Hans Rosbaud, internationally acclaimed conductor, was born in Graz, Austria on July 22, 1895. A superb musician and possessor of an unimpeachable personal integrity, Rosbaud managed to survive the Nazi era and World War II to emerge as one of the most respected musicians of the post-war international music scene. Rosbaud's earliest musical training was with his mother, herself an accomplished pianist. After completion of his academic education, which emphasized the study of classical languages and culture, Rosbaud entered Dr. Hoch's Conservatory in Frankfurt am Main and distinguished himself as a pianist, composer and conductor. His teachers were Bernhard Sekles (Composition) and Alfred Hoehn (Piano). Paul Hindemith was one of his fellow students at the Conservatory.
In 1921 Rosbaud began his professional career in Mainz, having been chosen as the youngest from a field of 80 candidates to become the director of the newly-formed municipal School of Music and conductor of the municipal symphony concerts. Within a few years the School of Music developed an excellent reputation in Germany and eventually became an Academy of Music. Rosbaud became musical director and principal conductor of the orchestra of Radio Frankfurt in 1928. His extensive activity in Frankfurt and the consistent quality of his conducting broadened his sphere of influence and increased his renown. Of particular significance was his fostering of contemporary music, which soon made Frankfurt a center for activity in this field. The great masters of new music--Alban Berg, Arnold Schoenberg, Bela Bartok, Igor Stravinsky, Anton Webern and Paul Hindemith--were regular participants in the Radio Frankfurt concerts at this time. Rosbaud conducted the premieres of the Bartok Second Piano Concerto (with the composer as soloist), Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms, Hindemith's Concerto for Brass and Strings and Schoenberg's Variations Op. 31, among many other works.
With the establishment of the fascist regime in Germany, Rosbaud found himself under steadily growing political and artistic pressure and in 1937 he left his position in Frankfurt to become the general director of musical activities in Muenster, Westphalia. His responsibilities included orchestral and chamber-music concerts and conducting the opera. His performances of the oratorio and operatic repertory received particular recognition. After four years in Muenster, Rosbaud assumed the position of general music director in Strassburg (Alsace) which had been annexed into the German Reich. Despite the considerable difficulties placed in his way by the regime, musical life in Strassburg flourished under Rosbaud's direction. His persistent efforts on behalf of members of his orchestra who suffered persecution by the authorities won him the respect and support of the population. Rosbaud was the first conductor from Germany to be invited to France after the war, and he was warmly received on that occasion. In 1944/1945 he held the position of conductor with the Radio Orchestra Munich at Bayreuth.
After the war, in 1945, the U.S. Military Government in Germany asked Rosbaud to assume the position of conductor of the Munich Philharmonic. Thanks to his inexhaustible energy and unfailing devotion to his work, and despite the unbelievable circumstances he faced in a nearly-destroyed city, he succeeded in building a musical life in Munich whose vitality and high quality were unexcelled in Germany at that time. In accomplishing this he was given fullest support by the U.S. authorities.
In 1948 Rosbaud left Munich to become general music director and first conductor of the Suedwestfunk Orchestra in Baden-Baden. In 1950 he also became conductor of the well-known Tonhalle Orchestra of Zurich and the Zurich Opera. His successes with the Suedwestfunk (SWF) in particular put his career on an international basis. Rosbaud's activities as a champion of contemporary music won him international recognition, and his ensemble participated regularly in the Donaueschingen Festival of Contemporary Music to considerable acclaim. Rosbaud was annually invited to conduct at the prestigious Aix-en-Provence Festival as well. Guest engagements with nearly all major European orchestras followed and Rosbaud made several concert tours abroad, notably to Argentina, Turkey, the Union of South Africa and the United States. Before his death in Carabietta, Switzerland, December 29, 1962, Rosbaud had established himself as a regular guest conductor with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.
Hans Rosbaud was considered by some to be the outstanding conductor of his generation. He was the recipient of numerous awards and honors in recognition of his unique contribution to the world of music. One of his most sensational successes was in conducting the world premiere of Arnold Schoenberg's formidable opera-oratorio Moses und Aron in Hamburg in 1954, a feat he undertook on only eight days notice.
Correspondence, documents, programs, scores, clippings, recordings, photographs, and other papers of Austrian born conductor Hans Rosbaud. Correspondents include Yehudi Menuhin, Darius Milhaud, Gertrud Schoenberg, Igor Stravinski and his brother, Dr. Paul Rosbaud.
Series 1: Documents, 1899-1967 includes Rosbaud's birth and baptism certificates, identification cards, visa requests, military questionnaires, resumes and other papers.
Series 2: Correspondence and Papers, 1920-1964 is divided into seven subseries and provides the core of the collection. The first subseries, General Correspondence, 1920-1964, follows Rosbaud's own arrangement, a mixture of chronological and subject/geographical. The second subseries, National Correspondence, is arranged by country. Rosbaud possessed exceptional linguistic abilities and corresponded in five languages: German, English, French, Italian and Russian. Individual Correspondence, the third subseries, contains folders of letters from Gertrude Schoenberg (wife of the composer), Alexander Friedrich, Prinz von Hessen (a long-time friend and supporter of Rosbaud) and from the sculptress Yrsa von Leistner, among others. The remaining four subseries can best be described as Occupational Correspondence, Financial, Travel and other Papers.
