University of Southern California, Feuchtwanger Memorial Library

Collection context

Summary

Title:
Hanns Eisler papers
Dates:
1942-1948
Creators:
Eisler, Hanns
Abstract:
This rich collection contains Hanns Eisler's personal and business correspondence from his years in Southern California (1942-48). In addition the archive contains a few biographical documents and photographs. The collection also contains several recordings for films on records by Hanns Eisler.
Extent:
3 Linear Feet 7 boxes
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Hanns Eisler papers, Collection no. 0207, Feuchtwanger Memorial Library, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California

Background

Scope and content:

Collection contains Hanns Eisler's extensive personal and business correspondence from his years in Southern California (1942-48). In addition the archive contains a few biographical documents and photographs. The collection also contains several recordings for films on records by Hanns Eisler. The records have been digitalized and transfered to CDs.

Biographical / historical:

Hanns Eisler (1898-1962) was a German composer. His family moved to Vienna in 1902, and Eisler grew up and studied there, most notably with Arnold Schoenberg in the early 1920s. He moved to Berlin in 1925. Due to his strongly Marxist political convictions Eisler left Nazi Germany in 1933, and travelled extensively for four years. He began teaching at the New School for Social Research in New York in 1938. Four years later he moved to Los Angeles, where he taught composition at UCLA, worked closely with Bertolt Brecht, wrote scores for motion pictures, and co-authored with Theodor Adorno, "Composing for the Films." He was expelled from the United States because of his Communist sympathies in March 1948, and settled in East Berlin for the rest of his life, where he was professor at the Berlin Hochschule fuer Musik and continued to write for films, compose songs and concert works.

Acquisition information:
Included in the Lion Feuchtwanger estate which was given to USC by Marta Feuchtwanger.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:
Exiles -- United States -- History -- 20th century -- Archival resources
Composition (Music) -- Archival resources
Exiles -- Germany -- History -- 20th century -- Archival resources
Anti-communist movements -- United States -- History -- 20th century -- Archival resources
Sound recordings
Photographs
Correspondence
Names:
Feuchtwanger, Lion -- Archives
Eisler, Hanns -- Archives
Mann, Heinrich -- Archives
Feuchtwanger, Marta -- Archives
Places:
Germany -- Emigration and immigration -- History -- 1933-1945 -- Archival resources

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Michaela Ullmann
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2019-07-02 15:41:47 -0700 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection contains published materials; researchers are reminded of the copyright restrictions imposed by publishers on reusing their articles and parts of books. It is the responsibility of researchers to acquire permission from publishers when reusing such materials. The copyright to unpublished materials belongs to the heirs of the writers. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.

Terms of access:

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Exile Studies Librarian at ullmann@usc.edu. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Hanns Eisler papers, Collection no. 0207, Feuchtwanger Memorial Library, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California

Location of this collection:
Special Collections
Doheny Memorial Library, Room 209
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189, US
Contact:
(213) 740-5900

Contents

Correspondence

Contents

Adressen

Miscellaneous items 6

Miscellaneous items 7 empty envelops

Christmas Cards no dates

Christmas Cards 1945 I

Christmas Cards 1945 II

Christmas Cards 1946

Christmas Cards 1947

Miscellaneous items 9, letters

Miscellaneous items 11, letters

Adler, Freyda

Adler, Kurt & Freyda

Adler, Pearl and Luther

Adorno, T.W. (correspondence to Mr. Vaudrin) see also Oxford UP, Grete Adorno

Alden, J. Jr.

Allen, Warren D. (re. White Floats; see also "White Floats" contract)

Alter, Henry

Angerstein, Irene (re Ernst Busch)

Bakaleinkoff, Constantin

Bauer, Felix

Becher, Johannes

Benes, Bohul (Czech consul)

Benes, Eduard (President of the Czech Republic) re Eisler's deportation

Benoit-Levy, Jean

Berlau, Ruth

Berner, Lizzy (see Universal-Edition) some discussion of Eisler's deportation

Boenheim, Felix MD (re support for Eisler)

Braun, R.A. (German book dealer)

Brecht, Bertolt

Brecht, Bertolt: "Private Life of the Master Race" review

Breiner, Leopoldine Reinisch MD

Brero-Cangallo, Cesare

Browne, Lewis

Busch, Ernst

Bush, Alan (re Eisler's deportation) see also Composers Guild of Great Britain

Carlson, Alfred

Carr, Bella (landlord for 162 South Burlingame Ave.)

