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Rare Book & Manuscript Library

Rare Book & Manuscript Library

6th Floor East Butler Library
535 West 114th Street
New York, NY 10027, USA
rbml@library.columbia.edu
The Rare Book & Manuscript Library is Columbia University’s principal repository for special collections. We collect, preserve, describe, promote, and provide access to the material evidence of diverse individuals and activities in alignment with the University’s research and teaching mission. We build and steward deep collections in select subject areas and connect them to a global audience through reference, teaching, exhibitions, publications, and public programs.
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Rare Book & Manuscript Library

Vladimir Rosing papers, 1912-2009, bulk 1912-1963

3 linear feet
Vladimir Rosing (1890-1963) was a Russian tenor, producer, and director (primarily of opera) who worked largely in Britain and the United States. His papers include ephemera relating to his vocal and directorial career, but principally comprises his writings on art and politics, as organized and edited by his wife, Ruth, and son, Richard.
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Notepads containing drafts of Rosing's memoirs, undated Box 2, Folder 7

United States, and his tour with the American Opera Company (typewritten draft is titled "England -- Am
Opera"; transcript is titled "England to American Opera Company"). A typewritten, annotated draft and a
stapled, wordprocessed transcription of an essay about the American Opera Company and Rosing's campaign to

A thin, lined notebook containing handwritten drafts and notes, labeled "My Story" on the front. Drafts include: a fragment of scenes 2 and 3 of a play script (possibly about Vladimir Lenin); notes for a project on Stalin; a list of "musical events"; a list of "people I met"; notes for "Season 1962-1963," Rosing Productions Inc. This material was originally held in a folder titled "Vladimir Rosing: Small Green Notebook." A legal pad containing drafts and notes. Includes drafts for pieces titled: "Men's Clubs, London"; "St. Petersburg"; "Music of Russia." A stapled, handwritten draft of an account of a performance of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin for Tsar Nicolas II and a stapled, wordprocessed transcript of this material (manuscript titled "Gala performance: Eugene Onegin" and transcript titled "Gala Performance of Eugene Onegin for the Tsar"). Two stapled, handwritten drafts outlining Rosing's political beliefs. This material was originally held in a folder titled "Vladimir Rosing: Legal Pad, Pages 96-125." A legal pad containing drafts and notes (mostly recollections, possibly for a memoir). Includes drafts for pieces titled: "London and Thames?"; "WAR!" The first few pages of the pad have come loose. This material was originally held in a folder titled "Vladimir Rosing: Legal Pad, Pages 125-154." A spiralbound notebook titled "My Story," containing handwritten drafts and notes, interleaved with wordprocessed transcriptions of this material (loose and stapled). Drafts include: a letter to Khrushchev; Rosing's assorted recollections (titled "Notes Towards a Preface: Another Version" by transcriber); financial notes; an essay about Swiss doctor Roger Vittoz (titled "Dr. Vittoz and His Methods" by the transcriber). This material was originally held in a folder titled "Vladimir Rosing: Deluxe Penworthy Notebook." A spiralbound notebook containing handwritten drafts. Interleaved among the pages are stapled, typewritten drafts of the same material, and stapled, wordprocessed transcriptions of the same material. Drafts include: Rosing's recollections of his early recitals in London and the British attitude towards Russians during the Russian Revolution (manuscript and transcription are titled "Savishna," likely a reference to Modest Mussorgsky's song "Darling Savishna," which Rosing recorded); Rosing's recollections of the First World War in England (including the shooting of a German zeppelin), his journey to the United States, and his tour with the American Opera Company (typewritten draft is titled "England -- Am Opera"; transcript is titled "England to American Opera Company"). A typewritten, annotated draft and a stapled, wordprocessed transcription of an essay about the American Opera Company and Rosing's campaign to popularize English translations of opera (the manuscript is titled "American Opera Company + a boost for opera in English" and the transcription is titled "The American Opera Company - a boost for opera in English"). This material was originally held in a folder titled "Vladimir Rosing: Green Sprial Notebook + Transcripts."

  1. Series II: Writings (Rosing and family), 1923-2009, undated, bulk 1923-1963

Articles relating to Rosing's vocal and directorial career, 1913, 1922, 1924, 1963, 1971, 1995 Box 5, Folder 1

London debut at the Royal Albert Hall, 1913 May 25; tearsheets of "Advance Guard: The American Opera
Company, Forty Years On, Spruced Up the Warhorses" in Opera News, 1971 February 27; a printout of a

Includes two large newspaper clippings: "Rosing Triumphs as Usual," Musical Courier, 1924 January 17, page 13; "Rosing, Remarkable Russian," Musical Courier, 1922 January 4, page 35. Includes a wordprocessed letter from 237 Studio in Denver about an E-Bay auction (possibly of the two clippings). Also includes tearsheet of "Val Rosing's Technique of Acting for Singers" by Ruth Glean Rosing, New York Opera Newsletter 1995 May; atypewritten eulogy for Rosing by Meredith Willson, 1963 November 27; a wordprocessed transcript of an interview with Rosing, 1924 March 3; a wordprocessed transcript of reviews of Rosing's London debut at the Royal Albert Hall, 1913 May 25; tearsheets of "Advance Guard: The American Opera Company, Forty Years On, Spruced Up the Warhorses" in Opera News, 1971 February 27; a printout of a chapter "Rosing the Russian" from Eighth Notes: Voices and Figures of Music and the Dance by H.T. Parker (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1922). Some material was originally held in a folder titled "Vladimir Rosing: Articles."

  1. Series I: Vocal and directorial career, 1912-1995, undated, bulk 1912-1962
Rare Book & Manuscript Library

Douglas Moore papers, 1883-2018, bulk 1907-1969

45 linear feet
Douglas Stuart Moore (1893-1969) was an American composer, educator, and author. His best known works include the operas The Devil and Daniel Webster (1937-1939), The Ballad of Baby Doe (1953-1956), and Giants in the Earth (1949-1950), which won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1951. The papers include clippings, correspondence, course and lecture materials, librettos, photographs, programs, publicity materials, recordings, and scores.
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Subseries IX.2: The Douglas Moore Fund, 1956, 2009, 2013-2016, 2018, bulk 2013-2016

Contains material relating to the Douglas Moore Fund, founded in 2002 to support American opera
companies in the development of new comissions, and to promote the work of mid-century American opera

Contains material relating to the Douglas Moore Fund, founded in 2002 to support American opera companies in the development of new comissions, and to promote the work of mid-century American opera composers, like Douglas Moore. This subseries comprises correspondence and administrative documents relating to the operations of the fund, as collected by Miranda Beeson, the daughter of Moore's colleague, Jack Beeson, who served the Fund in a governance and consultancy capacity. These materials document various events and projects that the Fund was involved with, including publications, conferences, and performances, while also providing insights into the Fund's changing mission. The subseries also contains several inventories and chronologies of Moore's compositions, compiled by the Fund for an anthology of Moore's vocal music.

  1. Series IX. Personal and Biographical Materials, 1909-1997, undated