Biographical Sketch

Eileen Malone—American harpist, teacher, and orchestra member—was born in Victor, New York on August 16th, 1906. She began to study the harp at an early age and eventually enrolled at the Eastman School of Music, where she earned the B.M. degree and the Performer’s Certificate in 1928. Thereafter, she continued her studies with Marcel Tournier at the Paris Conservatoire in 1930 and with Marcel Grandjany in New York City intermittently in the years 1936 through 1945 as well as thereafter. Upon returning to Rochester from Paris in 1930, Miss Malone was appointed to the faculty of the Eastman School’s Preparatory Department. In 1936, she succeeded Lucile Johnson Rosenbloom as Professor of Harp in the Eastman School’s collegiate division. It was also in 1936 that she was appointed principal harpist of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, in which role she would continue for 43 years until her retirement from the orchestra in 1979.

A professional who enjoyed an astonishingly long career, Eileen Malone was a frequent solo recitalist and also made solo appearances with several orchestras, including the RPO, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra (on tour), and the Syracuse Symphony; she also appeared on radio and television. She gave master classes and workshops throughout the United States and in England. Locally, she promoted harp studies in the Rochester (NY) public schools, thereby influencing other schools around the country to include harp studies in their own curricula. Many of Miss Malone’s Eastman School students went on to hold prominent positions in major orchestras and universities across the United States and abroad.

Miss Malone was also active in professional circles beyond the Eastman School. She was a founding member of the American Harp Society—formally, a member of the Society’s Founding Committee—and served on its board of directors for many years; she was also a member of the founding committee of the International Harp Society. In 1959, she served as a member of the jury at the first International Harp Competition, held in Israel; thereafter she would return to to Israel as a juror at eight more competitions. In 1969, she chaired the Sixth American National Harp Conference, held at the Eastman School of Music. In 1982, Miss Malone was awarded an honorary doctorate by Nazareth College; locally in Rochester, she was named “Musician of the Year” in 1970 by the Rochester Alumnae chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon. She retired from full-time teaching in 1989, after which she remained active giving master classes and travelling widely. Her longevity of service to the Eastman School of Music—59 years, accounting for her six years’ service to the Preparatory Department and 53 years to the collegiate division—render her the longest-serving Eastman School faculty member in the history of the school.

Miss Malone died in a nursing home in Canandaigua, NY, on June 1st, 1999, aged 92, several weeks after suffering a stroke. She had been predeceased by her older brothers Edward Malone, Jr., Esq. and John Malone. Her funeral Mass was celebrated at St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church in Victor, New York, where her remains were interred in St. Patrick’s Cemetery. The Eastman School of Music honored her posthumously with an “Eileen Malone Tribute Weekend” in October 1999.

Provenance

The bulk of the collection was received by the Sibley Music Library as a bequest in late 1999. Additional items were received as a gift-in-kind from Professor Kathleen Bride after she had purchased them at the estate auction.

Scope and Content Note

A collection significant for its creator’s longevity of service to the Eastman School of Music The Eileen Malone Collection comprises twenty-two boxes of music in various formats used by Malone for teaching and performance over the course of her career, a collection constituting one of the largest performance collections held by RTWSC. Much of the music is generously annotated with performance markings transmitting Malone’s own insights or preferences regarding interpretation. The collection also contains documents of professional importance from throughout Malone’s career, including items of publicity, research papers, concert programs, and correspondence. In addition, the collection houses many photographs capturing Malone in publicity shots, as well as with colleagues and/or her students. Finally, a clutch of audio-visual media and harp-related ephemera round out the collection.

Certain documents in the collection underscore the high esteem in which Miss Malone was held both professionally and personally: these include items of correspondence, photographs, and a “memory book” that was presented to her in 1990.

Restrictions on Use

For the bulk of the collection, there are no restrictions on access. Certain files in sub- group II, series 3 are restricted. RTWSC adheres to the provisions of the United States Copyright Law (1976) and its revisions. Reproductions of any copyright-protected collection holdings will be granted only after the permission of relevant copyright holders has been obtained by the party making the request.

Associations

The Eileen Malone Collection is one of a growing corpus of collections that preserve the music libraries and/or professional papers of faculty members of the Eastman School of Music. As of this writing, it is one of six collections of harpistic import held by RTWSC: the Gullo Harp Collection, which comprises a substantial extent of 18th- and 19th-century publications; the Lucile Johnson Rosenbloom Collection, the legacy of the Eastman School’s first Professor of Harp; the Henry B. Neejer Collection, the legacy of a businessman who played the harp as an avocation; the Artiss de Volt Collection, the legacy of a professional harpist who had studied under Alfred Holy; and the Jane B. Weidensaul Collection, the legacy of a scholar and performer whose publishing venture made available numerous works in modern editions.