Chaplin, Charles (studio & personal correspondence)

Chaplin, Oona

Chen, Tschin-Schin (to Karl Menges)

Chen, Tschin-Schin (Berkeley)

Chompinsky, Manuel (re. Concert in Coronet Theater, 1947)

Chudnow, David (contract with H. Eisler & legal questions)

Clark, Tom C. (U.S. Attorney General) re Eisler's deportation

Clurman, Harold (re support for Eisler)

Craig, Louise

Dikler, Fred

Doderar, Gusti von

Dudow, S. Th.

Durlach, Nat & Hannah (see also Clara Mayer)

Dyhr, Kaete (re people needing packages, husband in concentration camp)

Eisler, Armand & Mila

Eisler, Georg & Lotta (see also Phyllis Humphry)

Eisler family, Lotte & Georg

Eisler, Georg (1945?)

Eisler, Georg (1947)

Eisler, Georg (engravings)

Eisler, Georg (engravings), 1943-46

Eisler, Gerhart (in Vorbereitung fuer Washington DC)

Eisler, Gerhard (speech before HUAC)

Eisler, Gerhart & Hilde (1947) (re Unamerican Activities)

Eisler, Hanns to Lou

Eisler, Hanns to Lou

Eisler, Hanns (notes about inaccuracies in newspaper articles)

Eisler, Hanns (preface to Composing for the Films)

Eisler, Hanns about Ruth Fischer (sister)

Eisler, Hilde (see also Gerhart Eisler)

Eisler, Lou (to Hanns in 1945?)

Eisler, Lou (1947?)

Eisler, Lou (1947)

Eisler, Lou (to Alan ? re Hanns' hearing)

Eisler, Lou (to Berthold Viertel)

Eisler, Lou (to Harold? re position for Hanns)

Elisofon, Eliot & Mavis (some Unamerican notes)

Elsas, Marie (thank you letter for care package with info about husband Fritz Elsas, former mayor of Berlin and member of the resistance)

Ewen, David

Feuchtwanger, Lion

Finney, Ross Lee (Smith College) re article about American composers in 1943

Fischer, Ruth (Hanns Eisler's sister aka Elfriede Eisler, Elfriede Pleujot) re Gerhart frameup and financial assistance

Fischer-Pollak, Else

Forer, Joseph (Greenberg, Forer & Rein-attorneys) re Unamerican Activitites

Frank, Felix Howard

Frankl, Felix

Freedman, William (re contract & payment)

Friedgood, Harry B. MD

Frischauer, Leo

Gessnre, Bob

Gilbert, Elke (Schneiderin)

Gilbert, Robert (and subscribers list)

Goedhart, Gerda

Goldwyn, Samuel Mrs.

Gosztonyi, Maria

Gottfried, Rosa (re uncle Armand Eisler)

Gould, Diana (re house for rent)

Greissle, Felix (Schirmer)

Greissle, Gertrud (Trudi) & Felix

Grune, Karl

Habermann, Anni (thank you for care package)

Halvorson, Henry M (Ginn and Co. Educational Publishers)

Hambleton, T. Edward (Empire Theatre)

Harris, Russel G. (re film "White Floats")

Hauptmann, Elisabeth

Hauska, Hans

Hays, Hoffman

Henreid, Paul & Lisl

Herzfelde, Wieland

Heym, Stefan re "Hostages"

Hirsch, Marian

Horenstein, Jascha & Rose

Humphry, Phyllis (re Lotta & Georg Eisler)

Isserman

Ivens, Joris

Joles, Franticek

Katz, Charles (Hanns Eisler's letter from Oct. 1946 to Katz re US activities)

Kiesler, S.

