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A. Margaret 'Stormy' Bok materials (MSS 72)

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Held at: Archives [Contact Us]1720 Locust St, Philadelphia, PA 19103

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Archives. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.

Overview and metadata sections

Call Number:
MSS 72
Repository:
Archives
Extent:
6.67 linear feet
Language:
English
Date:
circa 1970-2004 (bulk)
Creator:
Bok, A. Margaret Storm (Agnes Margaret Storm), 1920-2018
Abstract:

Born in Braintree, Mass., Agnes Margaret Storm attended the University of Connecticut. A registered nurse, she met Cary William Bok, son of Mary Louise Curtis Bok (founder of the Curtis Institute of Music), while he was in the hospital. They married in 1961 and had one daughter, Mary Louise, who lived only one day. Cary Bok died in 1970. Bok joined the board of the Curtis Institute in 1962, and her involvement grew into lifetime committment — as trustee, member of the board of overseers, honorary trustee, and a member of the Mary Louise Curtis Bok board. Curtis awarded her an honorary degree in 1983. A. Margaret Bok passed away in October 2018 at the age of 98.

Estate of A. Margaret "Stormy" Bok

The following duplicate commercial recordings of existing library holdings were not kept: Requium / Faure / In Memoriam: Mary Curtis Zimbalist (LP, 1970) The Three Piano Concertos / Tchaikovsky / Graffman / Ormandy / The Philadelphia Orchestra (CD, 2005) Gary Graffman / The Complete RCA and Columbia Album Collection (CD, 2013)

Publisher
Archives
Finding Aid Author
Kristina Wilson
Access Restrictions

Administrative records are restricted

Collection Inventory

Administrative records, circa 1970s-2004.

Barber, Sam, 1935.
General

  1. Inscribed on recto: "To remind you of the Shelly music and Sam"
  2. Inscribed on verso: "Panthea to Asia: (within a cloud on the top of a snowy mountain) "nor is it I alone Thy sister, thy companion, thine own chosen one, But the whole world which seeks thy sympathy. Hearest though not the sounds i' the air which speak the love of all articulate beings? Feelest though not the inanimate winds enamoured of thee? List!" [Music Act II Scene 5 "Prometheus Unbound"]
Greeff, Charles A. , circa 1950.
Biographical / Historical

Greeff was Curtis's investment advisor from 1935 - 1958

Hofmann, Josef , 1926 May.
General

Inscribed "To my esteemed friend Edward Bok / Who brought sweet music into the wilderness / Josef Hofmann / Merion, in May, 1926"

Menotti, Gian Carlo, 1933.
General

Inscribed "To Amelia's godmother with love / Gian-Carlo / Camden 1935"

Scalero, Rosario, 1950 December.
General

Inscribed "To Mary and Efrem Zimbalist All my love to your boys / Rosario Scalero / December 1950

Commencement , 1938 May 17.
Biographical / Historical

Left to right: Mary Louise Curtis Bok, Cary Bok, Ernst Lert, Carl Bowman, and Jorge Bolet in Curtis Hall (now Field Concert Hall)

Curtis String Quartet , circa 1941.
Biographical / Historical

Members of the CSQ mingle after a performance in Captain Eell's Boat Barn in Rockport, ME. Left to right: Max Aronoff, Jascha Brodsky, Lea Luboshutz, Carlos Salzedo, Randall Thompson, Orlando Cole, and Charles Jaffe

Mary Louise Curtis Bok Zimbalist, E. Power Biggs, and Paul Callaway, circa 1960.
Biographical / Historical

Likely taken at the world premiere of Samuel Barber's Toccata Festiva in 1960 in which Callaway played the solo organ part with the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Eugene Ormandy

Season Premiere Gala, 2007 November 5.
Biographical / Historical

Left to right: Gerry Lenfest, A. Margaret Bok, and Ned Montgomery at the Bellevue in Philadelphia

Oil on board portrait of Mary Louise Curtis Bok in traditional Chinese dress, 1918.