In other holdings, RTWSC holds the entire sequence of concert programs of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, in which Eileen Malone’s long affiliation as principal harpist is reflected, as well as concert programs of the Eastman School of Music, in which Malone’s own activity and the activity of her students is reflected. Finally, the Eastman Audio Archive holds the audio masters of Eastman School-based performances in which Eileen Malone was represented—her solo solo recitals, and also the orchestras of which she was a member (the Eastman Chamber Orchestra, the Eastman-Rochester Symphony Orchestra, and the Arranger’s Holiday Orchestra).

 

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DESCRIPTION OF SERIES

SUB-GROUP I: MUSIC LIBRARY

Series 1: Music for Harp
The music for harp and for harp with other instruments has been sub-divided the 35 sub-series outlined below, modelled after the Library of Congress “M” classification schedule. Music for solo harp has been placed first, followed by groups of various formations that include the harp. Wherever applicable, arrangements and transcriptions for any one grouping have been isolated into separate sub-series following the main classification for the given grouping. Significantly, boxes 14-17 hold the harp parts from ensemble sets (for either orchestra or band) that Eileen Malone personalized for her own performance use. Within each sub-series, items have been arranged alphabetically by composer’s last name, with items of unknown authorship or attribution placed at the end of each sequence wherever they pertain. In more than one sub-series, works by Marcel Tournier were sufficiently numerous that it was deemed helpful to arrange them by their opus numbers; a note to users has been included in the finding aid at each point where this pertained.

Sub-series A: Harp solos
Sub-series B: Harp solos — arrangements and transcriptions
Sub-series C: Two harps
Sub-series D: Two harps — arrangements and transcriptions
Sub-series E: Harp and voice
Sub-series F: Harp and flute
Sub-series G: Harp and flute — arrangements and transcriptions
Sub-series H: Harp and piano, including piano reductions of harp concerti
Sub-series I: Harp and piano — arrangements and transcriptions
Sub-series J: Harp and organ
Sub-series K: Harp and electronics
Sub-series L: Harp and violin
Sub-series M: Harp and violoncello
Sub-series N: Harp and violoncello – arrangements and transcriptions
Sub-series O: Harp and viola
Sub-series P: Harp and oboe
Sub-series Q: Harp and bassoon
Sub-series R: Harp and clarinet
Sub-series S: Harp and spoken word
Sub-series T: Harp and two strings
Sub-series U: Harp and two flutes
Sub-series V: Three harps
Sub-series W: Four harps
Sub-series X: Multiple harps
Sub-series Y: Multiple harps—arrangements and transcriptions
Sub-series Z: Harp in chamber music
Sub-series AA: Harp in chamber music—arrangements and transcriptions
Sub-series BB: Harp and orchestra
Sub-series CC: Harp and orchestra—arrangements and transcriptions
Sub-series DD: Harp music collections
Sub-series EE: Harp music collections—arrangements and transcriptions
Sub-series FF: Harp methods
Sub-series GG: Harp etudes and studies
Sub-series HH: Harp parts from ensemble sets
Sub-series II: Harp and chorus

Sub-series HH constitutes a significant part of the collection in that it reflects Eileen Malone’s activity as an ensemble participant (moreover, as principal harpist in several orchestras, including the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra). For this sub-series, item description has been restricted to five principal data elements: composer name, transcribed composition title, publisher’s name, extent (i.e., number of pages), and, wherever applicable, citation of whether Harp I or Harp II. Additional descriptive notes have been appended to given entries when deemed relevant.
End-users should be aware than in both Series 1 and Series 2, items were filed on the basis of their explicit instrumental designations, which may not always have been in keeping with Eileen Malone’s use of the material. For example, those copies of the Danses by Claude Debussy that were printed for chromatic harp or piano with piano accompaniment were filed in series 2, sub-series C (Music for two pianos), whereas Eileen Malone presumably used one or more of them as a harpist in rehearsal and/or performance.

Series 2: Music for other instruments
Following on the format established in Series 1, the music for instruments other than the harp has sub-divided into the fifteen sub-series outlined below, modelled after the Library of Congress “M” classification schedule. Music for solo harp has been placed first, followed by groups of various formations that include the harp. Within each sub-series, items have been arranged alphabetically by composer’s last name, with items of unknown authorship or attribution placed at the end of each sequence wherever they pertain.

