The First Piano Quartet was an ensemble active between 1941 and 1964 consisting of four pianists playing arrangements of known works made specifically for the ensemble. The collection consists of the arrangements used by the quartet.
The First Piano Quartet began when Polish pianist Adam Garner pitched the idea for a four-piano, eight-hands ensemble to theater producer Edwin Fadiman. Garner and Fadiman agreed that Fadiman would own the ensemble and its arrangements in exchange for publicity and logistics management. They subsequently hired pianists Henry Holt, George Robert, and Vladimir Padwa to complete the ensemble. Subsequent members included Edward Edson, Franz Mittler, Glauco D'Attili, and William Gunther.
Featuring each pianist on a separate piano, the group played classical and light classical works, arranged specifically for the ensemble, with dialog interspersed. Fadiman wrote the radio scripts and served as producer and co-owner of the ensemble; his brother Clifton Fadiman was the other co-owner.
The quartet's first performances were on the radio, its debut taking place on January 22, 1941 on WJZ-New York from 10:15-10:30pm. It gave its first live concert performance at Eastman Theatre in Rochester, New York in November of that year. The ensemble began recording commercially in 1948, with its album The Music of Ernesto Lecuona on RCA-Victor. On May 16, 1949, the group played its Carnegie Hall debut.
In the fall of 1949, a dispute occurred between Fadiman and Adam Garner over ownership and management of the Quartet. In 1957, after years of legal battles, the contract between Fadiman and the quartet's members subsequently dissolved. Fadiman was allowed to keep rights to the arrangements, the recordings, and the quartet's name. Members of the quartet continued as the Original Piano Quartet, recording several albums for Decca Records. The group disbanded by 1964.
The collection includes original manuscripts of arrangements played by the First Piano Quartet during the years it was owned and managed by Edwin Fadimann. For some works, parts exist for each separate pianist. For others, only one of the four parts, or incomplete parts may exist. Each part retains its original numbering as applied by the quartet.
The collection is arranged according to the original numbering applied by the ensemble.
The collection was donated by Celeste Fadiman in December 1974.
The collection was processed in 1986 by Bob Kosovsky and rehoused in 2021-2024 by Jessica Wood.