- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"8.92 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear feet"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"8 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}], "supress_display"=>true}
- unitid
-
{"value"=>"JPB 06-75", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"20405", "type"=>"local_mss"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1938-1963", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1938/1963"}
- date_inclusive_start
-
1938
- date_inclusive_end
-
1963
- keydate
-
1938
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Leonard Warren papers"}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.</span> <span class=\"subarea\">Music Division.</span> <div class=\"address\"><span class=\"addressline\">New York, New York</span></div>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"The Leonard Warren Papers document the professional career of the American baritone. Warren was a leading performer with the Metropolitan Opera for over twenty years, whose significant accomplishments have been overshadowed by his dramatic death onstage during a performance. Much of the collection is comprised of clippings and scrapbooks, as well as some promotional materials, such as broadsides and posters. It also contains numerous condolence cards, letters, and telegrams sent in the wake of the singer's untimely death."}
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"<p> Leonard Warren Papers, JPB 06-75. Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.</p>"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Warren, Leonard, 1911-1960", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Although overshadowed by his dramatic death onstage during a performance, the career and accomplishments of American baritone, Leonard Warren (1911-1960) were significant. A leading performer with the Metropolitan Opera for over twenty years, Warren excelled in the Verdi repertory. As a member of the first generation of American-born opera singers to develop a truly international reputation, his success also helped to solidify their position within that prestigious company.</p> <p>Born Leonard Warenoff, the son of Russian immigrants, in the Bronx, he enjoyed a typical middle-class Jewish upbringing of the time and later shortened his surname to Warren when he became a professional singer. Encouraged by an aunt, Leonard received his first formal voice lessons as a teenager at the Greenwich House Music School. Although his talent was apparent, his family remained unconvinced of the feasibility of a career in music. Following his graduation from Evander Childs High School, Warren briefly worked at his father's firm in the wholesale fur trade and took evening business classes at Columbia University.</p> <p>After a few more years of haphazard musical study and odd jobs, however, Warren decided to pursue his goal of becoming a professional singer more seriously. Early opportunities included appearances on the WOR radio station in New York City and a 1934 summer engagement at a Catskills resort. In 1935, Warren auditioned successfully for the Radio City Music Hall Glee Club, joining future Metropolitan Opera colleagues, tenor Jan Peerce (already a featured soloist) and fellow baritone Robert Weede as a member of the chorus. It was during this period that Warren began to train with influential vocal coach, Sidney Deitch. In 1938, Warren became one of the finalists in the Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air competition, earning him prize money and an opportunity to formally audition for the company later that year.</p> <p>Struck by the inherent quality of his voice, conductor Wilfred Pelletier took a personal interest in Warren's career development and helped to arrange for an additional stipend that would enable him to go to Italy for the summer to work on roles with teachers Giuseppe Pais and Riccardo Picozzi in preparation for a Metropolitan Opera debut in the fall of 1938. While staying in Milan, Warren struck up a friendship with two visiting New Yorkers, Agatha (or Agathe) Leifflen, a former voice student, and her brother Roy. Agatha would become Warren's wife a few years later, while her brother later served as Warren's legal advisor. Following his return to New York, Warren signed his first contract with the Metropolitan Opera Association on November 18, 1938. His initial appearance with the company was in a Sunday concert on November 27, 1938, in which he sang excerpts from <span class=\"title\">La Traviata</span> and <span class=\"title\">Pagliacci</span>. His formal debut in a complete opera, in the role of Paolo in <span class=\"title\">Simon Boccanegra</span>, came on January 13, 1939.</p> <p>Still a somewhat raw talent, Warren's progress with the Metropolitan Opera was slow, but steady. Early on it was decided that the best course for him to pursue would be to focus on the Italian opera repertory. He became a Verdi specialist, most notably in the title role of <span class=\"title\">Rigoletto</span>. His performance was preserved in a 1950 landmark recording, the first complete opera released by RCA Victor. Warren enhanced his standing and broadened his experience through engagements in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico during the 1940s. He also toured extensively throughout North America in recitals and regular appearances with other opera companies, including the San Francisco Opera.</p> <p>His career seemed to coalesce most fully during the 1950s after he signed with the Sol Hurok organization in 1952. In 1953, he appeared to great acclaim in Milan, Italy at La Scala, winning over the Italian critics and audiences alike for his strong performances in the Verdi staples, <span class=\"title\">Rigoletto</span> and <span class=\"title\">Otello</span>. The following year, Warren was intimately involved with the world premiere of Norman Dello Joio's cantata, <span class=\"title\">The Lamentation of Saul</span>. Another major accomplishment during this decade was Warren's 1958 tour of the Soviet Union, one of the first postwar appearances in that country by a prominent American performer.