The Hunting Song / F. Mendelssohn (composer) / La Jongleuse / M. Moszkowski (composer) / Josef Hofmann (pianist), circa 1930s.
Biographical / Historical

Recorded at Carnegie Hall

Prelude in C# Minor / S. Rachmaninoff (composer) / Josef Hofmann (pianist), circa 1930s.
Biographical / Historical

Recorded at Carnegie Hall

Excerpts from Amelia Goes to the Ball / GC Menotti (composer) / Curtis Symphony Orchestra / Sylvan Levin (conductor), 1937 May 2.
Biographical / Historical

Composed by Curtis alum Gian-Carlo Menotti (Composing '34), this opera had its world premiere at the Academy of Music on 1 April 1937 with the Curtis Symphoy Orchestra under Fritz Reiner

Scope and Contents

  1. Margaret Daum (Amelia)
  2. William Martin (The Lover)
  3. Conrad Mayo (The Husband)
  4. Elise MacFarlane (friend)
  5. Charlotte Daniels (maid)
  6. Wilburta Horn (maid)
Scope and Contents

  1. Opening and closing announcements
  2. Overture
  3. Duet for soprano and alto
  4. Amelia's aria
  5. Duettino
  6. The Prayer
  7. Tenor aria
  8. Trio
  9. Fugue and finale
Amelia's Aria from Amelia Goes to the Ball / GC Menotti (composer) / Rêves and Chansom Italienne / Ravel (composer) / Addio from La Boheme / Puccini (composer), circa 1937.
Symphony in One Movement / S. Barber (composer) / NBC Symphony / Artur Rodzinski (conductor), 1938 April 21.
The Old Maid and the Thief / GC Menotti (composer) / Philadelphia Opera Company , 1941 February 11.
Biographical / Historical

Composed by Curtis alum Gian-Carlo Menotti (Composing '34), this one act opera, performed by the Philadelphia Opera Company, likely featured Curtis students due to the then newly formed collaborative relationship between the two organizations. This was the premiere of the theatrical version; Menotti wrote the original for the radio which premiered in 1939

Scope and Contents

  1. Gabrielle Hunt (Miss Todd Old Maid)
  2. Robert Gay (Wanderer Thief)
  3. Frances Greer (Laetitia Miss Todd's Maid)
  4. Hilda Morse (Miss Pinkerton Miss Todd's Spinster Neighbor)
Piece for Flute / E. Zimbalist (composer) / Nancy Palleson (flautist), circa 1958.
Biographical / Historical

Nancy Palleson (Flute '58) was a Curtis student

Maurizio Pollini recital, 1970 January 18.
Box 6
Biographical / Historical

Performed at Curtis Hall (now Field Concert Hall) during Curtis's 46th season

Scope and Contents

  1. Phantasie in C "Wanderer", D760 (Schubert)
  2. Sonata in B flat minor, Opus 35 (Chopin)
Commencement, 1957 May 11.
Box 6
Commencement, 1970 May 18.
Box 6
Biographical / Historical

  1. Rudolf Serkin
  2. Mr. Bok
  3. Pablo Casals
Zimbalist memorial, 1985 April 1.
Box 6
Biographical / Historical

Held at Curtis Hall (now Field Concert Hall)

Pugnani, Beethoven, Zimbalist, undated.
Box 6
Scope and Contents

  1. Sonata in E Major for Violin and Piano (Pugnani-Zimbalist)
  2. Sonata in C Minor for Violin and Piano (Beethoven)
  3. Sonata in G Minor for Violin and Piano (Zimbalist)
  4. Improvisation on a Japanese Tune (Zimbalist)
  5. Concert Phantasy on Rimsky-Korsakov's 'Le coq d'or' (Zimbalist)
Biographical / Historical

  1. Toshiya Eto, violin
  2. Vladimir Sokoloff, piano

Held at Curtis Hall (now Field Concert Hall)

Zimbalist violin music, circa 1930s.
Box 6
Scope and Contents

  1. Legende with Ludsky (Wieniawski)
  2. Souvenir with Ludsky (Drdla)
  3. The Nile with Alma Gluck
  4. The Lost Chord with Alma Gluck
  5. God Be With You Until We Meet Again with Alma Gluck
  6. Chant Negre
  7. The Guitarist with Emanuel Bay (Drdla)
  8. Gypsy Love Song with Emanuel Bay (Herbert)
Performance with the Boston Symphony, 1946 March 30.
Box 6
Scope and Contents

  1. Don Juan (Strauss)
  2. Khowantchina (Moussorgsky)
  3. Hymn and Fuguing Tune No. 2 (Cowell)
  4. Violin Concerto (Brahms)
Sonatas for Violin, 1976.
Scope and Contents

Also features Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. and Roy Malan

Zimbalist & Brahms, undated.
Box 6
Scope and Contents

  1. Miniatures and Impressions for Piano and String Quartet (Zimbalist)
    2. Piano Quintet in F Minor Opus 34 (Brahms)
Biographical / Historical

Held at the Reno Notary Club, Reno NV.

