A Guide to the Papers of Alfred J. Swan collected by his student John Davison, 1894-1955 Swan, Alfred J., papers collected by his student John Davison, 1894-1955 10093-e

A Guide to the Papers of Alfred J. Swan collected by his student John Davison, 1894-1955

A Collection in
The Special Collections Department
Accession Number 10093-e

Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library

Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
USA
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Fax: (434) 924-4968
Reference Request Form: https://small.lib.virginia.edu/reference-request/
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Funding: Web version of the finding aid funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Processed by: Heather Baker and Sharon Defibaugh

Repository

Special Collections, University of Virginia Library

Accession number

10093-e

Title

Papers of Alfred J. Swan collected by his student John Davison, 1894-1955

Physical Characteristics

This collection contains ca. 318 (3 Hollinger boxes, and 2 oversize boxes).

Collector

The Swan papers were collected by John Davison.

Language

English

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Papers of Alfred J. Swan collected by his student John Davison, 1894-1955, Accession #10093-e, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

These items were given to the University of Virginia Library by Elizabeth Davison, Haverford, Pennsylvania, on September 27, 1999.

Biographical/Historical Information

According to one concert program, Albert J. Swan (1890-1970) was a member of an English family who settled in Russia, where he was born in 1890 at St. Petersburg, where he also attended the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He left to study law, languages and music at Oxford, England, emigrating to the United States in the 1920s. He taught first at the University of Virginia, and then jointly at Haverford and Swarthmore Colleges from 1926 until his retirement in 1959. Swan was first recognized as a writer on music and as a musicologist interested in the relationship between Russian church chant and folk song. His work as a composer produced "four piano sonatas, six quartets, and much liturgical choral music, written mostly to old Slavonic texts for the Orthodox church, including a complete setting of the extensive Orthodox service," among others.

Scope and Content Information

This addition to the papers of Alfred J. Swan (1890-1970), composer and the first professor of music at Haverford College, consists of ca. 318 items, ca. 1894-1995, primarily music manuscripts; sheet music; concert programs; newsclippings; articles; music catalogues and circulars; materials pertaining to an exhibit about Swan at the Music Library, Haverford College, and a Swan Centennial Concert; and miscellaneous items concerning Swan from the library of his student, John Davison.

Organization

The collection is organized with the non-musical material first (Box 1); music by Swan (Boxes 1-3); various non-Swan music (end of Box 3); oversize music by Swan (Oversize Box S-61) and oversize music by various students of Swan (Oversize Box S-62).

Contents List

NON-MUSICAL MATERIAL

Box 1
Articles About Peter Schickele 1967 May, n.d.
Box 1
Catalogue of Alfred Swan's Musical Work - by John Davison n.d.
Box 1
Concert Programs 1970-1971, 1980
Box 1
Materials for Alfred J. Swan Exhibit Music Library, Haverford College 1989 May-1990
Box 1
Miscellaneous 1909, 1989-1900, 1995, n.d.
Box 1
Music Catalogues 1952 & 1955
Box 1
Muscial Circulars - Tempo and The Musical Times 1954 & 1956
Box 1
Newsclippings About Swan 1964 May, 1968 Nov, 1970
Box 1
Swan Centennial Concert (Nov 16 1990) - Ads & Programs 1990 Nov
Box 1
Swan Centennial Concert (Nov 16, 1990) - Newsclippings 1990 Nov
Box 1
Swan Centennial Concert (Nov 16, 1990) - Planning & Correspondence

