Holdings Fine Arts and Applied Arts School of Music Stanley Fletcher Papers Finding Aid Holdings Fine Arts and Applied Arts School of Music Stanley Fletcher Papers Finding Aid By Carol Berthold, Mandi Goodsett, and Nolan Vallier
Title: Stanley Fletcher Papers, 1923-1987
ID: 12/5/55
Primary Creator: Fletcher, Stanley (1910-1988)
Extent: 7.75 cubic feet
Arrangement:
Organized in three series: 1) Sound Recordings, 2) Music, and 3) Professional Records and Correspondence.
Series 1 is arranged chronologically. Series 2, Music is arranged in six sub-series by genre: 1) Piano and Vocal, 2) Piano, 3) Manuscripts and Collections, 4) Opera, 5) Small Ensemble and Orchestral Music.
Series 3 is arranged in four sub-series: 1) Essays and Pedagogical Writings, 2) Concert Programs and Publicity, 3) Correspondence and Personal Journals, and 4) Business Records.
Date Acquired: 01/22/2010. More info below under Accruals.
Subjects: Composers, Criticism, Faculty, Faculty Papers, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Music, Music, School of, Opera, Orchestra, Piano, Smith Music Hall, Star Course, Vocal music, Walden Quartet
Formats/Genres: Concert Programs, Librettos, Sheet music, Sound Recordings
Languages: English
Consists of reel-to-reel audio tape recordings of performances and lectures by Stanley Fletcher and other members of the music faculty at the University of Illinois between 1950 and 1980; original music; essays and concert reviews by Fletcher; and memoirs, correspondence, and journals, documenting Fletcher's work as a composer and faculty member at the University of Illinois between 1923 and 1987.
Stanley Fletcher (1910-1988) was born in Manchester, England. He moved with his parents to Springfield, MA in 1922, where he received his early musical training. Graduating with a bachelor's degree in piano performance from the University of Michigan in 1933, Fletcher studied piano under Guy Maier. Prior to graduating, he briefly studied with Artur Schnabel in Berlin, documenting his experience in the Springfield Union newspaper. After returning to the US, he began a masters degree program at his alma mater. In the summer of 1934, Fletcher taught piano at the National Music Camp at Interlochen. That fall he was a graduate fellow at the University of Michigan, performing as a finalist at the National Federation of Music Clubs and the Naumberg Piano competitions. In 1935 he won the Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship at the University of Illinois and joined the piano faculty two years later.
During his time as a professor, Fletcher gave regular concert recitals, performing at New York Town Hall in 1944. He collaborated with fellow School of Music faculty member and violinist Paul Rolland, creating a series of manuals for teaching string techniques to children in a project called the Illinois String Research Project. Fletcher also composed and arranged several pedagogical collections of piano music to critical acclaim. As a performer, Fletcher was commended as an outstanding exponent of Chopin, Beethoven, contemporary music, and chamber music. In 1966, his collaboration with composer Gordon Binkerd led to a recording of Binkerd's Sonata for Piano, which was released by Composers Performing Inc. Throughout his career, he was an active member of the Music Teachers National Association and he received major honors not only for his work as a concert artist, but also for his scholarly contributions to musical journals on the subject of music education.
Upon retirement in 1971, Fletcher devoted himself to composing; the best known of his compositions is his folk opera, the Five Dollar Opera, first performed in El Paso, Texas. Fletcher died in 1988 in Albuquerque, NM.
Composers
Criticism
Faculty
Faculty Papers
Krannert Center for the Performing Arts
Music
Music, School of
Opera
Orchestra
Piano
Smith Music Hall
Star Course
Vocal music
Walden Quartet
Repository: The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music
Accruals: Sound recordings acquired from April Fletcher on October 26, 2012 and from Jessica Whipple on June 23, 2014 and February 28, 2016. Two additions were also received from Amaryllis Fletcher on May 5, 2016 and September 12, 2017. The second addition is a set of newspaper articles written by Stanley Fletcher during his music studies in Berlin between 1932 and 1933. Addition consisting of personal journals, pedagogical writings, correspondence, concert programs, photographs, and royalty contracts acquired from April Fletcher on June 19, 2018. Two pieces of Christmas music donated by Jessica Whipple in October, 2018.