Speech by Martha Davenport .
Box 6
Luncheon .
Box 6
Zimbalist interview.
Box 6
Scope and Contents

with Nancy Zimbalist and Vladimir Sokoloff

Procession of the Birth-day Congratulators for Mrs. Mary Louise Curtis Bok by William Strasser, 1935.
Box 6
Biographical / Historical

In 1928 Josef Hofmann, director of the Curtis Institute of Music (1927-1938), appointed Strasser as a consultant to the library, where he worked as a translator, arranger, orchestrator, and editor until 1942.

Related Materials

William Strasser papers (MSS 35)

Musical Courier, 1937 May 8.
Box 6
Scope and Contents

Honoring the 'Golden Jubilee' of pianist and Curtis director Josef Hofmann

MLCB Curtis class notebook , 1942-1943.
Box 6
Scope and Contents

Kept by MLCB while sitting in on her friend Edith Evans Braun's Elements of Music class at Curtis.

Conditions Governing Use

Fragile

Photostat copy of Happy Birthday to Mary composition / book , 1951 August 6.
Box 6
Biographical / Historical
  1. This birthday album celebrates Mary Louise Curtis Bok Zimbalist (1876-1970), founder of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia in 1924. Well-known alumni of the Curtis Institute include Samuel Barber, Leonard Bernstein, Menotti and Gary Graffmann, some of whom are included in this album. (Mary Curtis married Edward Bok in 1896 and the composer and violinist Efrem Zimbalist in 1943; for a photograph of her, see The New Grove, xix, 555.) Barber, an autograph title page to the whole album ("Happy Birthday to Mary"), containing a setting of twenty-five of the composers names, to the tune of "Happy Birthday", signed ("Sam"), dated Capricorn, August 6, 1951; Bloch, a setting inscribed "With my gratitude for all what you did for America--and for the publication of the extraordinary Burrell collection...Ernest Bloch, Berkeley, August 6, 1951"; Copland, "Passacaglia theme", based on the pitches of the tune, Tanglewood, 1951; Hindemith, a collage of cuttings from printed musical scores, laid down in the album, with the notes picked out from the cuttings, signed "Paul Hindemith" in black ink; Honegger, a four-part setting for "Big Chorus", signed ("AHonegger, Paris, 6 Aout 1951"); Martinu, a 21-bar setting for "Soli", in 48/64 time, marked "as fast as possible" and signed "B.Martinu...New York 1951"; Poulenc, a setting for voice and piano, written in blue ink, the words in English, and inscribed "'Happy Birthday Mrs Zimbalist' avec les respectueux compliments de Francis Poulenc...6 Août 1951"; Stravinsky, a two-part canon notated in 3/2, signed and inscribed "Happy Birthday to Mary Curtis Zimbalist for her August 6, 1951 anniversary", Vaughan Williams, a setting on two staves, with the tune in the bass, signed and dated "with kind regards RVaughanWilliams June 20th 1951", altered by him to "Aug 6th"); Villa-Lobos, a setting signed and inscribed in black ink ("Harmonization by H. Villa-Lobos, Rio de Janeiro, August, 1951"), Walton, a setting of the words, to the tune of "The Stars and Stripes." The short work by Stravinsky has not been published in this form before: a preliminary version in 3/4 time, sent in response a request from Samuel Barber, appears in Selected Correspondence, vol. 3, p.388n. (with the composer's admonition that it would be "better in 6/4"); however, this definitive version notated in 3/2 time, is apparently hitherto unknown. It is distinct from the "Greetings Prelude" composed for Pierre Monteux's 80th birthday in 1955. (Sotheby's Music and Continental Books and Manuscripts auction catalogue, London, 29 May 2012)
Biographical / Historical

http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2012/music-and-continental-books-manuscripts/lot.1.html

Letter and Certificate of Registration of Claim for copyright for Happy Birthday to Mary , 1952 January 3.
Box 6
Scope and Contents

Issued to Mary Louise Curtis Bok Zimbalist

Elegie pour Deux Pianos by Francis Poulenc (score), 1960.
Box 6
Four Songs by Efrem Zimbalist (score), 1979.
Box 6
Biographical / Historical

Zimbalist dedicated one of the pieces, Soft Wings, to Vladimir Sokoloff. Sokoloff, Curtis alum and longtime faculty member, was nicknamed Billy

General

Inscribed "To Stormy with love and affection, Billy"

Day book, 1979 January-1980 January .
Box 6
Scope and Contents

Personal journal with some Curtis-related information

Mrs. Cary William Bok Fellowship commemorative plaque, February 2000.
Box 6

Print, Suggest