MUSICAL MATERIAL

Box 1
Alma Redemptoris Mater for 4-part choir a cappella 1951
Box 1
Autumn fires (for three voices a cappella) 1965
Box 1
Beginning of the Liturgy - choral music (1 of 5) ca. 1961-1962
Box 1
Beginning of the Liturgy - choral music (2 of 5) ca. 1961-1962
Box 1
Beginning of the Liturgy - choral music (3 of 5) ca. 1961-1962
Box 1
Beginning of the Liturgy - choral music (4 of 5) ca. 1961-1962
Box 1
Beginning of the Liturgy - choral music (5 of 5) ca. 1961-1962
Box 1
Blessed Is He (for mixed chorus) 1961
Box 1
Candlelighting Hymn n.d.
Box 1
Canticles of the Eastern Church I 1976
Box 1
Dance With A Trumpet for piano four-hands 1931
Box 2
Eclogue for Viola and Piano 1968*
Box 2
Folk-songs From Russia - Ten folk-songs for voice and piano as sung by peasants of Gorodishone (written 1936) 1939
Box 2
Gavotte for piano four-hands 1920
Box 2
Glorification of St. Nicholas for mixed chorus and two pianos 1943
Box 2
Into A Child's Album (for piano) 1949, 1960
Box 2
Into An Album (for piano) 1959
Box 2
Invocation to Clio (for piano) 1947
Box 2
Jane's Melodies (for piano) 1946
Box 2
Liadov Songs Arranged by Swan n.d.
Box 2
Liturgical Canticles of the Eastern Church (10) - Boosey & Hawkes (written 1940-1957) 1956 & 1959
Box 2
Misc. Swan Music n.d.
Box 2
(Two) Motets for Baritone and String Quartet or String Orchestra 1946-1948
Box 2
Box 2
Nunc Dimittis (Kiev Chant) (for voices, part of vespers and matins) 1961
Box 2
O Lux Beata (for three women's voices) 1960
Box 2
Old English Folk Songs 1920?
Box 2
Pasadoble for oboe and piano (corrected copy) 1962
Box 2
Petite Suite de Ballet (Petite Suite de Danse for piano) 1953
Box 2
Pezzo Lugubre (fragment from a string quintet) 1947
Box 2
Prelude (for piano) 1970
Box 2
Ronde de Printemps (piano four-hands) 1950-1960
Box 2
Rondeau des Enfants (#1, for piano, written 1932) 1937
Box 2
Russian Choral Music (written 1940-1966) 1965-1970
Box 2
Russian Piece 1961
Box 2
Six Quartets - No. 1 in C (1936), No. 2 in D (with Flute) (1940) 1967* & 1968*
Box 2
Six Quartets - No.3 (1950), No. 4 in b (1953) 1965* & 1966*
Box 2
Six Quartets - No. 5 in a (1963), No. 6 in E flat (1964) 1966* & 1968*
Box 2
Sonata No. 1 - In Una Parte (for piano, written 1932) 1937
Box 2
Sonata No. 2 (for piano) n.d.
Box 2
Sonate #3 (new version) (for piano) 1944-1945
Box 2
Sonata No. 4 - Easter Sonata 1947
Box 2
Sonata (#5) K. 556 for piano solo 1958
Box 3
Sonata No. 2 for violin and piano (written 1968) 1970
Box 3
Song of Evening (for mixed voices) 1934
Box 3
Song of Glorification and Thanksgiving (for big chorus a cappella, written 1956) 1964
Box 3
Songs for one voice and piano - Nos. 13, 15, 16 & 19 (words by R.L. Stevenson, Dowson, Blake, de la Mare) 1946-1956
Box 3
St. Luke XXIII, 39-43 (for men's voices a cappella) 1958
Box 3
Sticheron for Annunciation for mixed chorus a cappella 1940
Box 3
The Highlander's Lament (also, Barbara Allen ) 1968
Box 3
The Lenten Prayer of St. Ephrem the Syrian (for mezzo-soprano, baritone, viola, bassoon) 1962
Box 3
Three Christmas Songs (for voice and piano) 1957
Box 3
Three Pieces Based on Traditional Melodies for cello and piano 1943-1967
Box 3
Trio for Piano, Flute, and Clarinet (written 1932) 1936
Box 3
Two Choruses from the Liturgy - mixed chorus n.d.
Box 3
T wo Kontakia to St. Nicholas (for voices) 1966
Box 3
Two Poems by John Masefield - Being Her Friend and The Gentle Lady (for voice and piano) 1914-1915
Box 3
Various Non-Swan Choral Music - Christmas 1900-1935
Box 3
Various Non-Swan Choral Music - Sacred 1897-1942
Box 3
Various Non-Swan Choral Music - Secular 1894-1956
Box 3
Various Non- Swan Music - some student dedications 1947, 1961-1967, n.d.
Box 3
Vespers and Matins (Holy Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom) (for big chorus a cappella) 1960
Box 3
Vouchsafe, O Lord, thy heav'nly blessing (arrangement for men's voices) n.d.
Oversize box-folder S-61:1
The Christmas Game 1945, 1959*
Oversize box-folder S-61:2
Trio-Sonata for 2 violins and piano 1966
Oversize box-folder S-61:3
Various Swan Music titles 1937-1964

