Research Catalog

Title

Harold Newman papers, 1921-1993 (bulk 1941-1988)

Author

Newman, Harold, 1903-

Supplementary Content

Finding Aid

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Bergmann, Walter, 1902-1988.
• Bernstein, Leonard, 1918-1990.
• Foss, Lukas, 1922-2009.
• Kolinski, Mieczyslaw.
• Kubik, Gail, 1914-1984.
• Rorem, Ned, 1923-2022.
• Seeger, Pete, 1919-2014.
• Wheeler, Billy Edd.
• Wolpe, Stefan.
• Hargail Music Press.
• Hargail Records.

Description

3. 5 linear feet (6 boxes)

Summary

The Harold Newman Papers contain a sample of his work as a publisher of recorder music.

Subjects

• Recorder (Musical instrument)
• Music publishers
• Photographs
• Hargail Music Press
• Recorder (Musical instrument) > Instruction and study > Juvenile
• Scores
• Newman, Harold, 1903-
• Music publishers > United States
• Composers
• Correspondence
• Arrangers (Musicians)
• Clippings

Genre/Form

• Clippings.
• Correspondence.
• Photographs.
• Scores.

Biography (note)

• Music publisher, composer, and arranger, Harold Newman (1903-1989) became one of the leading advocates for promoting the instruction and performance of recorder music in the United States.

Indexes/Finding Aids (note)

• Collection guide available in repository and on internet.

Call Number

JPB 06-13

OCLC

NYPG06-A101

Author

Newman, Harold, 1903-

Title

Harold Newman papers, 1921-1993 (bulk 1941-1988)

Biography

Music publisher, composer, and arranger, Harold Newman (1903-1989) became one of the leading advocates for promoting the instruction and performance of recorder music in the United States. Trained as an accountant, Newman first became aware of the instrument through Shakespeare's Hamlet, learned to play, and quickly became enthusiastic about the instrument. Following a period of intensive study, he became the first president of the American Recorder Society. In 1940 Newman commissioned the American composer Gail Kubik to write the first American composition for recorder, Suite for Three Recorders. In order to make this piece available, Newman formed a publishing firm, Hargail Recorder Music Publishers. The publishing house, which was renamed Hargail Music Press in the mid-1940s, reprinted old recorder music and published original recorder pieces by contemporary composers, commissioned by Newman. Newman soon established a record label called Hargail Records, which issued recordings of the recorder music of Bach, Handel, and Purcell, as well as new works, including compositions by Leonard Bernstein, Lukas Foss, and Paul Hindemith. During the 1950s the company expanded into folk music and Newman also promoted the recorder in elementary schools as a simple and inexpensive way to teach children about music. Hargail would become an American distributor for two foreign recorder manufacturers, Küng (Switzerland) and Toyama (Japan) and developed Harvard, its own plastic recorder line. In 1975 Newman began work on a combined memoir and history of the recorder. Titled The House that Hamlet Built, it was not published. Newman continued to compose music for the recorder through the 1980s, and he remained president of Hargail until his death.

Indexes

Collection guide available in repository and on internet.

Connect to:

Request Access to Music & Recorded Sound Division Special Collections material

Finding Aid

Occupation

Arrangers (Musicians)

Composers.

Music publishers.

Added Author

Bergmann, Walter, 1902-1988.

Bernstein, Leonard, 1918-1990.

Foss, Lukas, 1922-2009.

Kolinski, Mieczyslaw.

Kubik, Gail, 1914-1984.

Rorem, Ned, 1923-2022.

Seeger, Pete, 1919-2014.

Wheeler, Billy Edd.

Wolpe, Stefan.

Hargail Music Press.

Hargail Records.

Research Call Number

JPB 06-13