Finding Aid for Emanuil Sheynkman Papers and Russian Music, 1914-1994 | The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music

Title: Emanuil Sheynkman Papers and Russian Music, 1914-1994

ID: 12/5/71

Primary Creator: Sheynkman, Emanuil

Extent: 10.75 cubic feet

Arrangement: Organized in three series: Series 1, Original Music Manuscripts, 1933-1993; Series 2, Published Music, 1914-1993; and Series 3, Personal Papers and Recordings, 1976-1994. Series 1 and 2 are both organized in two sub-series: Sub-series 1, Cyrillic script and Sub-series 2, and are arranged alphabetically according to the Cyrillic and the Latin alphabets. Series 3 is organized in three sub-series: Sub-series 1 (papers in Cyrillic script), Sub-series 2 (papers in Latin script), and Sub-series 3 (recordings). Sub-series 1 and 2 are arranged alphabetically according to the Cyrillic and the Latin alphabets. Sub-series 3 is arranged chronologically.

Date Acquired: 07/08/2016. More info below under Accruals.

Subjects: Balalaika music, Folk music, Folk music - Instruction and study, Manuscripts, Russian Folk Orchestra, Russian Folk Songs

Languages: Russian, English, French, German, Polish, Hungarian, Ukrainian, Chinese, Spanish;Castilian, Italian, Swedish

Consists of Sheynkman's finished and unfinished music arrangements for Russian folk instruments (i.e., balalaika, domra) and Russian folk orchestras residing in the United States (e.g., UIRFO and Odessa Balalaikas) as well as arrangements for solo and accompanied balalaika. The papers and music document Sheynkman's work as a performer and arranger, and includes a contract, news articles, and correspondence as well as original and published music arrangements and method books for Russian folk instruments and guitar. The collection also includes published professional journals from both the Fretted Instrument Guild of America (FIGA) and the Narodnik: Russian Folk Bulletin. Most of the music and papers document Sheynkman's work as a Russian composer living in the United States between 1978 and 1995.

Emanuil Sheynkman (1939-1995), known to family and colleagues as "Misha," was a Russophone Soviet balalaika and mandolin player recognized for his orchestra, ensemble, and solo performances, as well as his original music arrangements for Russian folk instruments. Sheynkman was born in 1939 in Leningrad, USSR (contemporary Saint Petersburg, Russia). He first began lessons on the domra, a 3-stringed Russian folk instrument, as a child after World War II because they were offered for free at his neighborhood music school. He later studied the balalaika and mandolin, and completed his education at the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory and the Mussorgsky Institute in Leningrad. By the late 1970s, Sheynkman had become a successful musician and instructor in the USSR where he served as a professor of music at the Mussorgsky Institute and soloist with the Leningrad Philharmonic.  He was also the principal arranger for the Andreev Russian Folk Orchestra and became a popular national television star. Nonetheless, he emigrated from the USSR to the United States in 1978 because of perceived Soviet government restrictions on his artistic freedom.

He and his family initially immigrated to New York City, but eventually settled in settled in San Pedro, CA where Sheynkman performed at numerous Los Angeles nightclubs and arranged music for and performed with the Odessa Balalaikas.  In 1982, Sheynkman began a long professional relationship with the University of Illinois Russian Folk Orchestra (UIRFO), which was then under the direction of John Garvey. For 12 weeks in early 1982, Sheynkman was appointed as a George A. Miller Visiting Professor of Music for the University of Illinois, and provided music instruction to the UIRFO's student dorma and balalaika musicians.  That same year he also served as a guest conductor and performer for UIRFO concerts, and began arranging full orchestral scores for University's Russian orchestra.  He continued arranging music scores for the UIRFO even after the conclusion of his tenure as visiting professor, and he completed forty-four different music arrangements for the UIRFO, including Karl King's "Pride of the Illini." Throughout the 1980s, Sheynkman returned frequently to Urbana-Champaign campus to perform with the UIRFO, including the Walter J. Kasura Memorial Concert that was held in May 1987. In addition to his work with the UIRFO Sheynkman arranged music for several film scores as well as an arrangement of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition for the Canadian Brass.

Balalaika music
Folk music
Folk music - Instruction and study
Manuscripts
Russian Folk Orchestra
Russian Folk Songs

Repository: The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music

Accruals: Additional accrual came to Sousa Archive and Center for American Music on October 1, 2019.

Acquisition Source: Bruce and Susanne Wood

Acquisition Method: Gift