Jascha Zayde Collection
Collection
0527-IPAM
The Jascha Zayde collection contains papers, recordings, and scores relating to gifted pianist, composer, educator, and broadcaster, Jascha Zayde. Zayde was born in Argentina in 1911 to Russian parents, moving to the United States when he was 6 months old. He began his piano studies at the age of 3, debuting publicly at 7. Zayde studied with Clarence Adler, and won a fellowship to the Juilliard School. He was the first hired musician at WQXR, beginning work shortly after the station began operations in 1936. Zayde ran a show called “Let’s Look at Music” for WQXR; he also performed weekly, first with Clifford Herzer and then with Leonid Hambro. Zayde and Hambro were a successful duo, enjoying popularity both on the radio and on the concert stage.
Zayde was also a composer, writing trios, string quartets, songs, transcriptions, and a set of variations on Paganini’s Caprice no. 24. Furthermore, Zayde was an accomplished ballet accompanist, serving as the pianist for the New York City Ballet for many years. He also conducted the premiere of several operas on Broadway.
The Zayde Collection at IPAM is particularly strong in materials relating to Zayde's time at WQXR, but it also contains a number of scores (including ballet music and his own compositions, in addition to more standard repertoire.)
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English
Jascha Zayde was a gifted pianist, composer, educator, and broadcaster. Zayde was born in Argentina in 1911 to Russian parents, moving to the United States when he was 6 months old. He began his piano studies at the age of 3, debuting publicly at 7. Zayde studied with Clarence Adler, and won a fellowship to the Juilliard School where he studied with Carl Friedberg, Rubin Goldmark, Bernard Wagenaar, and Michael Fevesky. He was the first hired musician at WQXR, beginning work shortly after the station began operations in 1936. Zayde ran a show called “Let’s Look at Music” for WQXR; he also performed weekly, first with Clifford Herzer and then with Leonid Hambro. Zayde and Hambro were a successful duo, enjoying popularity both on the radio and on the concert stage. Their recording of Poulenc’s Sonata for Two Pianos is particularly highly regarded.
Zayde was also a composer, writing trios, string quartets, songs, transcriptions, and a set of variations on Paganini’s Caprice no. 24. Furthermore, Zayde was an accomplished ballet accompanist, serving as the pianist for the New York City Ballet for many years. He also conducted the premiere of several operas on Broadway, including “The Telephone” and “The Medium” by Gian Carlo Menotti.
The collection is organized into three series:
Series I- Scores
Series II- WQXR Papers
Series III- Audio-Visual Materials
Please see the detailed finding aid under inventories/additional information for an item-level overview of the collection.
Part of the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library