Sub-series A: Solo piano
Sub-series B: Piano studies and methods
Sub-series C: Two pianos
Sub-series D: Vocal duet and string quartet
Sub-series E: Chorus and organ
Sub-series F: String orchestra
Sub-series G: Viola and piano
Sub-series H: Strings and piano
Sub-series I: Solo violin
Sub-series J: Violin and piano
Sub-series K: Flute and piano
Sub-series L: Voice and piano
Sub-series M: Popular songs for voice and piano
Sub-series N: Song collections
Sub-series O: Binder’s collections

The contents of Sub-series M (Popular songs for voice and piano) are arranged in alphabetical order by composer’s last name.

SUB-GROUP II: PROFESSIONAL PAPERS

Series 1: Publicity
This series is comprised of press reviews, articles, and other publicity materials that Eileen Malone collected and saved throughout her career. They have been arranged chronologically.

Series 2: The American Harp Society
Significantly, Eileen Malone was a founding member of the American Harp Society (AHS). The series contains her copies of some of the Society’s administrative papers, together with her participant’s folders from several of the annual conferences. Among the other documents present are several awards that were conferred by the Society.

Series 3: Festivals, Conventions, and Competitions
This series preserves documents and participant’s folders from professional events other than AHS annual conferences. Eileen Malone enjoyed a continuous association with the annual International Harp Contests in Israel from the founding year, an association reflected in this series. In addition, she was an invited juror at numerous high-profile festivals and competitions; her juror’s notes from those events are restricted on grounds that they reflect on the work of performers still living.

Series 4: Research
This series preserves copies of relevant books, research papers, issues of journals, and notes kept by Eileen Malone.

Series 5: Concert programs
This series preserves concert programs collected by Eileen Malone throughout her career. The decades-long sequence of RPO programs that were initially among her papers was removed on grounds that the RTWSC vault already holds a complete sequence of RPO programs; a sampling of Miss Malone’s copies of RPO programs has been retained in this series, primarily those featuring her in some aspects. In addition, the series contains programs from events that took place at the Eastman School of Music and elsewhere.

Series 6: Correspondence
This series preserves letters and cards that Miss Malone received over the years from various individuals. The reader should note that any photographs received as enclosures with letters have been separated to Series 7; notes have been entered to that effect in the finding aid at the relevant points.

Series 7: Photographs
This series preserves a substantial sequence of photographs, both B&W and color. As naturally photogenic as she was accomplished, Eileen Malone posed for publicity photographs on many occasions throughout her career; in many instances, her publicity photographs are signed or captioned by their respective photographers. In addition, Miss Malone received many photographs over the years from friends or former students; numerous of these were inscribed by their senders. Several photographs of Malone family members are also present. Throughout this series, the reader will observe that certain individuals have not been identified; RTWSC personnel are always appreciative of any information that members of the harp community can provide.
The series has been sub-divided into the following sub-series, based on dimensions. Sub-series E and F represent special instance. Sub-series E preserves two photo albums that were kept by Eileen Malone, which have been preserved intact. One additional photo album was of such limited coverage that it was dismembered and its prints filed individually; those prints have been identified as such in the item descriptions. Sub-series F preserves those presentation photographs which Miss Malone from colleagues and/or friends, and which she framed for studio display or home display; those items have been retained in their frames.

Sub-series A: 4×5” sleeves
Sub-series B: 4×6” sleeves
Sub-series C: 8×10” sleeves
Sub-series D: 11 x 14” sleeves
Sub-series E: Photo albums
Sub-series F: Framed prints

Series 8: Ephemera
This series preserves several ephemeral items of harpistic content or relevance, including concert posters and illustrations created for various purposes.

Series 9: Audio-Visual Media
This series preserves a small number of sound recordings from Miss Malone’s collection. Numerous commercial recordings in LP format were removed from the collection for consideration for the SML’s general recordings collection. Most of the items preserved
here were sent to her by friends, colleagues, or former students.

Series 10: Oversized Material
Created for filing convenience, this series preserves those items the dimensions and/or physical condition meant they were not accommodated in the standard housing assigned to their respective series.

NOTE:
Throughout the Inventory portion of this finding aid, explanatory notes which are intended to inform the reader of contextual background (as opposed to details which are specifically and integrally regarding the document or item at hand) are provided in smaller type as nota bene comments, i.e. N.B.