King, Carol (deportation lawyer)

Kleinsmid, Rufus von (re Eisler teaching at USC)

Knothe, Helen & Scott

Paul Kohner

Kolisch, Rudolf

? Korchein, Polly to Elisabeth Neumann?

Kori, Mia

Krenek, Ernst

Kudernatsch

Kuehl, Kate

Landa y Pina, Andres (Department de Migration, Mexico)

Lania, Leo

LeRoy, Edna Murphy (re house in Malibu)

Lima, Agnes de to Clara Mayer, New School

Linehart (re deportation)

Lomax, Alan (see Office of War Information)

Lorre, Peter

Losey, Joseph

Lubner, Frank

Magil, A.B. - New Masses (re protest meeting for Howard Fast, Oct. 16) also re helping Eisler

Malone, Ludmila & Charles (re house at 689 So, Amalfi Dr.)

Mann, Katia (letter from Benes, Czech consul, Oct. 1947)

Marcu, E.

Marshall, John (Rockefeller Foundation)

Marton, Goerge (agent)

Massing, Hede

Matejka, Viktor (Stadtrat fuer Kultur und Volksbildung, Wien)

Matejka (re Austrian exit visa, Oct. 1947)

Mayer, Clara (New School for Social Research)

McGinty, Billy

Menges, Karl (see also Tschin-Schin Chen)

Morgenstern, Soma

Morris, Edita & Ira

Muhlrad, Caecile

Murphy, Dudley (Mr. Hadley) re house on Amalfi Dr. (see also Peter Rice)

New School for Social Research (see Clara Mayer)

Norman, Theodore (violinist)

Odets, Bette & Clifford

Piscator, Erwin

Pozner, Vladimir

Quinto, O. Leonard (Ph.D. dissertation Music in the Films)

Ratz, Edwin (see also Lizzy Berner)

Ratz, Lonny

Rauhenbach

Reichenbach, Hermann

Reinisch-Breiner, Leopoldine MD

Reis, Claire (re book about composers living in the US)

Renoir, Jean

Rice, Peter T. (lawyer) - (see also Taub & Geller)

Rice, Peter (see also Dudley Murphy)

Riess, Curt (see also Theaterverlag Reiss AG)

Roberts, Ernest ? (re New York performance)

Robinson, Earl

Rockefeller Foundation (see John Marshall)

Rosendahl, Henny/Jenny?

Rosenfeld, Lulla & Paul (re Paris trip 1947)

Roth, Wolfgang

Rubsamen, Walter (see Institute on Music In Contemporary Life - UCLA)

Rukeyser, Muriel

Saidenberg, Theodore

Schmid, Josef

Schoen, Robert (45/44?)

Schoenberg, Arnold

Schumacher, Sylvia & Joachim

Schumann, William (Sarah Lawrence College, NY)

Seeger, Charles (Pan American Union)

Sieroty, Julain (re offer for housing during Oct. 1947)

Sillen, Samuel - Mainstream Literary Quarterly (re "Artists Fight Back" Meeting June 1947)

Silvers, Clara (re Piano Opus 3 & 8)

Simon, Raymond

Sirk, Douglas (christmas card)

Smith, Maurice DDS

Soffer, Jacques

Spaeth, Sigmund

St. Joseph, Ellis

Stein, Marie Devening

Stephens, Donald & Inky

Stephens, Don & Inky (re Unamerican Activities) long letter from Lou Eisler about situation

Stern, Alfred K. (re payment for)

Steuermann, Edward

Steuermann, Hilda

Stewart, Paul (Paramount Pictures) re Unamerican Activities

Stokowski

Strang, Gerald

Strassberg, Paula & Lee

Swisher, Harold

Taub, Leo (re immigration to US)

Taub & Geller (see also Peter Rice)

Taylor, Deems (re "Arts for Russia Week" see also ASCAP)

Thomson, Virgil (see Film Composers Committee - Beverly Hills)

Torberg, F.

