Arthur Gold and Robert Fizdale papers
Scope and Contents
The collection consists chiefly of correspondence to the piano duo Arthur Gold and Robert Fizdale. Correspondence, dating from the mid 1950s to the early-mid 1980s, roughly the end of their professional career, includes large files for Fizdale's family and their mutual friend Harold Talbott, as well as small files for writers, artists and performers, cultural figures and philanthropists, and others. Correspondents include: Brooke Astor, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Elizabeth Bishop, Eleanor Clark, Alice Esty, Sir John Gielgud, Peggy Guggenheim, Robert F. Kennedy, Fairfield Porter, Jerome Robbins, and Dorothea Tanning. Other papers include manuscript material, photographs, printed ephemera, and material relating to the duo's book on Sarah Bernhardt.
Dates
- 1954-1991
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
The materials are open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
The Arthur Gold and Robert Fizdale Papers is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Serendipity Books on the Edwin J. Beinecke Book Fund, 2001.
Arrangement
Organized into two series: I. Correspondence, 1954-1984. Series II. Other Papers, 1970-1991.
Extent
1.88 Linear Feet ((5 boxes) + 1 broadside folder)
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Abstract
The collection consists chiefly of correspondence to the piano duo Arthur Gold and Robert Fizdale. Correspondence, dating from the mid 1950s to the end of their professional career in the early-mid 1980s, includes large files for Fizdale's family and their mutual friend Harold Talbott, as well as small files for writers, artists and performers, cultural figures and philanthropists, and others. Correspondents include: Brooke Astor, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Elizabeth Bishop, Eleanor Clark, Alice Esty, Sir John Gielgud, Peggy Guggenheim, Fairfield Porter, Jeremy Robbins, and Dorothea Tanning. Other papers include manuscript material, photographs, printed ephemera, and material relating to the couple's book on Sarah Bernhardt.
Arthur Gold (1917-1990) and Robert Fizdale (1920-1995)
Arthur Gold and Robert Fizdale met while studying with Rosina Lhévinne and Ernest Hutcheson respectively at Juilliard. In 1944 the pianists formed a duo that survived until their retirement in 1982. They made their debut at the New School for Social Research in 1944 in a recital of music by John Cage and their reputations in the standard repertory were established with a Town Hall recital in 1946. Gold and Fizdale revived the Mendelssohn 2-piano concertos and expanded the repertory by commissioning works from Milhaud, Poulenc, Rieti, Berio, and other composers. Arthur Gold was born 6 Febuary 1917 in Toronto and died 3 January 1990 in New York City. Robert Fizdale was born 12 April 1920 in Chicago and died 6 December 1995 in New York City.
Biographical information taken from Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music (1996): 271, 319.
Processing Information
This collection received a basic level of processing, including rehousing and in some instances minimal organization, at or around the time of receipt by the library. The finding aid for this collection was originally compiled from a preliminary list created at or around the time of receipt by the library. The preliminary list was migrated to comply with current archival descriptive standards in 2007-2008. As part of the migration, modifications were made to the formatting of the list; however, the content of the list was neither modified nor verified.
In October 2013, the following revisions were made to the organization of the material and to the finding aid: first, two series were identitified and created by moving non-correspondence into Series II. Other Papers; second, correspondents identifiable by their first name only were shifted from the alphabetized run of correspondents in Series I. to the end of the series; and third, updates were made to dates to conform to current conventions.
Former call numer: Uncat MSS 151.
- Astor, Brooke
- Authors, American -- 20th Century -- Archives
- Baryshnikov, Mikhail, 1948-
- Bernhardt, Sarah, 1844-1923
- Bishop, Elizabeth, 1911-1979
- Clark, Eleanor, 1913-1996
- Esty, Alice, 1904-2000
- Fizdale, Robert
- Gielgud, John, 1904-2000
- Gold, Arthur
- Guggenheim, Peggy, 1898-1979
- LGBTQ resource
- Photographic prints
- Pianists -- United States -- Archives
- Porter, Fairfield, 1907-1975
- Robbins, Jerome, 1918-1998
- Talbott, Harold
- Tanning, Dorothea, 1910-2012
- Title
- Guide to the Arthur Gold and Robert Fizdale Papers
- Status
- Under Revision
- Author
- by Beinecke staff
- Date
- 2007-05-16
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository
Location
121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Opening Hours
Access Information
The Beinecke Library is open to all Yale University students and faculty, and visiting researchers whose work requires use of its special collections. You will need to bring appropriate photo ID the first time you register. Beinecke is a non-circulating, closed stack library. Paging is done by library staff during business hours. You can request collection material online at least two business days in advance of your visit, using the request links in Archives at Yale. For more information, please see Planning Your Research Visit and consult the Reading Room Policies prior to visiting the library.