Collection: Eric Simon manuscripts collection

Eric Simon (b. 1907- d. 1994) was a Viennese clarinetist, composer, and conductor. This collection contains manuscripts of arrangements and original compositions by Simon, as well as other pieces for clarinet.

Dates

1949-1951, undated

Extent

1.25 Linear Feet

Additional Description

Scope and Contents

The Eric Simon manuscripts collection covers the period from 1949 to 1951, as well as undated materials. The collection consists of handwritten manuscripts and holographs of original compositions, arrangements, and clarinet exercises by Simon. Also included are orchestral excerpts and passages for clarinet and French horn.

Historical Note

Eric Simon, a clarinetist, composer, teacher, and conductor, was born in Vienna, Austria in 1907. Simon began playing piano at the age of 8, and started studying the clarinet at age 14 with Victor Polatschek, principal clarinetist of the Vienna Philharmonic, as his teacher. As a performer, he played with a variety of orchestras and conductors such as Leonard Bernstein and Leopold Stokowski with the New York City Symphony, Pablo Casals with the Prades Festival Orchestra in France, the Vienna State Opera under Clemens Krauss, and the Moscow Philharmonic. Simon also performed “Pierrot Lunaire” with Arnold Schoenberg, and alongside Bela Bartok in a performance of Bartok’s piece “Contrasts” for violin, clarinet, and piano for the International Society for Contemporary Music.

Simon immigrated to the United States in 1938. While in New York, he taught at the Mannes College of Music and the New School. From 1940 to 1941, Benny Goodman received private lessons from Simon through producer John Hammond’s referral. In 1944, Simon toured with the production of “Porgy and Bess,” before moving to Sherman, Connecticut in 1949 where he lived until his death in 1994. Simon arranged pieces for clarinet, as well as composed organ pieces and music for New Milford, Connecticut’s First Congregational Church.

Arrangement

This collection is organized into one series.

Manuscripts

Custodial History

The Eric Simon manuscript collection was donated to the University of Maryland Libraries in 1994 by the International Clarinet Association, via Linda Pierce, as part of the Jerry Pierce Score Collection.

Related Materials

International Clarinet Association Research Center, Special Collections in Performing Arts, University of Maryland Libraries (finding aid)

Jerry Pierce papers, Special Collections in Performing Arts, University of Maryland Libraries (finding aid)