This series consists of musical and personal memorabilia that Davis collected over the course of his life. This series primarily includes souvenir programs and ticket stubs, photographs, and scores that Davis owned. Davis collected a number of souvenir programs and ticket stubs for a range of musical, operatic, and theatrical performances. These materials mainly date from the 1950s through to the 1980s and were primarily collected during Davis's travels in Europe. However, there are some programs from the 1950s and 1960s that were collected from performances in the United States of America (primarily around Boston, and New York). Many of these programs were held in a ring-bound scrapbook kept by Davis, where they were taped to lined paper containing Davis's handwritten annotations on the performance. This series contains full programs for a number of major international Classical music festivals (the Bayreuth Festspiele, the Salzburger Festspiele, the Spoleto Festival, the Edinburgh International Festival). Other institutions that are significantly represented include the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Staatstheater Stuttgart, the Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala, Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the New England Opera Theater.
Additionally, this series contains photographs collected by Davis: photographs of Davis himself, of various musical figures (composers and singers), of Davis's personal acquaintances, and of the 1965 recording of Mahler's Symphony No.10 at Columbia Records (which Davis attended). This series also contains an autographed portrait of soprano Lisa Della Casa. Note that photographs collected for publication in The American Opera Singer were largely kept separate by Davis and have been filed under the series relating to that monograph. This series also includes two published scores that Davis kept in his papers (an annotated score of songs by Carl Loewe, a score of Tobias Picker's String Quartet with Bass), and cassette tapes of various radio broadcasts.
Box 16
Photocopy of a manuscript of Tobias Picker's String Quartet with Bass, 1988, 1 boxes
Box 21 Item 8
Act IV of Giuseppe Verdi's Il trovatore, Metropolitan Opera, 1/21/1989, 1989, 1 audiocassettes
Box 21 Item 8
Interview (not conducted by Davis) with Rosa Ponselle, "Verdi the Dramatist," Jerome Hines singing "Ella giammai m'amo" from Verdi's Don Carlo in Buenos Aires, 6/6/1967, 1967, 1 audiocassettes
On side A of item 8; some illegible text on label; it is unclear if the features listed are three seperate radio broadcasts or all part of the same radio broadcast.
Box 21 Item 24
Concert Artists Guild: 1989 New York Competition Winners. Charlotte Hellekant, mezzo-soprano, and Bo Veistrup, piano: Hugo Alfvén, "Saa tag mit Hjerte"; Gustav Mahler, "Hans und Grethe." Marie-Pierre Langlament, harp: Gabriel Fauré, "Impromptu", 1989, 1 audiocassettes
Possibly on side 1 of item 24.
Box 22 Folder 1
Personal photographs, 1957, undated
Includes a photograph of Davis at the Tanglewood Summer Festival, a photograph of Davis's former partner, Jeffrey Gorney, and a signed photograph of soprano Lisa Della Casa. The latter was formerly housed in a frame and delivered in a labeled envelope. It has since been deframed; however, the envelope is included in the folder. Its label reads: "Photo of Lisa Della Casa, soprano beloved by Peter, vocal career primarily from the 1950s through the 1970s. Peter heard her in various opera houses."
Box 22 Folder 2
Photographs relating to Davis's professional activities, 1965, undated
Includes photographs of various composers and singers, photographs of Davis, photographs from the 1965 recording of Mahler's tenth symphony at Columbia Records (which Davis attended).
Box 22 Folder 3
A copy of the published score for Carl Loewe's Balladen und Lieder (New York: Peters, circa 1968), annotated by Davis, circa 1968
Annotated notes related to recordings of Loewe's lieder.
Box 22 Folder 4
Posthumous tributes to Peter Davis, 2021
Obituaries of Peter G. Davis and letters of condolence to Scott Parris.
Box 22 Folder 5-6
Souvenir programs from Europe, 1985-1988, 2 folders
Some programs are interleaved with loose ticket stubs and/or correspondence. Contains programs from the Schubertiade Hohentems, Teatro di San Carlo, Bayerische Staatsoper.
Box 23 Folder 1-4
Souvenir programs from Europe, 1953-1955, 1957-1959, 4 folders
Some programs are interleaved with loose ticket stubs and/or correspondence. Contains programs from the Spoleto Festival, Berlin Philharmonic, Teatro alla Scala, Staatstheater Stuttgart, Bayerische Staatsoper, Wiener Staatsoper, Salzburger Festspiele, among others. Folder labeled 1953-1955 includes a playbill for the musical The Boy Friend at the Royale Theatre, New York; the first folder labeled 1957-1959 includes programs for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Opera Guide Theater Company, and the Lowell House Music Society.
Box 24 Folder 1-5
Souvenir programs from Europe, 1957-1959, 1961-1962, 1965-1966, 5 folders
Some programs are interleaved with loose ticket stubs and/or correspondence. Contains a complete set of programs from the 1962 Bayreuth Festspiele, individual programs from the Royal Opera House, Theater an der Wien, Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala, Edinburgh International Festival, Bayreuth Festspiele, Arena di Verona, Bayerishe Staatsoper, Wurtembergische Staatsoper, among others.
Box 25 Folder 1
Souvenir programs from Europe, 1972
Program for the 1972 Salzburger Festpiele.
Box 25 Folder 2-4
Scrapbook of annotated programs and ticket stubs, 1912-1913, 1951-1955, 1957-1959, 3 folders
These were originally held together in three ring-binders (corresponding to the three folders that now house them). Consists of programs and ticket stubs, each taped to a sheet of ring-binder paper containing annotations by Davis. The folder labeled "1953-1955" contains loose, unannotated programs and an envelope of loose ticket stubs that were found in the scrapbook. The folder labeled "1912-1913, 1951-1953, 1955, 1957-1959" also contains correspondence (in German), programs of Davis's performances at Belmont Hill School and at Harvard College, and a program of the 1912-1913 Boston Opera House season. Institutions featured include the Sadlers Wells Ballet, New England Opera Theater, New Century Theater, Plymouth Theater, Jordan Hall, Colonial Theater, Boston Symphony, Symphony Hall, Wilbur Theater, Schubert Theater, New York City Ballet, Majestic Theater, New England Conservatory of Music, New York City Opera, Belmont Hill School, and Harvard College. Includes programs for opera, ballet, operetta, chamber music, symphonic music, spoken theater, and musical theater.
Box 25 Folder 5
Material relating to the death of Jan DeGaetani, 1991-1992
Includes programs for memorial concerts, obituaries, correspondence regarding her death.