UCLA Libraries Music Library Special Collections Archives Collection 52-M

Collection 52-M

Sol Babitz Papers

Sol Babitz was born on October 11, 1911, in Brooklyn, New York. He was largely a self-taught violinist since leaving high school and his violin teachers included Carl Flesch in Berlin and Marcel Chailley in Paris. His interest in performance practice was aroused by the writing of Arnold Dolmetsch and encouraged by Igor Stravinsky, whose string parts Babitz edited for many years. Babitz was a violinist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1933-37, and then played with Hollywood studio orchestras until 1952. He was the editor of "International Musician" from 1941 to 1962. He co-founded the Early Music Laboratory (EML) in 1948 and devoted much of his research to the problems of performance practices in baroque and classical music through studying and interpreting 17th and 18th century treatises. He spent a great deal of time incorporating his findings in recordings, articles, and bulletins. Babitz died in 1982.

Sol Babitz was born on October 11, 1911, in Brooklyn, New York. He was largely a self-taught violinist since leaving high school and his violin teachers included Carl Flesch in Berlin and Marcel Chailley in Paris. His interest in performance practice was aroused by the writing of Arnold Dolmetsch and encouraged by Igor Stravinsky, whose string parts Babitz edited for many years. Babitz was a violinist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1933-37, and then played with Hollywood studio orchestras until 1952. He was the editor of "International Musician" from 1941 to 1962. He co-founded the Early Music Laboratory (EML) in 1948 and devoted much of his research to the problems of performance practices in baroque and classical music through studying and interpreting 17th and 18th century treatises. He spent a great deal of time incorporating his findings in recordings, articles, and bulletins. Babitz died in 1982.

Collection consists of research notes, manuscript and typed; musical sketches and manuscripts; published scores, books, pamphlets, periodical issues and offprints, with and without annotations; typed drafts of articles; photocopies of articles, scores, and miscellaneous printed music pages; and correspondence - all mostly related to baroque performance practice research done through the Early Music Laboratory (EML). Includes a set of EML Bulletins, other EML publications, and disc recordings of EML sponsored performances.

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