Scope and Content Note
The Edward and Clara Steuermann Collection consists primarily of the music (both manuscript and printed) and writings of Edward Steuermann, and the correspondence of both Edward and Clara Steuermann. The collections spans the period from 1922 to 1981, with the bulk of the materials dating from the 1930's to the 1970's.
The music in the collection includes holograph scores or sketches of most of Steuermann's compositions, both published and unpublished, as well as a number of copyist's scores and a few printed instrumental parts or scores. Steuermann's arrangements and transcriptions of works by Busoni, Poulenc, Schoenberg, Webern, and various 18th- and 19th-century composers are also well represented by holograph scores. Steuermann's collection of music by other composers includes both manuscript scores of friends and colleagues such as Hanns Eisler, Erich Itor Kahn, Earl Kim and René Leibowitz, and a large selection of printed scores of music from the 18th through the 20th centuries, many with Steuermann's annotations.
The correspondence in the collection consists of both the general and family correspondence of Edward and Clara Steuermann, dating from 1922 through Clara Steuermann's death in 1981. The general correspondence includes letters between the Steuermanns and Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, Ferruccio Busoni, and Theodor Adorno. Particularly lengthy is the correspondence with Rudolf and Lorna Kolisch, René Leibowitz, and Hans Moller. The family correspondence contains primarily letters to and from Berthold and Salka Viertel and the Gielen family.
Writings in the collection encompass a broad range of materials, including manuscript and typescript essays by Edward Steuermann, transcripts of excerpts from Steuermann's letters discussing musical matters, lectures and speeches, program and liner notes, interview transcripts, and letters of recommendation for various students and colleagues. Writings by others about Steuermann are also included, as is a typescript autobiographical essay by Steuermann's mother, Augusta Steuermann. There are a number of poetic texts as well, manuscript and typescript, in various languages, including poems by Berthold Viertel and Berthold Brecht.
Other materials include: printed programs of music composed or performed by Steuermann or his students; clippings and other printed matter; papers of the Edward Steuermann Memorial Society; a few financial and legal papers; and approximately 100 photographs. Notable are informal photographs of Alfred Brendel and his wife; the young Lorin Hollander; and a candid shot of Arnold Schoenberg. Additionally there are 4 boxes of materials acquired by Clara Steuermann between 1974 and 1981 concerning the activities of the International Federation of Music Libraries (IFLA), an organization in which she was active during the last decade of her life.