Acquisition Source: Champaign County Historical Archives
Acquisition Method: Transfer and gift.
Related Materials: Walden String Quartet Records (12/5/50), John Garvey Music and Papers (12/5/38)
Program encolosed. Program location: Auditorium. 1) Four Christmas Chorale-Preludes: Buxtehude. Arrang. Binkerd
1/4 inch acetate tape on 7 1/2 inch reel
For Medium to High Voice on Renaissance Love Poems. Composer: Stanley Fletcher. Includes: Errata and Revisions in Courtly Lovers manuscript. Songs include: To Cupid, verses of John Marston (1605), 1981; Compiaint to the Lark, verses from The Paradise of Love, Old French, translated by H. W. Longfellow, undated; Ye Little Birds that SIt and Sing, verses of Thomas Heywood (?), (1607), 1958 and July 1980; To the Faithful Shepherdess, verses of John Fletcher (ca. 1610), July 1956 and April 1980; To Cynthia on Concealment of her Beauty, verses of Sir Francis Kynaston (1642), 1952 and May 1980; Songs to Celia I, music by Stanley Fletcher after a traditional melody, verses of Ben Jonson from Volpone (1616), May 1980; Songs to Celia II, verses of Ben Jonson (1616), May 1980; Who Shall Have My Fair Lady?, verses of anonymous Tudor, November 1982; The Judgement of Desire, verses from The Paradyse of Daynty Devises (1576), November 1982; A Love Sonnet, verses of George Wither (?) (1618), 1951 and 1980.
Also includes: The RIver God's Song to the Faithful Shepherdess, from Courtly Lovers, verses of John Fletcher (c. 1610), undated.
Composer: Stanley Fletcher.
Includes: Out by Donny Carney, verses by Th. Moore; June 1959-July 1987; Jenny Kissed Me, for High Voice, verses by L. Hunt, July 1956-January, 1983; Jenny Kissed Me, for Low Voice, verses by L. Hunt, July 1956-January 1983; O, Sweetheart, Hear You, verses by James Joyce from Chamber Music XVIII, June 1959; O, Sweetheart, Hear You, for Guitar, verses by James Joyce, undated; The Singer at the Gate, for Tenor Voice, verses by James Joyce, July 1957; miscellaneous sketches, undated.
Also Fragments from Joyce's Chamber Music Songs, Music by Stanley Fletcher, verses by James Joyce. Includes: Strings in the Earth, sketch, undated; The Twilight Turns, undated; At That Hour, undated; When the Shy Star Goes Forth, undated; Lean Out of the Window, Golden Hair, undated; Untitled sketch, undated; My Love is in a Light Attire, undated; Who Goes Amid the Greenwood, sketch, undated; Winds of May, undated; Bright Cap and Streamers, undated; Bid Adieu, undated; What Counsel, undated; Go Seek Her Out, undated; My Dove, sketch, undated; From Dewy Dreams, sketch, undated; Because Your Voice was at My Side, undated; O, Sweetheart, Hear You, June 1959; Be Not Sad, includes sketch, undated; He Who Hath Glory Lost, undated; Ouf That so Sweet Imprisonment, undated; untitled sketches, undated; Gentle Lady, Do Not Sing Sad Songs, undated; Love Came to Us, undated; Rain Has Fallen, sketches, undated; Now O Now, setches, undated; Out by Donny Carney, undated; All Day I Hear the Noise of Waters, undated; I Hear an Army Charging, undated.
Songs of the Royal Poets. Composer: Stanley Fletcher. Includes: The King's Serenade, words by King Henry VIII, undated.
