Raymond Haggh and Hilde Wentzlaff-Eggebert correspondence
Collection
0358-SCPA
The Raymond Haggh (September 4, 1920 - March 13, 2011) and Hilde Wentzlaff-Eggebert (February 8, 1927 - March 16, 2007) correspondence documents the lives and long-distance relationship of these two music scholars. The collection primarily consists of pieces of correspondence exchanged between Haggh and Wentzlaff-Eggebert and sent to them by their respective relatives. Letters are occasionally accompanied by newspaper clippings or other loose papers, including a musical score composed by Haggh for Wentzlaff-Eggebert and official documentation needed as part of Wentzlaff-Eggebert’s application for transport from Berlin to the United States.
Materials from this collection must be used in the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library's Irving and Margery Morgan Lowens Special Collections Room, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday. Please contact SCPA's curator to make an appointment: Email: scpa@umd.edu, Tel: 301.405.9220.
There are no restricted files in this collection.
1.25 Linear Feet
The Raymond Haggh and Hilde Wentzlaff-Eggebert correspondence covers the period from 1944 to 1949; the bulk of the materials date from 1947 to 1949. The collection consists of personal papers of unpublished correspondence, notes, programs, reports, certificates, memorabilia, clippings, and newspaper articles related to Haggh and Wentzlaff-Eggebert’s acquaintance, courtship, marriage proposal, and married life, including letters addressed to each other, as well as letters received by Haggh and Wentzlaff-Eggebert from their own and each other’s relatives. Newspaper clippings are dispersed throughout and include coupons, photographs, and articles. There is also documentation of Haggh’s military record; commencement and concert programs; receipts of marriage license, airline ticket, money order, and US Treasury bond purchases; a notification of birth registration; typed German examinations; a handwritten musical score, and small ornaments.
Raymond Haggh (September 4, 1920 – March 13, 2011) and Hilde Wentzlaff-Eggebert (February 8, 1927 – March 16, 2007) were American-based music scholars. The two met through correspondence while Haggh lived in Chicago and Wentzlaff-Eggebert lived in Berlin. During the Russian blockade of Berlin, Wentzlaff-Eggebert escaped to the United States via the American Airlift. Haggh proposed during their correspondence, prior to meeting Wentzlaff-Eggebert in person, and the two were married in 1949.
Raymond Haggh was born in Chicago, and served in the US Army from 1942–1945. In 1961, he earned a PhD in Music from Indiana University, and taught music at what was then Memphis State College (now University) from 1960 until 1989. He also served as the Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln from 1973 until 1977, and then as the Director of the School of Music until 1983. A recipient of numerous academic awards during his tenure, Haggh also published two major translations from German into English of Riemann's History of Music Theory and D.G. Turk's School of Clavier Playing.
Hilde Wentzlaff-Eggebert was the only child of Gerda and Ernst-Günther Wentzlaff-Eggebert, a violinist who was in a Russian prison camp during her initial correspondence with Haggh. Wentzlaff-Eggebert earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and was active as a soprano and volunteer in the local arts community. The couple had two daughters, Barbara Haggh-Huglo, Professor of Music at the University of Maryland, and Karen Hall of Fort Worth, Texas.
This collection is organized into one series:
Gift in 2015 from Dr. Barbara Haggh-Huglo, a Professor of Musicology at the University of Maryland and daughter of Raymond Haggh and Hilde Wentzlaff-Eggebert.
Part of the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library