Leyna Gabriele papers, 1940-2016
Summary Information
Abstract
At a Glance
- Call No.:
- MS#2080
- Bib ID:
- 15874321 View CLIO record
- Creator(s):
- Gabriele, Leyna
- Repository:
- Rare Book and Manuscript Library
- Physical Description:
- 19.5 Linear Feet ( 24 manuscript boxes, 3 oversized flat boxes, one 12-inch phonograph record case, and one map case folder)
- Language(s):
- The bulk of the documents and audiovisual material are in English. Gabriele was born to an Italian family and spent time living and working in Italy; thus many print materials are written in Italian, including correspondence, clippings, programs, and administrative documents. Although many of the operas that Gabriele performed or directed were in English or English translation, Series I and II contain annotated scores and libretti for these operas in their original languages (Italian and German). The recordings may contain music sung in a range of languages, including German, Italian, French, Hungarian and Greek.
- Access:
- You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
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This collection has no restrictions.
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. One oversized folder is located in a map case on site.
Description
Scope and Contents
The Leyna Gabriele papers comprise a range of print and audiovisual materials relating to Gabriele's professional, personal, and social life - both in the United States and in Europe. The collection covers a broad spectrum of professional activities, with materials relating to her work as a singer (in recital, opera, concert, and oratorio, for various opera companies, orchestras, and talent agencies, in venues across the United States, Italy, and Switzerland), director (for Masterworks Laboratory Theater, SUNY Purchase Opera Workshop, Princeton Opera Workshop, and Giovanetti Opera), teacher (at Masterworks Laboratory Theater, SUNY Purchase, and Queens College CUNY), and restaurateur (at the New York City restaurant and nightclub Chez Vito). This collection also contains personal materials relating to Gabriele's marriage to Chez Vito proprietor Vito Pisa (material relating to her second marriage, to John Weber, is minimal); her personal friendships with colleagues, students, and restaurant patrons; and her familial and cultural connections to Italy.
This collection comprises various types of documents: personal and professional correspondence; publicity materials and press clippings of reviews and articles regarding Gabriele's vocal performances, her directing, and her work at Chez Vito; administrative and production documents and programs for performances that she directed, produced, or sang in, and for performances by Gabriele's friends and colleagues; and directing and teaching notebooks. The collection also contains a number of photographs in a range of sizes and formats. These photographs provide a visual record of Gabriele's recitals; operas and stage performances starring Gabriele; operas that Gabriele directed; Masterworks Laboratory Theater productions; performances, staff, and guests at Chez Vito; Gabriele's private life with Vito Pisa; her early education; and her transatlantic travels. There are also several oversized materials, including theatrical posters (from performances that Gabriele directed or sang in, and others), and stage props from operas that Gabriele directed. Over a hundred audio recordings in a range of formats cover the full length and breadth of Gabriele's career. Many recordings relate to Douglas Moore's opera The Ballad of Baby Doe including full, unreleased recordings of Gabriele's performances of the opera, and recordings of Gabriele speaking at conferences and on panels about the work. Finally, there is a small amount of moving image content.
This collection also includes a number of musical scores of various sizes and formats, including: parts and full scores of arrangements performed in Chez Vito and on its commercially produced LPs; piano-vocal scores of operas that Gabriele performed, premiered, or directed (some annotated); scores for songs or song cycles by Gabriele's contemporaries that she premiered, recorded, or workshopped; and a full score, piano-vocal score, and parts for Andrew Barton's The Disappointment (arranged by Stanley Sonntag), a 1767 ballad opera which Gabriele helped to reconstruct. Many of these scores are annotated with English translations of the original libretti (generally the translations used in performance), with production notes, and sometimes with musical notes or corrections.