</p> <p>Warren, who was steadfast in his preparation for his roles, developed a reputation for being difficult. His conversion to Catholicism also alienated some of his Jewish colleagues at the Metropolitan Opera. By the time the 1959-1960 opera season began, however, he was regarded as a fixture within the company and faced a demanding schedule. On March 4, 1960, while performing as Don Carlo in Verdi's <span class=\"title\">La Forza del Destino</span>, Warren collapsed onstage during the second act after completing the aria, \"Urna fatale.\" Confusion ensued, the curtain was brought down, and Warren was pronounced dead backstage after attempts to administer oxygen and other forms of first aid failed; the apparent cause of his death was pronounced a cerebral hemorrhage. Declaring it, \"one of the saddest nights in the history of the Metropolitan,\" general manager Rudolf Bing announced Warren's death to the stunned audience and suspended the rest of the performance.</p> <p>Warren's death was treated as front page news in all of the New York papers. More than 3,000 people paid their respects at the Abbey funeral home, and the memorial service, held at the St. Vincent Ferrer Roman Catholic Church on March 7, 1960, was attended by over 1,000 mourners, including many of Warren's friends and associates. In 1986, the Leonard Warren Foundation was established by Barrett Crawford and Warren's sister, Vivien Warren, to promote the legacy of Leonard Warren and to provide support to young singers. In 2000, a Foundation-sponsored biography of the singer was published and a commemorative CD set of Warren's recordings was released.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p> The Leonard Warren Papers document the professional career of the American baritone. Much of the collection is comprised of clippings and scrapbooks, as well as some promotional materials, such as broadsides and posters. Subjects that are particularly well represented among these papers are Warren's various engagements in Latin America during the 1940s and his successful 1958 tour of the Soviet Union, arranged by the Hurok organization. The sudden and unexpected death of Warren in 1960 elicited an outpouring of condolences sent directly to his widow, Agatha Leifflen Warren, or forwarded to her by various departments of the Metropolitan Opera Association. Among the many condolence cards, letters, and telegrams contained in the collection are messages sent by Marion Anderson, Rudolf Bing, Agnes De Mille (whose husband, Walter Prude, represented Warren professionally), Jerome Hines, Erich Leinsdorf, Robert Merrill, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Richard Mohr, John D. Rockefeller, and Richard Tucker. Perhaps some of the most interesting items, however, were tributes offered by fans of the singer. Aside from a few candid photographs and a handmade anniversary greeting for his wife, the collection includes very little of a personal nature.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Leonard Warren papers are arranged in three series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mus/20405#c610191'>Series I: Professional Papers, and</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1938 - 1960</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>2 boxes</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The Professional Papers series mainly consists of clippings of reviews of Leonard Warren's performances and recordings. With the exception of a collage anniversary greeting created for his wife, the single folder of correspondence contains only a few items relating to bookings and publicity matters. Similarly, there are only four photographs, two of which are snapshots, most likely dating from the 1940s, which show the Warrens relaxing while on tour in Brazil. Also of note are materials relating to Warren's 1958 Soviet Union visit, including scraps of paper containing audience members' requests for particular songs at his recitals.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mus/20405#c610244'>Series II: Condolences and Memorial Tributes</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1960 - 1963</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>2 boxes</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The Condolences and Memorial Tributes series chiefly contains the numerous cards, letters, and telegrams sent to Agatha Leifflen Warren or the Metropolitan Opera Association in the wake of Leonard Warren's untimely death. Senders range from Warren's famous colleagues to ordinary fans; some mailings included essays and poems written in honor of the late singer. Also included is the guest book from the funeral home, which contains many signatures.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mus/20405#c610281'>Series III: Oversized Materials, circa and</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1942 - 1960</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>4 boxes</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The Oversized Materials series is comprised of three scrapbooks, which contain additional clippings relating to Warren. Also of interest are several large posters, many of which advertise Warren's appearances in Buenos Aires, Argentina at the Teatro Colón during the 1940s. All of the material in this series is highly fragile.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p> <ul> <li>Series I: Professional Papers, 1938-1960 and undated</li> <li>Series II: Condolences and Memorial Tributes, 1960-1963</li> <li>Series III: Oversized Materials, circa 1942-1960 and undated</li></ul></p>", "supress_display"=>true}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p> The Leonard Warren Papers were donated to the Music Division in 1984 by Roy Leifflen.</p>"}
- userestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>For permission to publish, contact the Chief, Music Division.</p>"}
- note
-
{"value"=>"<p>Formerly called, and cited in Warren's authorized biography as the Leonard Warren Collection</p>", "encodinganalog"=>"500"}
- langmaterial_code
-
dan
eng
fre
ger
hun
por
rus
spa
ita
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"The Professional papers series includes clippings and other items in Danish, English, French, German, Hungarian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish; the Condolences and memorial tributes series contain some items in Italian"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by Helice Koffler; Machine-readable finding aid created by Helice Koffler.</p>"}
- extent_statement
-
8.92 linear feet (8 boxes)
- date_start
-
1938
- date_end
-
1963