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Creator
Juilliard School of Music
Call number
JPB 89-66
Physical description
7 boxes + 2 map case drawers
Language
Materials in English
Preferred Citation

Ten years of American opera design [graphic], Music Division, The New York Public Library

Repository
Music Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.
Portions of this collection have been digitized and are available online.

The collection includes photographs, original drawings for set and costume designs, and blueprints; as well as miscellaneous exhibition materials such as catalogs, labels, display case notes, programs, and periodicals containing material about the operas. Set and costume designers include Frederick John Kiesler, Nathalie Swan, Bruno Funaro, Daniel Brenner, and others. Most of the photographs were taken by Samuel H. Gottscho.

Biographical/historical information

Operas represented in the Juilliard Collection:

  • November 1931:JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. Music by Louis Gruenberg; libretto by John Erskine. Settings by Margaret Linley.
  • February 1932:DIDO AND AENEAS. Music by Henry Purcell; text by Nahum Tate. Settings by Alfredo Valenti.
  • April 1933:IL MATRIMONIO SEGRETO. Music by Domenico Cimarosa; with new recitatives by Albert Stoessel. Adapted from II matrimonio segreto of G. Colman and David Garrick by Giovanni Bertati. Translated from the Italian by Reginald Gatty and Albert Stoessel. Settings by Alfredo Valenti.
  • December 1933:LE NOZZE DI FIGARO. Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte. Settings by Alfredo Valenti.
  • March 1934:HELEN RETIRES. Music by George Antheil; libretto by John Erskine. Settings and costumes by Frederick John Kiesler.
  • December 1934:ARIADNE AUF NAXOS. Music by Richard Strauss; libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Settings and costumes by Frederick John Kiesler.
  • January 1935:ORFEO ED EURIDICE. Music by Christoph Willibald Gluck; book by Raniero de' Calzabigi. Setting by Alfredo Valenti.
  • April 1935:MARIA MALIBRAN. Music by Robert Russell Bennett; libretto by Robert A. Simon. Settings and costumes by Frederick John Kiesler.
  • December 1935:DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE. Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; libretto by Carl Ludwig Giesecke and Emanuel Schikaneder. Settings by Alfredo Valenti.
  • March 1936:JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN. Ballet-pantomime by Werner Josten; choreography by Arthur Mahoney. Settings and costumes by Nathalie Swan.
  • March 1936:L'HEURE ESPAGNOLE. Music by Maurice Ravel; libretto by Franc Nohain (performed in the English version of Robert A. Simon). Settings by Bruno Funaro and costumes by Graham Erskine.
  • April 1936:DIE LUSTIGEN WEIBER VON WINDSOR. Music by Otto Nicolai; libretto by S. H. von Mosenthal (performed in the English version of H. E. Krehbiel). Settings by Bruno Funaro.
  • December 1936:LE MEDECIN MALGRÉ LUI. Music by Charles Gounod (arranged by Marshall Bartholomew); from the play by Molière. Libretto and adaptation by Alexander Dean. Settings by Pasquale Carbonara.
  • February 1937:GARRICK. Music by Albert Stoessel; libretto by Robert A. Simon. Settings and costumes by Paul Oppenheim.
  • April 1937:THE POISONED KISS. Music by Ralph Vaughan Williams; book by Evelyn Sharp. Settings by Nathalie Swan and Paul Oppenheim.
  • January 1938:THE SLEEPING BEAUTY. Music by Beryl Rubinstein; libretto by John Erskine. Settings by Daniel Brenner and costumes by Bruno Funaro and Giovanni Battista Repetto.
  • April 1938:DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL. Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; libretto by Gottlob Stephanie after the play of Christoph Friedrich Bretzner (performed in an English translation from the original German by Robert Lawrence [dialogue] and Albert Stoessel [lyrics]). Settings by Nathalie Swan and Daniel Brenner and costumes by Nathalie Swan.
  • December 1938:LE NOZZE DI FIGARO. Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte after Beaumarchais (performed in English version by Edward J. Dent). Settings by Tom Jones, Edward McMullin, David Brenner and Cole McFarland.
  • March 1938:DIDO AND AENEAS. Music by Henry Purcell; text by Nahum Tate. Settings by Alfredo Valenti.
  • March 1938:L'HEURE ESPAGNOLE. Music by Maurice Ravel; libretto by Franc Nohain (performed in the English version of Robert A. Simon). Settings by Bruno Funaro and costumes by Graham Erskine.
  • December 1939:LES CONTES D'HOFFMANN. Music by Jacques Offenbach; libretto by Jules Barbier. Settings by Frederick John Kiesler.
  • February 1940:COSI FAN TUTTE. Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte. Settings by Francesco Christofanetti.
  • April 1940:LE DONNE CURIOSE. (The Inquisitive Women), music by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari; libretto by Luigi Sugana after Goldoni (performed in a new English translation by George Mead). Settings by Frederick John Kiesler.
  • December 1940:DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE. Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; libretto by Carl Ludwig Giesecke and Emanuel Schikaneder (performed in English version by Edward J. Dent). Setting by Frederick John Kiesler.
  • April 1941:FALSTAFF. Music by Giuseppe Verdi; libretto by Arrigo Boito. Settings by John Stevens.

Four operas, IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA, AIDA, CARMEN and LA BOHEME, which were presented by the Juilliard Graduate School in studio form only, are represented by candid camera shots only.

Some photographs from later productions are included in the "Miscellaneous Photographs" section. Productions include ORFEO ED EURIDICE, SOLOMON AND BALKIS, THE MOTHER, and DER FREISCHÜTZ.

Scope and arrangement

Bibliography

Andrea Cawelti, "The Stage as a Well-Designed House: Frederick Kiesler's Ideal Theatre" in Biblion 3 no. 1 (Fall 1994), p. 111-139

Described in: Ten years of American opera design at the Juilliard School of Music : a list of the materials presented to the New York Public Library by the Juilliard School of Music and displayed, in part, in an exhibition held in the library from November 13 to December 10, 1941 / New York Public Library. New York : The New York Public Library, 1941

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