California, the group following their third season (1949/50) became affiliated with the International Society for Contemporary Music. It is not associated with the Composers' Forum (U.S.), which is based in New York City.

Concert seasons:

Season 1: 1947/1948.
Season 2: 1948/1949.
Season 3: 1949/1950.
Season 4: 1950/1951.
Season 5: 1951/1952.
Season 6: 1952/1953.
Season 7: 1953/1954.
Season 8: 1954/1955.
Season 9: 1955/1956.
Season 10: 1956/1957.
Season 11: 1957/1958.
Season 12: 1958/1959.
Season 13: 1959/1960.
Season 14: 1960/1961.
Season 15: 1961/1962.
Season 16: 1962/1963.
Season 17: 1963/1964.
Season 18: 1964/1965.
Season 19: 1965/1966.

Retrospective concerts: October 19 & 23, 1983.

Remarks:

For a history of the Composers' Forum, see the statement by Jane Hohfeld Galante (next pages). The organization of materials in this inventory (items 31 to 53) is by calendar year, not by the concert season year. To have done otherwise would have created much confusion. It was not possible to isolate the financial materials, because much of the correspondence, reports, and agendas relate to the finances of the organization.

Scope and Content

The collection contains Music and business papers: programs, newspaper reviews, announcements, scrapbooks, agendas of meetings, reports, membership lists, financial statements, correspondence, etc.

Part I: Scrapbooks.

Box Box 1 , item 1.

Scrapbook no. 1 with a title page.

Additional Note

Announces Success Story "The Composers' Forum" its long, impressive list of concerts."

Leaf 2 contains the statement "This book compiled from official Composer's Forum records by Jane Hohfeld and Roger Levenson."

Contents:

Selected announcements, programs, and newspaper reviews covering the period from 1946 through May, 1956.

One binder containing 45 plastic inserts with documents inserted in the recto and verso sides of each leaf.

item 2.

Scrapbook no. 2 (no title page).

Additional Note

Contents:

Selected announcements, programs, and newspaper reviews covering the period from 1956 through May 3, 1959 (leaves 1-15). This section is followed by a series of miscellaneous documents (leaves 16-29).

One binder containing 29 plastic inserts with documents inserted in the recto an verso sides of each leaf.

Part II: Seven (7) oversize posters.

Box Box 1 , item 3.

Program for July 19 and 22, 1946, the first concerts sponsored by the Composers' Forum. Compositions by Leon Kirchner, Leonard Ratner, Earl Kim, Spartaco V. Monello, Leonard Ralston. Held at the University of California and Mills College.

item 4.

Program for Wednesday, March 5, 1947 held at the San Francisco Museum of Art. Compositions by Arnold Schonberg, George Barati, Andrew Imbrie, Virginia Seay, Leland Smith, and A. S. Whiton.

item 5.

Program for Wednesday, July 2, 1947 held at the University of California.

Additional Note

Compositions by Earl Kim, Darius Milhaud, Spartaco Monello, Leonard Ralston, and Virginia Seay.

item 6.

Program for Tuesday, February 10, 1948 held at the California Club, San Francisco. Compositions by Ernest Bloch, Edward T. Cone, Charles Cushing, and Roger Sessions.

item 7.

Program for Friday, November 5, 1948 held at the San Francisco.

Additional Note

Compositions by Miriam Gideon, Charles Jones, Leon Kirchner, Ernst Krenek, George Perle, and Ben Weber.

item 8.

Program for Friday, June 3, 1949 held at the San Francisco Museum of Art.

Additional Note

Compositions by Bela Bartok, Edward Cone, George Barati, and Leonard Roseman.

item 9.

Program for Friday, December 2, 1949 held at the San Francisco Museum of Art. Compositions by Alban Berg, Richard Maxfield, Roger Nixon, and Leonard Ratner.

Part III: Documents pertaining to the organization, activities, and projects sponsored by the Composers' Forum.

Box Box 2 , item 10.

History of the Composers' Forum.

Additional Note

Three (3) essays. See also item 29 for the article "The Composers' Forum --A Recollection," by Jane Hohfeld Galante, dated October, 1983.

item 11.

Constitution of the Composers' Forum.

Additional Note

Documents dated 1953-1956.

item 12.

Membership lists of the Composers' Forum, 1946-1966.

Additional Note

About 75 leaves.

item 13.

Membership and financial summary: 1957-1961.

Additional Note

About 75 leaves.

item 14.

Lists of works performed.

Additional Note

Three (3) incomplete lists.

item 15.

Composers' Forum workshops, 1950-1959.

Additional Note

Announcements, programs, etc.

item 16.

Composers' Forum Commissions Plan Fund (folder 1):

Additional Note

Historical statement, reports, announcements, financial statements. About 35 leaves.

item 17.