Viertel, Berthold

re Viertel, Berthold (Die Tribune)

Walker, Jules

Warren, Constance (Sarah Lawrence College)

Weil, Felix

Weinert, Erich

Wirin, A.L. (lawyer) re deportation

Wolf, Friedrich

Zeisel, Ilse

Correspondence business and organizational

Contents

Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences

Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (see also "None but the Lonely Heart" score ; see also "Scandal in Paris)

Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (check from Eisler)

American Committee for the Protection of the Foreign Born

American Society for Composers, Artists and Publishers

American Society of Composers, Authors and Pubishers [ASCAP] (with agreement)

American Youth for Democracy inviting H. Eisler as guest to support him (Nov. 1947)

ASCAP (see also Deems Taylor)

Arnold Productions, Inc.

"Arts for Russia" week (see Deems Taylor)

ASCAP (see American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers)

Beer, Gustave--President of ALACA (American League of Authors & Composers from Austria)

Biographical Encyclopedia of the World

Civil Rights Congress - Dasheill Hammett (support for H. Eisler)

Columbia Pictures Corp.

Committee on Unamerican Activities correspondence

Composers Guild of Great Britain (support letter for H. Eisler, Sept. 1947, from Alan Bush with draft of letter from Lou Eisler)

Composing for the Films (see Oxford University Press)

Conference on Cultural Freedom and Civil Liberties (Oct. 1947) supporting H. Eisler

Council for Community Action (re displaced persons)

County of Los Angeles

Current Biography

Empire Theatre (see Edward Hambleton)

Film Composers' Committee -- Beverly Hills, CA

Film Music Project (final report) 2 drafts

Gong Productions (see also "Jealousy" contract)

Hollywood Independent Citizen's Committee

The Hollywood Quarterly (re meeting for editors and staff)

Immigration and Naturalization Service

Institute on Music In Contemporary Life -- UCLA, Sept. 17, 1944

The League of Composers, Inc.

Life Magazine (re article about Gerhart Eisler)

Los Angeles Times

MCA Artists, Ltd.

Motion Picture Producers & Distributors

Musicians Local 47

Musicians Mutual Protective Assoc. (Local 47 AF of M)

National Film Music Council

New School for Social Research-Rockefeller Trust

New School for Social Research (see also Mayer, Clara)

Occidental College

Office of War Information (Alan Lomax) re German music

Oxford University Press (correspondence re Composing for the Films)

Pan American Union (see Charles Seeger)

Paramount Pictures (see Paul Stewart)

RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.

Rockefeller Foundation (see John Marshall)

Rockefeller Music Project (Alexander / New School for Social Research)

Rockefeller Trust (see New School for Social Research)

Russian War Relief (calendar)

Screen Composer's Association

Sound Services, Inc. agreement

Theaterverlag Reiss AG, Basel

Universal-Edition (Viennese publisher) - royalties

Universal-Edition (correspondence from Lizzy Berner and Schlee)

University of California, Los Angeles (see Institute on Music in Comtemporary Life)

Who's Who in the Western Hemisphere

Writers Congress at UCLA--October 1-3, 1943

Yaddo

Scores and Films

Contents

Critical Appraisal of Hanns Eisler's scores

"Alice in Wonderland" Lou Bunin Prod.

"Alice" score (correspondence re visas, expense, etc. - Lou Bunin Prod.)

"Circus" score

"Edge of Darkness" Warner Brothers Film

"Furcht und Elend des dritten Reiches"

"Hangmen also Die" (see "No Surrender")

"Hostages" (see Stefan Heyms)

"Jealousy" contract (Goliath?) (see also Gong Productions)

"Mr. Pickwick's Papers" contract with Deccs Records, Inc.

"No Surrender" contract (with Sam Coslow & Hanns Eisler)

"None But the Lonely Heart" score

"None but the Lonely Heart" (see also Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences)

"Peat-Boy Soldiers" music

"Scandal in Paris" (see also Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences)

"Song of Freedom" (see "The Unconquered")

"The Spanish Main" (RKO Contract)

"The Unconquered" (motion picture) "Song of Freedom"

"14 Arten den Regen zu beschreiben"- about

"White Floats" (see also Russel Harris)

"Woman on the Beach" - contract with RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.

