- unitid
-
{"value"=>"24331", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"JPB 17-20", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"b21587836", "type"=>"local_b"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1930-2016", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1930/2016"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Russell Oberlin papers"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"16 boxes, 4 volumes", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"6.83 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}]}
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"68 audio recordings", "unit"=>"audio_recordings"}]}
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"15 moving image recordings", "unit"=>"moving_image_recordings"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Music Division</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Russell Oberlin (1928-2016) was an American singer and teacher renowned for being the first countertenor in the United States, and one of the earliest in the world to have an international career. His papers, dating from 1930 to 2016, document his childhood and education, his performance career, his teaching, and his research into the history of the countertenor and castrato singing."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Oberlin, Russell, 1928-2016", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Russell Oberlin (1928-2016) was an American singer and teacher, renowned for being the first countertenor in the United States, and one of the earliest in the world to have an international career. A founding member of the New York Pro Musica Antiqua ensemble, Oberlin was at the forefront of the early music movement that gained significance in Western performance practice from the 1950s onward.</p> <p>Born in Akron, Ohio, Oberlin began singing professionally at a young age. He graduated from the Juilliard School in 1951, and joined the New York Pro Musica Antiqua (later known as the New York Pro Musica) the following year. The group was one of the first in the modern era to specialize in repertory from Medieval and Renaissance composers. Oberlin trained and started his career as a traditional tenor, but the ease and facility with which he could sing in a higher range without using falsetto made him uniquely suited to performing older art songs, some of which were written for castrati.</p> <p>In 1955, Leonard Bernstein featured Oberlin in his recording of Handel's <span class=\"title\">Messiah</span>. That same year, Oberlin performed in Bernstein's <span class=\"title\">The Lark</span> with the Pro Musica. Other featured engagements included Pro Musica's production of <span class=\"title\">The Play of Daniel</span> (a Medieval liturgical drama) in 1958, which was later recorded and broadcast on public television; and the role of Oberon in Benjamin Britten's <span class=\"title\">A Midsummer Night's Dream</span> (produced by John Gielgud in 1961 at Covent Garden, London). Oberlin also recorded and toured the United States and Europe as a soloist in recital and with orchestras, and made several other television appearances, such as a CBC performance of Bach's <span class=\"title\">Cantata No. 54</span> with Glenn Gould (1962).</p> <p>In 1964, Oberlin retired from regular performance. Shortly thereafter, he joined the faculty of Hunter College, where he taught voice and choir until his retirement in 1994. He also lectured and taught in Europe, and researched the history of countertenors and castrato voice as a Fulbright scholar in 1968 and 1969. Oberlin died at his home in New York City in 2016.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Russell Oberlin papers, dating from 1930 to 2016, document Oberlin's childhood and education, his performance career, his teaching, and his research, through annotated scores and scripts; photographs; scrapbooks; letters; teaching and research files; business files containing professional correspondence, clippings, interviews, and concert programs; and sound and video recordings.</p> <p>The scores and scripts, which are arranged by composer or author, hold songs, song collections, pieces for duo or chorus, and scripts for readings or narrations. All are annotated, or contain composer inscriptions or autographs. The annotations denote phrasing suggestions, note corrections, and edits. Songs and song collections mainly date from Oberlin's performance years, while choral pieces and scripts date from his teaching years at Hunter College forward (the middle 1960s to the 2000s). Most of the scores are published, but there are a few manuscripts present, most notably a full score for Leonard Bernstein's <span class=\"title\">The Lark</span>. Most other manuscripts are probably in Oberlin's hand, not that of the original composer, and may have been used for teaching purposes. Composers who inscribed scores to Oberlin include Marc Blitzstein, Richard Hundley, and Ben Weber.