Also includes: The Primrose in the Green Forest, verses of Thomas Deloney, July 1952; Gypsy Serenade, verses of Gil Vicente, translated by H.W. Longfellow, July 1951; Do Not Fear to Put Thy Feet, verses of John FLetcher, July 1956; Hunting Song, verses of Sir Walter Scott, December 1951; Romance, verses of Robert Louis Stevenson, July 1957; The Rivals, verses of James Stephens, July 1956; Fair Now is the Springtide, verses of William Morris, December 1949.
Sacred Songs. Includes: Psalm XXIII, 1949; Hymn, verses of Phineas Fletcher, July 1956; Sleep, Baby Jesus, undated.
Home, Sweet Home, Music by: Sir. H. Bishop, revised by Stanley Fletcher, verses of John Knowles Paine, undated,\.
Vogelgsang Poems. Composer: Stanley Fletcher. Verses: M Vogelgsang. Includes: Da Tegernseer Stopselhut, undated; Mein Tegernseer Stopselhut, undated.
Songs for Theater. Composer Stanley Fletcher. Includes: Lear: Song for Fool, undated; Songs for Lear, undated. Also includes: Musc for Volpone: Medicine Song, undated; Fools' Song, undated; Fools' Chorus, verses of Ben Jonson, undated.
Lullabies and Songs for Children. Music: Stanley Fletcher. Includes: Untitled song, undated; Five Little Rabbits, undated; Pooh's Snow Story, undated; 2 Little Babies, undated; Up in the Mountin, undated; Over the Sea, undated; An Old New-Mexican Lullaby, undated; Sleepy Time, December 1950; Over the Sea, undated; Sleepy Time, undated; Song, undated; Lullaby for Jessica, November 1976; Christmas Lullaby, undated.
Also includes: Opening Chorus, undated; Don't Spank the Baby!, undated; We've Got a Brand New Baby, undated.
Composer: Stanley Fletcher. Verses: Julius Cohen. Includes: Errata and revisions in Courtly Lovers manuscript;
Set I: Four Sacred Songs, from Far-Off Whistles and Other Poems, 1959. Includes The Wise Old Mule, undated; If God Were Not, August 1980; There's Never Any Telling, undated; A Prayer, undated.
Ten Poems by Julius Cohen from Far-Off Whistles and Other Poems set by Stanley Fletcher. Includes: Western Express,, undated; The Wise Old Mule, undated; If God Were Not, August 1980; There's Never Any Telling, undated; A Prayer, August 1980; Love is a Flower, undated; A Memory, undated; Love Song, undated; Far-Off Whistles, undated; The Wabash Train, August 1980.
Vocal ensemble music. Composer: Stanley Fletcher.
Includes: To Celia, verses of Ben Jonson, undated; The Maiden's Prayer: To Saint Catherine, Patron Saint of Spinsters, verses anynymous; January 1951; Poor Old Lady!, verses anonymous, February 1985; A Christmas Lullaby, undated.
Also includes Three Lusty Choruses: Soldiers Three, verses anonymous (16th century), undated; Back and Side Go Bare, author uncertain (1575), August 1979; The Return of Sir Francis, verses anonymous (c. 1584), December 1980.
Also includes: Weep You No More, Sad Fountains, verses anonymous (English Elizabethan), July 1951; Prayer in Time of Plague, verses of Thomas Nashe (1592), July 1951; Hey Nonny No!, verses anonymous (16th century), July 1951.
Includes: In a Herber Green, verses from R. Wever, Lusty Juventus, c. 1560, January 1952; Queen Mary's Crown, verses of William Morris, undated.
Includes Four Christmas Carols, translated and arranged by Stanley Fletcher, 1933: 1. Maria Walked through Woods of Thorn, German, c. 1650,1933; 2. Christmas Matin Song (14th century); 3. Cradle Song of the Shepherds at Bethlehem, German, 18th century; 4. Good King Wenceslas, arranged October 197l.
Includes Two Songs for New Year: Wassail!, verses of Frank Fletcher, undated; Turn the New Year In, verses anonymous, undated.
Includes: Goodnight and Farewell, German folksong, paraphrase and music by Stanley Fletcher, undated; The Miracle of the Thorn, a German Christmas story, paraphrase and music by Stanley Fletcher, undated.
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