Collection description
The Julius Schloss Collection consists of Julius Schloss鈥檚 complete portfolio of published and unpublished compositions, sketches, studies and analyses. In addition, it contains documentary artefacts, including correspondence, newspaper, magazine and journal clippings, concert and competition programs, media reviews, and photographs, that chronicle both the early life of this German-Jewish composer in Europe and his later days in exile in Shanghai and the United States.
The content of the collection pertains to several lines of historical research: First, Schloss鈥檚 close relationship with Alban Berg as a personal assistant and chief copy editor, as well as his interaction with other contemporaries in Vienna during the 1920s, may offer new insight in studies of the Second Viennese School. The items of Bergiana, including a handwritten Baudelaire poem by Berg which served as a 鈥渟ecret program鈥� to the Lyric Suite and a selection of correspondence surrounding Berg鈥檚 last wishes for the Lyric Suite score, are particularly valuable. Second, Schloss鈥檚 ten-year exile in Shanghai, documented in assorted correspondence, programs, reviews and miscellaneous artefacts, may provide a new account of the Shanghai generation. Finally, the continuation of Schloss鈥檚 life in the United States as a struggling composer and teacher bears witness to the difficult conditions for the American 茅migr茅 population after World War II.