</p> <p>The photographs contain performance and rehearsal images, portraits of Oberlin, and informal images from throughout Oberlin's life. The portraits date mainly from Oberlin's performance career (1950s to the mid-1960s) and include work by Carl Van Vechten, Ken Heyman, and Atelier Von Behr. Performance photographs date from the same time frame, and include images from <span class=\"title\">A Midsummer Night's Dream</span> at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, with John Gielgud. Also present is a bound book of photographs of the New York Pro Musica in rehearsals and performance in the early 1950s (box 5, folder 4).</p> <p>Other photographs show Oberlin teaching classes at Hunter College, and with friends and colleagues such as Ned Rorem and Geoffrey Holder. Childhood photographs of Oberlin date from his school days to his young adulthood.</p> <p>The four scrapbooks provide a detailed chronology of Oberlin's career. Oberlin assembled Volume 1 contemporaneously (from the 1930s to 1945), while he prepared the other three volumes (dating from 1961 to 1994) retrospectively, in support of his academic promotion. The scrapbooks contain business and personal letters, programs, clippings, and contracts, as well as a few photographs.</p> <p>The letters, which are divided into chronological and alphabetical sections, contain letters from friends, colleagues, and students; business letters and contracts; and fan mail. Most of the letters are incoming, but a few drafts of responses are also present. Notable people who wrote to Oberlin include Leonard Bernstein, Marilyn Horne, Ned Rorem, Carl Van Vechten, and Ursula Vaughn Williams (widow of Ralph). The letters from Oberlin in the alphabetical section are to his mother. The largest set of letters to Oberlin were written by Stella Besse, a disturbed fan.</p> <p>Oberlin's teaching and research files center on his work at Hunter College from the 1960s to the 1990s, and on the research projects he undertook in the United States and abroad. The largest of these is his historical survey of music created for the countertenor and castrato voice, a topic Oberlin continued to research up to the early 2000s. This file holds Oberlin's papers and articles, some published; notes; correspondence with other singers and researchers; and published articles by others. Also present is a lecture by Oberlin called \"The Art of the Troubadour and Trouvère,\" most likely delivered at Hunter. The teaching files also contain notes, letters, and programs regarding his classes and his direction of the Hunter College choir, as well as the American Academy of Teachers of Singing, in which Oberlin was active for many years.</p> <p>The business files document engagements, tours, recordings, and festivals through letters, contracts, publicity material, and financial records. They also hold datebooks and an address book; Oberlin's passport; and his school diplomas. The publicity material contains flyers, brochures, biographies, programs, clippings, and interview transcripts. The programs offer detailed coverage of Oberlin's performances from throughout his life. The interview transcripts are the complete versions of interviews published in the 1980s. Other significant topics in the business files include the New York Pro Musica, a tour of <span class=\"title\">The Lark</span>, and recordings released on Deutsche Grammophon and Lyrichord Discs.</p> <p>The sound and video recordings include several interviews of Oberlin dating from the 2000s; the 1965 television production of <span class=\"title\">The Play of Daniel</span>; a 1961 CBC radio recital; 1962 CBC television performances with Glenn Gould; <span class=\"title\">The Lark</span> with Leonard Bernstein conducting; a circa 1957 radio broadcast of the New York Pro Musica; a 1977 production of <span class=\"title\">Façade</span> (poems by Edith Sitwell, music by William Walton); a 1979 production of <span class=\"title\">L'Histoire du Soldat</span>; and several examples of Oberlin performing in theatrical pieces or literary readings, including <span class=\"title\">Samson Agonistes</span> by John Milton, and <span class=\"title\">The Great Debate In Hell</span> (a reading of Books I and II of Milton's <span class=\"title\">Paradise Lost</span>). Also present are two lectures by Oberlin, performances of the Hunter College choir under Oberlin's direction, and a recording of the composer Louise Talma's memorial.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by <span class=\"name\">Matthew Snyder</span> in <span class=\"date\">2018</span>.</p>"}
- date_start
-
1930
- keydate
-
1930
- date_end
-
2016
- date_inclusive_start
-
1930
- date_inclusive_end
-
2016
- extent_statement
-
6.83 linear feet (16 boxes, 4 volumes). 68 audio recordings. 15 moving image recordings
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"Russell Oberlin papers, JPB 17-20. Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts"}