Archiving_Project

In August of 2006 in West Palm Beach having recently earned my masters degree
and was basically gigging teaching, I stumbled upon a project that would utilize my
musical knowledge and possibly prove my degrees in music useful! It was the
archiving and organization of the musical works of Hugo Kauder(1888-1972) an
Austrian/American composer for the Hugo Kauder Society. I was faced with a walk-in
closet full of music, a four by four foot filing cabinet and a glass dining table for sorting.
My guide in this endeavour was Hugo's son, Otto (in his seventies) who expertly led
me in the exploration of his father’s music. Otto was not only a knowledgeable and
capable musician, but he also held a PhD in chemistry. I quickly realized that instead
of a simple job, I had found a hidden cache of the musical world, and discovered true
enjoyment in bringing this body of work together for posterity. Through the slow
assembly and organization of Hugo Kauder's manuscripts, I gained insight into the
humanity of composers and a new found respect for them, which ultimately helped me
to grow as a musician.

When I started this project, it was "against the clock" as Nina, one of his daughters,
informed me. As I watched Otto fight a medical condition that severely limited his
body (as it slowly compressed his spine), I learned a great deal about the power of the
human mind and his powers of concentration in particular. I was amazed by the focus
and concentration he possessed all while at times fighting to breathe. I could name a
piece or call out a key and instrumentation and he would more than likely know the
name of the piece, the year written and usually throw in a story about its
genesis/background for good measure. This is truly remarkable when you consider
the hundreds of works we were dealing with. When he proof read my notations of
various pieces, he was all too adept at pointing out little mistakes here and there which
my much younger eyes had missed. When Otto passed away, I found solace in the
thought that I had helped him to finish the organization of his father's works and
removed the burden of that task from his mind, and I will always remember his look
of relief the day it was finished. A few weeks before, I had stopped by to organize
some coorespondance that had turned up, it was the last day I saw him. As I was
leaving I shook his hand as always(interupting a friend of his from a community center
who had come to read to him) and said goodbye. In the split second that we looked at
each other he gave me that same look of completion, I understood and nodded. We
both had been wrapped up in this work and the most engrossing part of it was
complete. I continued to work with the archives, copying and scanning every work to
insure that the original and one of a kind documents would be preserved. I delivered
the archive to the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in January, 2007.
They are planning an exibit dedicated to Hugo Kauder in the future.

Please explore the links for more information on Hugo Kauder, his
works and the Hugo Kauder Society.

About Hugo Kauder (from www.hugokauder.org)

The Hugo Kauder Society

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