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Creator
Mengelbier, Hubert
Call number
JOB 13-03
Physical description
2.21 linear feet (9 boxes)
Preferred Citation

Hubert Mengelbier scores, JOB 13-03. Music Division, The New York Public Library.

Repository
Music Division
Access to materials
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Hubert Mengelbier (1887-1941) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor. The Hubert Mengelbier scores consist of the majority of his known works, all unpublished, and a small set of biographical papers.

Biographical/historical information

Hubert Mengelbier (1887-1941) was born in Siegburg, Germany, where his father was the organist at a Catholic church. He studied piano, conducting, music theory, and composition at the Cologne Conservatory. While still a student, Mengelbier became known as a pianist and conductor. After serving in the German army during World War I, he was hired as solo coach and conductor for the Bremen City Theatre. Mengelbier spent the bulk of his career (1925-1941) as a piano teacher at the Cologne Music School. From 1931 to 1940, he directed the Mengelbier Trio, a women's vocal group with piano accompaniment, which became famous through radio broadcasts. He also worked with the Chamber Choir of the West German Radio, where he wrote many children's songs for broadcast. From 1937 to 1939, he composed a series of stage works for the outdoor theater of Zons/Rhine.

Mengelbier's compositions consist of vocal music for chorus or solo voice with orchestral or piano accompaniment; orchestral pieces; chamber works; and four pieces for stage performance. He died in Cologne in 1941.

Scope and arrangement

The Hubert Mengelbier scores consist almost entirely of full scores, parts, or sketches for about 50 works, all either manuscripts or manuscript copies. Among them are vocal/orchestral works such as Ich bin der Dokter Eisenbart, Kantate wann der jungste Tag will werden, Sternennacht, Parodie, and many vocal trios, duets, and solos with piano accompaniment; orchestral works such as Serenade für Orchester mit dem Pfeil dem Boben, Ballet Suite, Weihnachts-Ourertüre, and Hermann der Cherusker Ourertüre für grosses Orckester; and chamber works such as Tanzfolge für sieben Solo Instrumente. Mengelbier's stage works are not present in this collection. A manuscript for at least one of them is held by the University of Cologne.

The collection also holds a small biographical file consisting of clippings, correspondence, a photograph, and a biography translated from a reference book on German composers. The rest of the file's content is in German.

Arrangement

The score arrangement was dictated by a brief listing of Mengelbier's music found in the collection's biographical file, which divides the scores into arrangements of music by other composers, instrumental music, stage music, and vocal music. Scores were arranged alphabetically within those divisions. Titles are not listed individually unless they make up the contents of an entire box.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Donated by Renate Druschat-Mengelbier in 1979.

Processing information

Physical processing consisted of foldering and arranging scores and papers.

Compiled by Matthew Snyder.

Using the collection

Location

Music Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor

Conditions Governing Use

For permission to publish, contact the Chief, Music Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.