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Creator
Rochberg, George
Call number
JPB 13-04
Physical description
7.56 linear feet (19 boxes)
Preferred Citation

George Rochberg papers, Additions, JPB 13-04. Music Division, The New York Public Library.

Repository
Music Division
Access to materials
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The George Rochberg papers, Additions document the professional activities, theoretical writings, and personal life of the American composer. Personal material includes letters to and from family members, documents, photographs, and Rochberg's sketches of his family members. Professional records comprise letters from fellow composers and academics, writings on composition and musicology, photographs, and files relating to live performances of his compositions.

Biographical/historical information

George Rochberg (1918-2005) was an American composer of classical music, and a music author, theorist, and educator. Born Aaron George Rochberg in Paterson, New Jersey, he served in the 261st Infantry during World War II. After the war, Rochberg studied with George Szell and Leopold Mannes at the Mannes School of Music and earned his bachelor's degree in music from the Curtis Institute of Music in 1947. He received a master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1948, and soon after began teaching composition at the Curtis Institute. In the 1950s, while working for the Theodore Presser Company, Rochberg became one of the most prominent American serialist composers. Major symphony orchestras of Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh premièred many of his symphonic works, and he received numerous honors, including the 1956-1957 Guggenheim Fellowship. During the 1950s, Rochberg also published several musical treatises on twelve-tone composition. In the early 1960s, however, he became disenchanted with the strictures of serial and atonal composition that had dominated the academy. Rochberg embraced the language of tonal music and thus led the way for other academic composers to break from serial orthodoxy.

Rochberg chaired the music department at the University of Pennsylvania from 1960 until 1968 and continued as a professor there until his retirement in 1983. The year following his retirement, he published the book The Aesthetics of Survival: A Composer's View of Twentieth-Century Music. Rochberg continued composing and writing on music and aesthetics throughout the 1990s.

Rochberg married Gene Rosenfeld in 1941, and together they had two children, Paul and Francesca (Chessie). Paul died of a brain tumor in 1964. George Rochberg died in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, in 2005.

Scope and arrangement

The George Rochberg papers, along with these additions, document the professional activities, theoretical writings, and personal life of the composer. The additions are grouped into two series: Personal and Family Papers and Professional Records. The Personal and Family Papers series contain letters between George Rochberg and his wife Gene, as well as other family members; documents related to Rochberg's wife and children; photographs; and pencil and pen sketches by George Rochberg of family members. The Professional Records series consist of files documenting live performances of Rochberg's compositions, letters from fellow composers and academics, diploma and honor certificates, photographs, and writings on composition and musicology.

The George Rochberg papers, Additions are arranged in two series:

  • Series I: Personal and Family Papers
    1942-1999
    2 boxes

    This series is arranged alphabetically by document genre and ordered chronologically within each section. The bulk of the Personal and Family Papers consists of letters between George Rochberg and his wife Gene throughout various separations, including his military service in France during World War II. Also present are letters to and from various family members, and a small number of documents related to Rochberg's wife and children, including poems written by Paul Rochberg. The photographs are primarily family snapshots spanning 1933 to 1949, with a few pictures taken in the 1990s. The sketches are pencil and pen drawings by George Rochberg of family members.

  • Series II: Professional Records
    1937-2006
    15 boxes

    This series, which is arranged alphabetically by genre, contains files documenting live performances of his compositions (ordered by title); letters from fellow composers and academics (ordered alphabetically by name); diploma and honor certificates; photographs of live events, Rochberg with his colleagues, and professional portraits; and his writings on composition and musicology (ordered by title). Among the letter writers are Istvan Anhalt, Milton Babbitt, William Bolcom, Andres Briner, Elizabeth Gentry Colman, Aaron Copland, Luigi Dallapiccola, Arthur Darack, Aurelio de la Vega, Ernest Gold, Peter Gradenwitz, Ulysses Kay, Daniel Kobialka, William Schuman, Walter Sear, Harry Somers, John Tagliabue, and Douglas Townshend. Also present are letters to and from the Theodore Presser Company (1951-1966). The writings include drafts of his published and unpublished essays and books. Of note are the drafts of Chromaticism: Symmetry in Atonal and Tonal Music, a theoretical and historical exploration of composition that was posthumously published in 2012 as A Dance of Polar Opposites; and the notes for the unpublished book Iconography of the Mind, of which some drafts are located in the original George Rochberg papers accession (JPB 86-19).

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Donated by George Rochberg and his family in multiple accessions between 1990 and 2011.

Processing information

Compiled by Philip Heslip.

The initial accession of George Rochberg papers, ca. 1936-1976, is cataloged under call number JPB 86-19. In 1996, George Rochberg donated many of his manuscript scores to the New York Public Library. These are cataloged individually under call numbers JPB 98-45 and JPB 86-18.

This collection of additions were partially processed by the Music Division in the 1990s. The final arrangement and description of the collection took place in the Manuscripts and Archives Division in 2013.

Related Material

George Rochberg papers, ca. 1936-1976. JPB 86-19. Music Division, The New York Public Library.

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, The New York Public Library.