Manuscripts

Contents

Entwurf einer Radiobotschaft nach Oesterreich

Misc. Unamerican Activities statements

"Music & Film" (German draft) 8 pages

Vorschlaege fuer ein oesterreichisch-amerikanisches Freiheitskomitee

Personal Information

Contents

Hanns Eisler autobiographical information

Erklaerung fuer Hanns Eisler (re Unamerican Activities)

Pressedienst "Verfolgung deutscher Antifaschisten in USA geht weiter" re H. Eisler. Sept. 1947

Automobile accident correspondence (Dec. 24, 1945) Cass & Johansing

Eisler vs. Musch (correspondence) auto accident

Automobile Club of Southern California (car insurance)

Automobile information

Bank of America (loan papers)

Mileage ration cards

CARE-Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe

Driver's license for Louise Anna Eisler

Internal Revenue 1944

Internal Revenue 1945

Packages to Europe

Receipts for registered mail

Piano rental

Quittung fuer Koffertransport, Prag 1937

Spanish visa/passport (1937) for Hanns Eisler

Social security cards

Telephone bills

Toll service and telegram bills

Visa information - Eislers

Contents

Misc. materials

Contents

Excerpt Huckleberry Finn

Bio Robert Henried

Notizen: Werklisten (von Lou)

Library card for New York Public Library (1944)

Notiz zu HUAC, 1947

Photos

Contents

Fotos

Records

Contents

Records with Eisler's recordings for diverse films. Original records and digitized versions available

Background

Scope and content:

#2069, V:13 Take 4

#2069, M:18 Take 8

#2069, M:10 Take 7-8

#530 Woman on the Beach, M:94 Take 3

#530 Woman on the Beach, M:43 Take 2, M:16 Take 2

#530 Woman on the Beach, M:27 Take 6

Eisler 11-12-42

4-1

M1-1

M1-2

M2-R

M2-1

M3-R

M3-1

M4-R

?

?

#530 Woman on the Beach, M:44, Take 6

#530 Woman on the Beach, M:11 Take 5, M:76 Take 2

#530 Woman on the Beach, M:98 Take 2, M:96 Take 3

?

#2069, M:128A Take 6, M:129 Take 1

#2069, M:37 Take 3

#2069, M:128B Take 3-5

10/13/47 Part two copy, "Galileo-Scene 9-Ballad"

?

#530 Woman on the Beach, M:73 Take 1

?

#2069, M:40A Take 4, M:123 Take 2

?

?

#2069, M:100 Take 1

#530 Woman on the Beach, M:10 Take 7-8

#530 Woman on the Beach, M:53 Take 7

?

#2069, M:68 Take 4

#2069, M:116 Take 3

#530 Woman on the Beach, M:77 Take 1, M:30 Take 2

#530 Woman on the Beach, M:51A Take 2

#2069, M:45 Take 6, M:81A Take 1

#2069, M:110 Take 1

#530 Woman on the Beach, M:82 Take 7

#530 Woman on the Beach, M:18 Take 3

#530 Woman on the Beach, M:84 Take 4

?

#2069, V:13-7-8

#2069, M:115 Take 1-2

#2069, V:13-6

#2069, M:23 Take 4-6

#2069, M:65A Take 1

#530 Woman on the Beach M:91 Take 4, M:91A Take 1

#2069, M:35 Take 2

#530 Woman on the Beach M:71 Take 2, M:47 Take 1

#530 Woman on the Beach M:50 Take 5

#530 Woman on the Beach M:20 Take 5

#2069 V:128 Take 1-2-3

#530 Woman on the Beach M:51 Take 3

#2069 M:96 Take 7

#530 Woman on the Beach M:60 Take 3, M:90 Take 4, M:59 Take 5

Records digitized from Box 6a (2 sets)

record with Eisler recordings (not digitized yet)

Background

Scope and content:

Description side 1: 531 M27 T6 side 2: 531 M20 T-1-2

Hanns Eisler FBI file [photocopies]