Includes the following titles:

Albumblatt (1946*)
Album of Pieces (written 1923-1956) (1964)
Anglaise (with letter to John Davison) (1952)
Glorification of St. Nicholas for 2 pianos; chorus and 2 pianos (1942 Dec & 1943)
Oversize box-folder S-61:4
Various Swan Music titles 1937-1964

Includes the following titles:

Into A Child's Album (1949)
Invocation to Clio (1947)
Jane's Melodies (1946)
Prelude and Fugue for piano (1951)
Rondeau des Enfants (1937)
Oversize box-folder S-61:5
Various Swan Music titles 1937-1964

Includes the following titles:

Sonata No. 3 (old version) (1944-1945)
Sonata No. 4 - Easter Sonata (1947)
Sonatine pour le piano (1953)
The Holy Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (1960)
Wendy's Song (1954)
Oversize box-folder S-62:1
Music by Lawrance Collingwood ca. 1920-1930

Includes the following titles:

1930 Cherry-Ripe (1930)
1930 Elegy (1930)
1920 Exceeding Sorrow (1920)
1920 June (1920)
n.d. Mamble (n.d.)
n.d. Nightingales (n.d.)
n.d. "Not all in Vain" (n.d.)
1930 November (1930)
n.d. The Cloths of Heaven (n.d.)
n.d. The Wood of Flowers (n.d.)
n.d. Untitled "Rages, softly sweet..." (n.d.)
n.d. When that I loved a Maiden (n.d.)
Oversize box-folder S-62:2
Various Swan Music titles (some student dedications) 1937-1968

Includes the following titles:

Contrapuntos sobre canciones populares catalanas - Bernhard Rouenstrunck (1955-1959)
Minuet and Trio for Pianoforte - D.I. Swann (1937)
Mipanta-Palamao - D.I. Swann (1948-1949)
Nunc Dimittis (St. Simeon's Prayer) - Antony Bassoline (1967)
Only Begotten Son - (Antony) Bassoline (n.d.)
Prelude in G Minor - D.I. Swann (1947)
Sonata in One Movement for Flute and Violincello - Jerome D. Goodman (1958)
Sonatina in C# - W. Muir (1946)
Second Piano Sonatina - Peter Schickele (1956)
Te Deum Laudamus - Yury Arbatsky (1951)
To One in Paradise-E.A. Poe - D.I. Swann (1942)
Valse Joyeuse - Truman Bullard (1968)
Unknown Title and Author in Russian (1962)
Oversize box-folder S-62:3
Various Non-Swan Music (some student dedications) n.d.

Includes the following titles:

Introduction to "Renard"
Legende de Saint Efflam (Basse Bretagne) - P.Ladmirault
Macbeth Act III Scene II
Revuici le printemps - P.Ladmirault
Russian Title - Turchaninoff
The Merchant's Daughter
Turtle Dove - Peter Schickele
Oversize box-folder S-62:4
Cover made and designed for Alfred Swan by Rosalie L. Lane 1946