Finding aid for the Darius Milhaud Society Collection

History of The Darius Milhaud Society

Founded by Katharine Warne in 1986, The Darius Milhaud Society was a musical organization designed to promote and preserve the music and legacy of French 20th century composer Darius Milhaud.

Darius Milhaud was a modern music composer, born in 1892 Marseille, France. He went to the Paris Conservatory for music composition, studying with teachers such as André Gedalge and Charles-Marie Widor. He went on to become one of the most infulenial of French composers during the 20th century, famous for his work in polytonality and jazz. During World War II, Milhaud, his wife Madeleine, and his son fled France to the United States, due to his Jewish heritage and the German occupancy in his country. At this time, Milhaud began teaching music at the Mills Liberal Arts College in Oakland, California. Katharine Mulky-Warne, one of Milhaud's students at Mills, was deeply inspired by Milhaud and highly respected his work. She also had a very close relationship with him and his family both professionally and personally. Thus, Warne founded the Darius Milhaud Society in 1986. The mission of the Darius Milhaud Society was to recognize the continued playing of Milhaud's work and to keep alive his music and legacy.

Scope and Content

This collection is a compilation of photographs, programs, books, articles, correspondence, scores, and other materials relevant to french composer Darius Milhaud and the Darius Milhaud Society founded by Dr. Katharine Warne. All papers found in this collection were provided by the Darius Milhaud Society.

Included are letters, books, and articles written by or about Darius Milhaud, photographs of Darius Milhaud and events for his music, program and festival guides for performances of Milhaud's work, and many of Darius Milhaud's original compositions, some hand-written and some in print. Also included in the collection are photographs for the Darius Milhaud Society's and other Cleveland area musical events, as well as documents regarding the Darius Milhaud Society. Archived in these documents are official and personal correspondence with President Katharine Warne, letters to/from Madeleine Milhaud, and Darius Milhaud Society Newsletters, along with handwritten notes, drafts and records involving Darius Milhaud Society business.

Statement of Arrangement

Katharine Warne Papers, Michael Schwartz Library, Cleveland State University.

The Darius Milhaud Society was founded in Cleveland in January 1984. Its chief purpose was to encourage the performance of a wide repertoire of Milhaud's music all over the United States. Milhaud published 443 compositions and the treasure of his music is comparable in both quantity and quality to that of J. S. Bach.

The Darius Milhaud Society Newsletter was published to inform individuals and organizations of new publications, recordings, performances, and activities relating to Darius Milhaud and his music.

Digital reprints of the newsletters, ranging in dates from 1985 to 2002 can be found in the Engaged Scholarship materials at Cleveland State University.

http://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/milhaud_newsletters/

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection.

Subjects:

Persons:

Preferred Citation

Darius Milhaud Society Collection, Michael Schwartz Library, Cleveland State University.

Detailed Description of The Collection