Title: Oskar Hagen collection
Inclusive Dates: 1910-1958

Creator:

• Hagen, Oskar, 1888-1957

Unique Identifier: mml004

Quantity: music manuscripts; 1 photographic print; 1 audiocassette tape

• 4.5 Linear Feet
• 1 oversize archival flat box; 2 record cartons

Repository:

University of Wisconsin-Madison. Mills Music Library

Abstract:

The Oskar Hagen collection contains primarily original manuscript scores, including his arrangements of others' works.

Language: English , German .

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-mus-mml004

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Organized into three series: I. Music Manuscripts, II. Paper Materials, III. Media. Series I, is further arranged into three subseries: 1. Vocal works, 2. Instrumental works, 3. Arrangements.

Oskar Hagen was born on October 14, 1888 in Wiesbaden. His father was a German musician and his mother a British subject. While growing up in Wiesbaden, Hagen received early music instruction, and as a teenager studied composition under German composer and conductor Carl Schuricht. In the fall of 1908 Hagen enrolled in the University of Berlin to study musicology. While in Berlin he further studied composition under German composer Engelbert Humperdinck. In his second semester at Berlin he switched his major to art history. Despite this, he still retained an interest in music, completing an opera of his own, Die Kleine Meerfrau (1912), as well as other compositions during that time.

In his lifetime, Oskar Hagen (1888-1957) achieved a certain amount of prominence in two separate fields. In the area of music, he is known for leading a revival in the performance of Handel's operas in Germany in the 1920's and establishing the Göttingen Händel Festspiele (Göttingen Handel Festival) in 1920. In the area of art history, Hagen was a noted academic, lecturer and writer, and founder of the Department of Art History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Hagen completed his art history degree at the University of Berlin in 1914. He subsequently attended the University of Halle for further graduate studies in art history, and also took a job at an applied arts museum. In 1918 Hagen took the position as professor of art history at the University of Göttingen where he remained until 1925. There, while his star rose as an art history lecturer and writer, his musical interests also continued. In June of 1920 he inaugurated the first Göttingen Händel Festspiele, where performances of Handel's operas were staged under Hagen's direction. For the performance of Rodelinda, Hagen served as producer, editor, and promoter, and greatly altered Handel's original arrangement. Between 1920 and 1924 Hagen directed the festival, and his versions of Handel's operas were performed there. After Rodelinda in 1920, the festival put on the Hagen productions of Ottone (1921), Giulio Cesare (1922), Rodelinda again in 1923, and Serse (1924). These operas had not been heard in Germany in almost 200 years, but after Hagen's work, there emerged a renewed appreciation for them.

In 1924, Oskar Hagen came to the United States as a Carl Schurz Memorial Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in art history. In 1925, the university offered him a teaching position, which Hagen accepted. Hagen moved from Göttingen to Madison where he would remain for the remainder of his life. Upon arriving, he founded the Department of the History and Criticism of Art, now called the Department of Art History. He was chairman for the next 22 years. During that time, he lectured widely around the United States on art history and wrote books on the subject, including Art Epochs and Their Leaders (1927), Patterns and Principles of Spanish Art (1936), and The Birth of the American Tradition in Art (1940).

Starting in the early 1940's, Oskar Hagen had a renewed interest in musical composition. He wrote new compositions including Choral Rhapsody (Die Sonne) (1943), Concerto Grosso (1944), Sonata for Violin and Piano (1945), Wisconsin Summer (1946), and Carducciana for Four Mixed Voices (1948). Some of these compositions were performed by Madison-area music organizations like the Madison Civic Symphony, and the Pro Arte Quartet. Concerto Grosso was also performed in Frankfurt, Germany in 1946. Still active in art history and music until the end of his life, Hagen died in Madison on October 5, 1957.

In 1914 Hagen married Danish opera singer Thyra Leisner in 1914, and they had two children, Holger Hagen (1915-1996) and Uta Hagen (1919-2004). Both worked in stage and film. Thyra Leisner died in 1938. Oskar Hagen subsequently married a Swiss woman, Beatrice Bentz.

This collection includes no known access restrictions.

Collection materials may be subject to laws governing rights. Researchers are solely responsible for determining the rights status of the materials they use. Permission may be required for some uses such as publication or reproduction.

Audio recordings of Suite for quartette, Concerto grosso and Violin sonata dubbed from original discs held by UW-Madison rare Books Dept.

Gift of Bing Crasper and Carroll Chilton, circa 1977.