In his long and distinguished career, Rosbaud dealt with many of the world's outstanding artists. The correspondence series includes letters from: Theresa Berganza, Henryk Szeryng, Ernst Krenek, Edwin Fischer, Willhelm Kempff, Gian-Francesco Malipiero, Darius Milhaud, Pierre Boulez, Ernest Ansermet, Alfred Cortot, Wilhelm Backhaus, Otto Klemperer, William Primrose, Karl-Heinz Stockhausen, Luigi Dallapiccola, Wilhelm Furtwaengler, Olivier Messiaen, Yehudi Menuhin, Lukas Foss, Fritz Reiner, Igor Stravinsky and Mieczlaw Horszowski. Rosbaud's correspondence with his brother Paul, himself a distinguished scientist, is also noteworthy.
Series 3: Programs and Criticisms contains the chronological files of concert programs and reviews pertaining to them as kept by Rosbaud. There are also several folders covering specific events, notably the Nazi-organized Hausmusikwoche in Strassburg (1942-1943) and the Klemperer scandal in Zurich in 1962.
Series 4: Medical Files contains X-rays, electrocardiogram graphs, prescriptions, correspondence with doctors and other papers relating to Rosbaud's medical history.
Series 5: Clippings, 1925-1962 contains Rosbaud's chronological collection of newspaper and journal clippings, many mounted, pertaining to his own career.
Series 6: Programs, 1930-1963, document the concerts which Rosbaud conducted.
The material in Series 7: Manuscript Scores, 1916-1936 is divided into four subseries: Original Compositions by Rosbaud dating from 1916 through 1936; Incomplete Works and Sketches; Student Exercises and Compositions; and Scores and Parts for works of other composers as arranged by Rosbaud for his own use.
Series 8: Printed Scores includes two subseries: Scores Annotated by Rosbaud and Scores with Dedications and Inscriptions. The annotated scores are only sparsely marked. The number of scores dedicated or presented to Rosbaud attests to the esteem with which he was held by his colleagues.
There are five subseries in Series 9: Photographs: Photos of Hans and Edel Rosbaud (including professional portraits); Other Persons; Places; Photos taken by Edel Rosbaud after Hans Rosbaud's death; and Photo Albums. Unfortunately, a great many of the individual photographs are not dated or identified.
Series 10: Albums and Scrapbooks, 1921-1951 pertain to Rosbaud's early career and later concert tours.
Series 11: Agenda Books contains Agenda Books (date books) from about 1929-1962.
Series 12: Assorted Notebooks and Papers most of the items are without date. The series includes address books, music history notes, student notebooks, library inventory, notebooks for language study, a list of compositions with timings, lectures and articles written by Rosbaud, and other items.
Among Series 13: Memorabilia are several medals and citations as well as the sculpture of Rosbaud's hand, executed by Yrsa von Leistner.
Series 14: Audio Reproduction is divided into three subseries. The first subseries contains reel-to-reel tape recordings, most of which, however, are not identified. The second subseries comprises non-commercial sample copies of recordings made by Rosbaud and provided by the recording firms or the SWF. The third subseries contains commercial recordings conducted by Rosbaud. Included are the first recording of Schoenberg's Moses und Aron (released in 1957), with a dedication by Gertrude Schoenberg, and the 1955 Aix-en-Provence Festival recording of Mozart's Marriage of Figaro (oversize).
Series 15: Oversize is further divided into two subseries: Oversize Scores, including the full orchestral score used for the Hamburg premiere of Moses und Aron, and Other Items. This last subseries includes the Buehnenplan (stage design) for the Zurich production of Moses in 1955.
Series 16: Addendum, is comprised of original correspondence and photographs that was added to the collection after it was initially processed. It is divided into three subseries: Individual Correspondence, Photographs, and Oversize.
The Hans Rosbaud papers are arranged in sixteen series. Series 1 is arranged chronologically. Series 2 is divided into seven subseries; the first subseries is kept in its original order, the second is arranged by country. Series 3 and 5 are arranged chronologically. Series 7 is divided into four subseries; Series 8 and 15 are each divided into two subseries; Series 9 into five subseries; and Series 14 and 16 each into three subseries.
This collection is open and available for research use.
Copyright restrictions apply.
[Item description]
Hans Rosbaud Papers, 1899-1973 (Cage 423)
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.
The Hans Rosbaud Papers were donated by Dr. Hans Moldenhauer, of Spokane, to be incorporated in the Moldenhauer Archives at Washington State University. The papers were acquired in December of 1979 (MS 80-1).
>The papers were initially processed by Joan Evans-Cameron in 1980. Final processing was done by John Mueter from November 1981 to October 1982.
This index of the names contained in the correspondence of Hans Rosbaud was compiled by Mark Bolton, Moldenhauer Archives Assistant, Washington State University Libraries, during the fall semester, September, 1983, to January, 1984. All folders in the Correspondence Series which were known to contain letters (folders 4-127) were examined and 2,682 personal and corporate entries extracted. Citations in the index refer to folder numbers. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians(1980) has been used as a standardizing reference for the spelling of names and for the application of vital dates, where possible. Entries preceded by "Ad." refer to items that comprise an addendum to the Rosbaud Papers. A list and summary inventory of these addendum items is available at the end of this index.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.
Scores: La Vallée des Cloches: Das Tel der 4 Glocken, by Maurice Ravel, 1906; Variationen Fuer Orchester, op. 31, by Arnold Schonberg