Commissions Plan Fund (folder 2):

Additional Note

Correspondence, 1952-1958. About 55 leaves.

item 18.

Composers' Forum:

Additional Note

Documents pertaining to recordings made by the Forum. Folder 1, 1954-1956.About 20 leaves.

item 19.

Recordings, 1957 (folder 2).

Additional Note

About 50 leaves.

item 20.

Recordings, 1958 (folder 3).

Additional Note

About 50 leaves.

item 21.

Recordings, 1959 (folder 4).

Additional Note

About 30 leaves.

item 22.

Recordings, 1960-1962 (folder 5).

Additional Note

About 20 leaves.

item 23.

Recordings, miscellaneous materials (folder 6).

Part IV: Miscellaneous documents.

Box Box 2 , item 24.

Pettis, Ashley. Composers' Forum.

Additional Note

Program for Saturday, June 14, 1941 held at Montalvo, Saratoga, California. Compositions by Roy Harris. This organization, which bore the same name, preceded the Composers' Forum.

item 25.

Pettis, Ashley. Composers' Forum, New York.

Additional Note

A brochure containing a retrospective history, 1935-1985, together with a letter to Mrs. Clement Galante, dated May 1, 1985.

item 26.

An undated letter from Milton Babbitt to Andrew Imbrie.

item 27.

A folder containing correspondence with Yehudi Menuhin and various members of the Composers' Forum.

Additional Note

20 letters, 1955-1957.

item 28.

Glossy photographs (2) of Roger Sessions and Andrew Imbrie (each 8+ x 11").

Part V: Documents relating to the retrospective concert of October 16th and October 19th, 1983.

Box Box 2 , item 29.

Programs, newspaper reviews, and correspondence.

item 30.

Materials pertaining to an exhibit at the Old First Church, 1751 Sacramento Street, San Francisco.

Part VI: Documents (arranged by year) pertaining to the activities of the Composers' Forum.

Box Box 2 , item 31.

1946.

Additional Note

Correspondence, newspaper reviews, programs, financial statement, etc. relating to the first concerts sponsored by the Composers' Forum on July 19 and 22, 1946.

item 32.

1947.

Additional Note

Programs, contracts, newspaper reviews, correspondence, financial statements, etc. for concerts sponsored this year.

item 33.

1948.

Additional Note

Programs, contracts, newspaper reviews, correspondence, financial statements, etc. for concerts sponsored this year.

item 34.

1949.

Additional Note

Programs, contracts, newspaper reviews, correspondence, financial statements, etc. for the year.

item 35.

1950.

Additional Note

Programs, contracts, newspaper reviews, correspondence, financial statements, etc. for the year.

item 36.

1946-1950.

Additional Note

Checkbooks for these years. These contain check stubs, bank statements, canceled checks, etc.

Box Box 3 , item 37.

1951 (folder 1).

Additional Note

This year the Composers' Forum became the Northern California Section of the International Society for Contemporary Music.

Programs, newspaper reviews, correspondence.

item 38.

1951 (folder 2).

Additional Note

Correspondence, reports, financial statements.

item 39.

1952.

Additional Note

Programs, newspaper reviews, reports, correspondence, financial statements, etc. for the year.

item 40.

1953.

Additional Note

Programs, contracts, reports, correspondence, financial statements for the year.

item 41.

1954.

Additional Note

Programs, contracts, reports, correspondence, financial statements for the year.

item 42.

1955.

Additional Note

Programs, reports, correspondence, financial statements for the year.

item 43.

1956.

Additional Note

Programs, contract, reports, correspondence, financial statements for the year.

item 44.

1957.

Additional Note

Programs, newspaper reviews, correspondence, reports, financial statements for the year.

item 45.

1958.

Additional Note

Programs, correspondence, reports, financial statements for the year.

item 46.

1959.

Additional Note

Programs, contracts, newspaper review, reports, correspondence for the year.

item 47.

1960.

Additional Note

Programs, contracts, newspaper reviews, reports, correspondence for the year.

item 48.

1961.

Additional Note

Programs, contracts, newspaper clippings, reviews, reports, correspondence for the year.

item 49.

1962.

Additional Note

Programs, correspondence, financial statements for the year.

item 50.

1963.

Additional Note

Programs, Composers' Forum Newsletter, no. 1 (December 20, 1963), Lucky Drawing for the year.

item 51.

1964.

Additional Note

Programs, newspaper reviews, Composers' Forum Newsletter, no. 2 (January, 1964) for the year.

item 52.

1965.

Additional Note

Programs, newspaper reviews for the year.

item 53.

1966.

Additional Note

Newspaper reviews only for the year.

item 54.

Correspondence (undated).

Additional Note

12 leaves.

item 55.

Newspaper reviews (undated).

Additional Note

5 items.