One copy of score for Carducciana gift of the Madison Symphony Orchestra, 2021

Collection materials are in German and English.

[Title of item], [Oskar Hagen collection]. Mills Music Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Souvenir recording 1949 / Madison Philharmonic Chorus. Mills Music Library. Includes performance of Carducciana.

Art History departmental correspondence, 1925-1949. Series 7/3/2 43F9. UW Archives.

Oskar Hagen papers, 1930-1945. Series 7/3/3 43F10. UW Archives.

[Notebooks / Oskar Frank Leonard Hagen]. N7483 H3 A3 1911. Kohler Art Library.

The Oskar Hagen collection contains primarily original manuscript scores and arrangements of other composers' works. Hagen's compositions include Die Kleine Meerfrau, Erkenntnis, Gebet, Gewisskeit, Goethe's Sonnensesang, Concerto grosso, Choral rhapsody (Die Sonne), Theme and Canon à 4, and Wisconsin summer. There is also a musical study of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. Arrangements by Hagen include works by Bach, Chemin-Petit, Haydn, Martinu, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Vivaldi and Wagner. The collection includes manuscript scores of Hagen's adaptations of Handel's operas Serse (1924), Rodelinde (1920, 1923) and Julius Caesar (1922) used by performers in the Göttingen Händel Festspiele. The folder for Serse includes two copies (of 31 printed) of Hagen's piano-vocal score, one of which is dedicated to "Governor, and Mrs Phil. La Follette." Sound recordings consist of performances of some of Hagen's works (Suite for quartette, Carducciana, Concerto grosso and Violin sonata (?)). The recordings were dubbed from discs held at Mills Music Library and the Rare Books Dept. Finally, the collection contains obituaries from various newspapers and other tributes to Hagen upon his death, and a photograph of Oskar and his daughter Uta Hagen.

OperasConcerti grossiSongsGermanyMadison (Wis.)Vocal scoresPiano scoresLibrettosScoresMozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 1756-1791; Handel, George Frideric, 1685-1759; Internationale Händel-Festspiele Göttingen; Chemin-Petit, Hans, 1902-1981; Haydn, Joseph, 1732-1809; Martinů, Bohuslav, 1890-1959; Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix, 1809-1847; Vivaldi, Antonio, 1678-1741; Wagner, Richard, 1813-1883; Hagen, Uta, 1919-2004

