Maurice Abravanel papers, 1890-2009

The Maurice Abravanel papers (1890s-2009) are comprised of various materials that illustrate the personal and professional life of one of the world's most respected and revered conductors.

The collection has been divided into eight sections. The first section contains personal materials dealing with Abravanel and his career, such as educational records, personal notes, contracts, and repertoire lists. Biographical sketches detailing the lives of Abravanel's ancestors as well as his own life are included. Box three contains programs, scrapbooks, and speeches from activities honoring Abravanel. Transcripts from interviews and interview programs are held in box four. In addition, there are materials concerning Lucy Abravanel, her first marriage to Albert Carasso, and their two children, Pierre and Roger Carasso.

The second section contains correspondence files. It has been divided into personal and professional correspondence, and has been arranged chronologically. The personal correspondence relates primarily to Lucy, her first husband, and their children. There is also a small amount of correspondence to Abravanel from his first wife, Friedel, and a few miscellaneous letters. The professional correspondence is the larger of the two sections. These letters detail circumstances and events pertaining to Abravanel, his career, his involvement with the Utah Symphony, and other orchestras and institutions.

Financial materials comprise the third section of the collection. These materials detail miscellaneous expenses as well as music bills, royalties, and travel expenses. There are also bank statements, cancelled checks, and income tax materials. Some of these materials have been restricted.

Boxes 24-28 contain material pertaining to the Utah Symphony. Files concerning symphony operations such as board meetings, contracts, salaries, grants, reviews, tours, and other materials may be found in this section. Research materials and rehearsal information on the works of Gustav Mahler may be found in box 27. Box 28 contains materials concerning the Utah Symphony Guild.

Section five contains programs Abravanel collected during his career as a conductor. The regular season programs of the Utah Symphony have been arranged chronologically and date from the late 1930s through his years as conductor, until his retirement in 1979. Boxes 47-48 contain programs with Abravanel as a guest conductor, and have been arranged alphabetically by theater or function. The miscellaneous programs have no apparent significance to Abravanel's career, but most likely are concerts he attended, and have been alphabetically arranged as well.

The institutional files document an important period of Abravanel's life in his service on councils for the arts both locally and nationally. Materials from the Utah Arts Council, National Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts, American Symphony Orchestra League, and American Arts Alliance illustrate Abravanel's determination to increase local and national support for the arts. These files contain legislative reports, minutes, correspondence, and grant information.

The seventh section of the collection has been arranged chronologically and contains local and national newspaper and magazine articles. Also included in this section are scrapbooks of newsclippings that were assembled by Lucy and Maurice. Many of the original books were copied and discarded because of the deteriorating physical condition of the materials. The clippings concern Abravanel's career, the Utah Symphony, and include reviews, concert information, and other related topics.

The eighth and final section consists of articles and publications, artist management files, score catalogs, librettos, composers, orchestras, foundations, societies, and awards. Also included are the files from the Van Cliburn and Gina Bachauer competitions, for which Abravanel served as a jury member. Also in this section are some miscellaneous pieces of music, including some works by Kurt Weill.

Other materials have been added to the collection and include sketches, articles, programs, sheet music, correspondence, personal and family materials, pamphlets, subject files, and oversize items.

The McKay Music Library houses the Maurice Abravanel Studio which is an intimate environment for serious study by individuals and small groups and houses his conducting scores, books, personal memorabilia, photographs and his Steinway piano. The studio draws visitors worldwide. Click here to view a PDF of the inventory of the Maurice Abravanel Studio collection.