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Composer Leo Karczag was born in Budapest, Hungary on April 24, 1897. He earned a master of music from the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest and a juris doctor and doctor of philosophy at the Hungarian University of Science, also in Budapest. Karczag toured Europe, Asia, Africa, and South and Central America as a concert pianist during his early years. He lived in Costa Rica for some time (composing under the name Leo or Luis Oscar de la Silva) before settling in the United States in 1938.
In 1946 Karczag married Edna Manrose with whom he had two children, Paul and Shari. The family moved to Klamath Falls, Oregon in 1964 where they resided until Karczag's death in 1985. It was during this time that Karczag composed his most extensive work Oregon, My Oregon! which premiered in 1968. His works include over 70 songs, three musicals, and several instrumental works.
The Leo Karczag Papers consist of music manuscripts, composition and lyric notebooks, Karczag's indices to the lyric notebooks, programs and publicity, and 78 r.p.m. records.
Music manuscripts are comprised of musicals, songs, instrumental works, scripts, and lyrics. Musicals, because they are the largest segment in this series, appear first. Of these, Oregon, My Oregon! is the most significant work and all related material--songs, instrumental parts, vocal score, scripts, lyrics, and publicity--are found under this title. Songs for this show are arranged according to the order of their appearance in the program. Instrumental parts with more than one song are arranged by instrument. Songs for two other musicals appear in performance order. Miscellaneous songs and instrumental works are alphabetically arranged by title. Compositions written by Karczag under pseudonyms have been interfiled with his other works, the pseudonyms indicated in parentheses next to the song title. Works having two titles or two sets of lyrics are cross-referenced in the inventory to the final version.
The composition notebooks comprise the bulk of the collection and have been retained in Karczag's own arrangement, which is nearly chronological. They span over thirty years of Karczag's life, documenting his early career until almost the year of his death in 1985.