Conditions Governing Access
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
Acquisition Information
UCLA Catalog Record ID
Preferred Citation
Processing Note
Biography
Scope and Content
Arrangement
Separated Materials
Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Eric Zeisl papers
Creator:
Zeisl, Eric, 1905-1959
Identifier/Call Number: PASC-M.0029
Identifier/Call Number: /repositories/2/resources/1317
Physical Description:
30 linear feet
(61 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1862-1987
Date (bulk): 1925-1959
Abstract: Zeisl's music manuscripts, published scores, correspondence, documents, recordings, and other materials.
Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
CONTAINS UNPROCESSED AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS: Audiovisual materials are not currently available for access and will require
further processing and assessment. If you have questions about this material please email spec-coll@library.ucla.edu.
Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
Property rights to the physical objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright
and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Gertrude Zeisl, 1975. Gift of Barbara Zeisl Schoenberg.
UCLA Catalog Record ID
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Eric Zeisl papers (Collection Number PASC-M 29). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young
Research Library, UCLA.
Processing Note
Processed by Library Special Collections staff. Additions to collection processed in 2010 by Nina Sholtz in the Center for
Primary Research and Training (CFPRT).
The processing of this collection was generously supported by Arcadia funds.
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user
interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides
a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive
processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating
existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit
feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form
located on our website:
Report Problematic Content and Description in UCLA's Library Collections and Archives.
Biography
Zeisl was born in Vienna on May 18, 1905. A student of Richard Stöhr, Joseph Marx and Hugo Kauder, Zeisl achieved early recognition,
publishing his first songs at the age of 16 and winning the Austrian State Prize in 1934 for the Requiem concertante (1933-1934).
He was compelled to leave Austria and went first to Paris (1938) and then to the USA (1939). He moved from New York to Hollywood
to work for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1941), then settled in Los Angeles and became professor of theory and composition at Los
Angeles City College in 1949. His gifts for melody, orchestration and dramatic expression were first developed in the songs
of his Austrian years. Evident in his other Austrian compositions are the variation techniques and contrapuntal textures that
would become lifelong preoccupations. In the USA, where he produced roughly half of his output, he abandoned song in order
to devote more attention to instrumental pieces, sacred music and especially dramatic works, which powerfully express his
Jewish heritage. Throughout his career he derived his large forms principally from those of the Baroque and Classical periods,
but after his emigration earlier Austro-German Romantic elements were replaced by a combination of soaring, cantillation-like
melodies, modal harmonies, metric shifts, flexible rhythmic patterns and dark orchestral colours. Zeisl died in Los Angeles
on Feb. 18, 1959.
Scope and Content
The collection consists of Zeisl's music manuscripts, published scores, correspondence, documents, recordings, and other materials.
It also includes correspondence and papers of the family of Gertrude Jellinek Zeisl, Eric Zeisl's wife.
Arrangement
The collection is organized into the following series:
- Series 1. Manuscripts
- Series 2. Miscellaneous Printed Material
- Series 3. Zeisl's Professional Library
- Series 4. Clippings and Programs
- Series 6. Photographic Material
- Series 7. Miscellaneous and Realia
- Series 8. Sound Recordings
Separated Materials
Materials in "Series 5 Correspondence and Family Papers" were returned to the Zeisl family upon the family's request in 2024.
These materials were housed in box 47-49; box 71, folders 11-15; and box 72-73. Description for these materials were removed
from the finding aid in May 2024.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Composers -- California -- Los Angeles -- Archives.
Zeisl, Eric, 1905-1959
Zeisl, Gertrude S.