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Creator
Affelder, Paul B., 1915-
Call number
JPB 06-70
Physical description
9.06 linear feet (13 boxes)
Preferred Citation

Paul Affelder Papers, JPB 06-70. Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Repository
Music Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Restrictions apply

Paul B. Affelder (1915-1975) was a music critic and the founder of Program Note Service. The collection consists primarily of Affelder’s writings, as well as press releases, programs and other promotional materials compiled by Affelder from the mid-1950s through 1975. The collection also includes an incomplete set of orchestral parts for the Emmerich Kálmán–George Marion, Jr. operetta, Marinka.

Biographical/historical information

Paul B. Affelder (1915-1975) was a music critic and the founder of Program Note Service, which created and distributed program notes for music and ballet performances throughout North America. Affelder, who was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania studied the cello from an early age and spent summers at the National Music Camp in Interlochen, Michigan. He attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology, receiving his undergraduate degree in 1937. Affelder spent the summer of 1935 in Europe and studied conducting with Bruno Walter and Bernhard Paumgartner at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. In 1937, he began graduate work at New York University. After completing, a Masters in Music in 1939, Affelder became the first cellist and assistant conductor for the Virginia-North Carolina WPA Symphony, which led to a position as conductor with a Federal Music Project-sponsored orchestra in Richmond, Virginia for three years. He also helped to found the private Richmond Philharmonic Orchestra in 1939 and served as its conductor from 1939-1941.

Following his stint in Virginia, Affelder settled in New York, where in1943 he became the Musical Director for the Masterworks Division of Columbia Records. He joined the Columbia Broadcasting System in 1948 as a music annotator and writer for CBS Radio, writing continuity for classical music broadcasts for many years, and becoming music and dance critic for WCBS-TV News in 1963. Affelder also served as the music editor and critic for the Brooklyn Eagle from 1948 through 1955 (when the newspaper folded), contributing numerous performance and record reviews. He later would serve in a similar capacity for The National Observer from 1962-1966. In addition to writing for periodicals, Affelder was the author of How to Build a Record Library (1947), which went through several printings, as well as a monograph on the dancer, Sybil Shearer, in 1955. In 1965, he created the Program Note Service, which made available through subscription, descriptive notes about compositions, composers, and performers to various musical organizations or individuals. Affelder ran the Program Note Service out of his home until his death in 1975; at the time of his death it was reported that the service was being used by over seventy orchestras

Scope and arrangement

The Paul Affelder Papers consist primarily of press releases, programs and other promotional materials relating to individual musical artists, organizations, or venues. Much of the material probably was sent to Affelder in his role as the director of Program Note Service, and dates from 1964-1975. The collection also includes drafts of Affelder’s writings, including reviews and other pieces that appeared in Musical America, the Brooklyn Eagle, and The National Observer. A small amount of personal papers cover Affelder’s student years and his early work as a conductor. His 1935 summer spent studying conducting at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria is especially well documented through a set of letters home to his family and a scrapbook containing postcards, commercial photographs, and snapshots, which show some of the notable musicians he encountered during his stay, including Adrian Boult, Arturo Toscanini, and Felix Weingartner. Also well represented, by clippings and programs, is the period (1939-1942) in which Affelder served as the conductor of a WPA orchestra in Richmond, Virginia. The collection also includes an incomplete set of orchestral parts for the Emmerich Kálmán–George Marion, Jr. operetta, Marinka, which was staged in New York in 1945.

The Paul Affelder papers are arranged in four series:

  • Series I. Personal papers, and
    undated
    2.33 linear feet (3 boxes

    The Personal Papers series is comprised of clippings, correspondence, programs, and scrapbooks containing photographs and other materials. There is a small amount of material documenting Affelder’s studies at the Carnegie Institute of Technology and New York University, including a complete set of Affelder’s class schedules from the Institute and class notes from three NYU courses taught by musicologist Curt Sachs. Of special interest are a scrapbook and a set of letters dating from Affelder’s 1935 summer in Europe; primarily spent studying at the Mozarteum. Also of note are clippings and programs relating to the WPA orchestra in Richmond, Virginia, which Affelder led from 1939-1942.

  • Series II: Subject files, and
    undated
    2.09 linear feet (5 boxes

    The Subject Files consist of clippings, programs, press releases, and other promotional materials and publications relating to individual musical artists, organizations, or venues. Affelder may have compiled the material as research or as documentation of his own writing. Many of the concert programs contain program notes by Affelder.

  • Series III: Writings, and
    undated
    0.83 linear feet (2 boxes

    The Writings series contains mainly carbon copies (some with corrections) of pieces contributed to various publications. Most of the material dating from 1941-1943 appeared in Musical America. The contributions from 1948-1954 were written for the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper and the majority of items dated from 1962-1966 were published in The National Observer. Although the material chiefly consists of concert reviews, Affelder also wrote on topics relating to dance and record collecting. One folder of editorial correspondence is filed at the end of the series.

  • Series IV: Marinka orchestrations, circa
    1945
    3.81 linear feet (3 boxes

    Incomplete orchestral parts for Marinka, which was produced on Broadway in 1945. The show was the only operetta completed by Hungarian-born composer Emmerich Kálmán after he was forced to immigrate to the United States following the Nazi Anschluss with Austria and occupation of Paris. The libretto, which was co-written by Karl Farkas and George Marion, Jr., was a new version of the Mayerling story. Marion also supplied the lyrics to the songs, which included the waltz, Turn on the Charm. Ray Kavanaugh served as the musical director for Marinka and Hans Spialek is credited in the program with the orchestrations; it is unclear what Affelder’s connection with the production may have been. The conductor’s parts folder contains a listing of some of the members of the orchestra.

Administrative information

Custodial history

The Paul Affelder Papers were donated in multiple installements to the Music Division in 1979 by Jane Affelder.

Source of acquisition

Gift, Affelder, Jane, 1970

Processing information

Processed by Helice Koffler; Machine-readable finding aid created by Helice Koffler.

Related Material

The Paul Affelder scrapbooks [microform], *ZB-3430 no. 1, are held by the Music Division.

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 Curator, Music Division

Access restrictions

Photocopying prohibited.

Alternative form available

Boxes 11-13 are also available on microform; service copy clasmark: *ZB-4255