	Series: Series I. Manuscript Materials
	Subseries: Subseries 1. Vocal works
Box [89109112524]   1   folder 3	Choral rhapsody in the romantic style [parts], 1943Other Descriptive Data: General Violin I, violin II, viola, cello, bass, timpani, percussion.
Box [89109112524]   1   folder 4	Choral rhapsody in the romantic style [vocal score], 1943 Physical Description: 26 pages : 30 x 41 cm  Other Descriptive Data: General "To Beatrice... words by Samuel Rogers, after Schiller's poem 'The sun'"; two copies; full score reproduced from manuscript.
Box [89109112524]   1	Choral rhapsody, orchestral score, bound 1943 Physical Description: 52 pages : 37 x 50 cm  Other Descriptive Data: General With corrections.
Box [89109112540]   2   folder 6	Die Sonne [Choral rhapsody, vocal score] 1943-04-16 Physical Description: 26 pages : 29 x 35 cm  Other Descriptive Data: General "Ode to the sun"; original manuscript score; pencil, with corrections
Box [89109112540]   2   folder 1	Carducciana [score], 1948 Physical Description: 17 pages : 22 x 28 cm  Other Descriptive Data: General "Three poems by Giosuè Carducci, composed for four mixed voices and dedicated to Dr. Bjornar Bergethon and the Philharmonic Chorus of Madson, Wis."; 3 copies; one copy inscribed to Walter Heerman, conductor of the Madison Symphony Orchestra.
Box [89109112540]   2   folder 5	Die kleine MeerfrauOther Descriptive Data: General Folder includes first draft manuscript libretto (1910); typescript libretto (n.d.); full score manuscript of prelude to the thrid act (n.d.).
Box [89109112540]   2   folder 11	Die kleine Meerfrau [manuscript score], 1912 Physical Description: 328 pages : 30 x 36 cm  Other Descriptive Data: General "Original der Partitur"; bound.
Box [89109112540]   2   folder 7	Faust, musicOther Descriptive Data: General Sketches.
Box [89109112540]   2   folder 9	Songs, 1910-1948Other Descriptive Data: General "Gebet" self-published, 1910; "Erkenntnis" (1943), "Gewisskeit" (n.d.), Goethes Sonnensesang, four versions (1948).
	Subseries: Subseries 2. Instrumental works	⇧
Box [89109112524]   1   folder 1	Theme and canon à 4 Physical Description: 4 Leaves : 20 x 23 cm  Other Descriptive Data: General Four manuscript parts.
Box [89109112540]   2   folder 2	Concerto grosso [score, original manuscript] 1944 Physical Description: 50 pages : 29 x 35 cm  Other Descriptive Data: General Orchestra score; original manuscript.
Box [89109112524]   1   folder 5	Concerto grosso, G minor, first version 1944 Physical Description: 50 pages : 29 x 39 cm  Other Descriptive Data: General Orchestra score; photostat copy of the manuscript.
Box [89109112524]   1   folder 6	Concerto grosso [score, reproduction] 1945 Physical Description: 53 pages : 30 x 43 cm  Other Descriptive Data: General "For four string instruments, two trumpets, two horns, four timpani, and orchestra"; photostat reproduction from manuscript, with corrections.
Box [89109112540]   2   folder 3	Concerto grosso parts, 1945Other Descriptive Data: General 65 parts; 29 x 34 cm
Box [89109112540]   2   folder 4	Concerto grosso [diazo parts], 1945 Physical Description: 102 Leaves : 28 x 34 cm
Box [89109112540]   2   folder 8	Wisconsin summer, 1946Other Descriptive Data: General For string quartet; "Dedicated to Rudolf Kolish and the Pro Arte Quartet"; 2 sets of photostat parts, some with corrections.
	Subseries: Subseries 3. Arrangements	⇧
Box [89109112565]   3   folder 1	Serse, 1924Other Descriptive Data: General Parts for orchestra and chorus, complete. Folder includes piano score, with dedication to Wisconsin Governor Philip La Follette, Feb. 6, 1931, with inscribed that reads, in part, "The 31 copies— there are no more in existance—, printed on my own little press, made possible the first performance since 1738 of this truly immortal opera of George Frederick Händel at Göttingen on the 5th of July 1924. On that occasion this copy was used by one of the singers, of which fact the book still bears evidence." Piano score purchased by Mills Music Library.
Box [89109112565]   3   folder 2	Rodelinde, 1920Other Descriptive Data: General Parts for orchestra and chorus, complete. Folder includes published score (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1876) with alterations by Hagen in pencil.
Box [89109112565]   3   folder 3	Julius Caesar, 1922Other Descriptive Data: General Parts for orchestra and chorus, complete.
Box [89109112565]   3   folder 4	Otto und Theophano, 1922Other Descriptive Data: General Folder includes 11 parts for orchestra; piano arrangement by Hagen; piano arrangement by H. Spitta of inserts by Hagen ("[D]iese 2 Sätze aus d. concerto grosso Nr 5 D dur werden im Akt zwischen Arie No 4 und Hochzeits= marsch No 5 eingelegt"; 2 copies).
Box [89109112524]   1   folder 2	Miscellaneous arrangementsOther Descriptive Data: General Arrangements of works by Bach, Chemin-Petit, Haydn, Martinu, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Vivaldi and Wagner.
	Series: Series II. Paper Materials	⇧
Box [89109112540]   2   folder 10	Obituaries, etc.; photograph 1957-1958Other Descriptive Data: General Folder includes obituaries from UW Department of Art History, the UW Faculty Committee and New York Herald Tribune; concert program and newspaper clipping announcing the Pro Arte Quartet memorial performance of "Wisconsin summer"; Hagen's musical study of Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas"; undated photograph of Oskar and Uta Hagen.
	Series: Series III. Media	⇧
Audio [89109112540]   2	Oskar Hagen compositions Physical Description: 1 audio recording; 1 audiocassette Other Descriptive Data: General Suite for quartette, Carducciana, Concerto grosso and Violin sonata (?); dubbed from discs held at Mills Music Library and the Rare Books Dept.
Disc [89109112524]   1	Concerto grosso, 1950 Physical Description: 1 audio recording : 1 side of 1 audio disc : analog, 33 1/3 rpm, mono  : 12 inches  Other Descriptive Data: General Single-sided disc; performance likely by the Madison Civic Symphony, Walter Heermann, conductor; "Record no. 3012"; matrix no. ERC 3012.