Collection material from Gabriele's social and professional life includes disrespectful and inaccurate representations of Asian cultures and people. Gabriele uncritically perpetuated an orientalist tradition in opera, engaging in exoticizing portrayals of non-Western cultures that have long been inherent in operatic aesthetics. Her 1985 production of Madama Butterfly at SUNY Purchase (which is extensively documented in this collection) included racist stereotypes of Japanese culture, featuring non-Asian singers wearing costumes and makeup that demean people of Japanese descent and a production design that caricatured Japanese architectural traditions. Writings about this opera (by Gabriele, her collaborators, colleagues, and the press) discuss Asian cultures in a discriminatory and degrading manner. While these anti-Asian tropes are not atypical of productions of Puccini's opera (which, despite its claims to "authenticity," is inherently racist in its portrayal of Japan), Gabriele staged a number of works over the course of her career which center orientalist depictions of other cultures (such as L'oca del Cairo and Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Mozart operas denigrating Roma and Middle Eastern cultures respectively). Furthermore, photographs among Gabriele's personal papers show the singer and her friends in clothing and makeup that mocks and appropriates Asian cultural heritage, indicating that her engagement with harmful orientalist tropes extended beyond the stage. In her writings, Gabriele also repeatedly expressed discriminatory views about disability, weight, and other aspects of appearance.
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Series I: Vocal career, 1945-2012
Series I contains material relating to Gabriele's career as a freelance singer from the 1940s through the 1970s. The series covers a range of opera, recital, and concert performances both in the United States and in Europe (with Gabriele's Italian performances particularly well represented). The bulk of this series consists of programs, publicity material, and press clippings relating to these performances, but also includes correspondence, administrative documents, photographs, sheet music, and some recordings. Scores in this series (many of which are annotated) document her collaborations with a number of contemporary American and Italian composers, including Douglas Moore, Jack Beeson, David Amram, and Vincent Persichetti. Notable performances featured in this series include Gabriele's early recital work in West Virginia in the 1940s, her 1958 recital at the New York Town Hall, her performances at Central City Opera and other regional opera houses, and her 1959 performance of La bohème at the Teatro di San Carlo. Notably, this series features a number of rare, unreleased recordings of Gabriele's opera and concert performances (including world premieres) and also recordings of Gabriele's singing lessons with Laszlo Halasz. Note that although Gabriele sang in recitals and operas with the Masterworks Laboratory Theater, these materials are held under Series II, alongside documents relating to her directorial work. And although Gabriele performed frequently at Chez Vito, this facet of her vocal career is housed under Series III.
This series contains a wide range of material (press clippings, promotional material, programs, correspondence) relating to Gabriele's performance in Douglas Moore's The Ballad of Baby Doe - both at its Central City Opera premiere in 1956 and its subsequent revival in Stanford, California. The opera gained a cult following in the wake of its premiere, spawning a passionate fandom known as the "Doeheads." Gabriele was heavily involved in the "Doehead" community attending almost every subsequent production of the opera on the American continent, talking on panels about the opera, hosting "Doehead" parties, and corresponding with her fans about her performance. These "Doehead" materials are well represented in this series (including programs, press clippings, promotional material, correspondence, administrative documents), and provide insight into the performance and reception history of Moore's opera. Gabriele also collected material relating to the life of the real Baby Doe Tabor (books, articles, etc.), all of which are included in this series. This series not only contains recordings of Gabriele performing The Ballad of Baby Doe, but also of various conferences, panels, and events relating to the opera.
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Series II: Masterworks Laboratory Theater and "Acting in Opera", 1964-2015 (bulk 1964-2004)
Series II comprises material relating to Gabriele's interest in the development of acting techniques for opera singers This series documents Gabriele's various forays - vocal, directorial, and pedagogical - into operatic method acting, including her work with Masterworks Laboratory Theater and the Actors Studio, as well as her other directorial work (with Princeton Opera Workshop, on The Disappointment, and with Giovanetti Opera). It contains production documents, publicity materials, press clippings, notebooks, photographs, scripts, recordings, and scores relating to the Masterworks Laboratory Theater (including the production of La Traviata), the Princeton and SUNY Purchase opera workshops, and other pedagogical and/or directorial endeavors. Gabriele's pedagogical work at SUNY Purchase (and, to a lesser extent, Queens College, CUNY) is a major component of this series, represented in notebooks, course documents, workshop handouts, and materials relating to the performance of opera scenes by Gabriele's students. This series also contains material relating to Gabriele's 1976 manifesto, "Why Can't Opera Singers Act?: Acting in Opera - The Fourth Dimension," co-written with Walt Witcover. A number of Gabriele's productions are featured in this series, but her stagings of Madama Butterfly (SUNY Purchase), Bastien und Bastienne and L'oca del Cairo (Masterworks Laboratory Theater), Ariadne auf Naxos (Giovanetti Opera), and The Disappointment (various venues) are particularly well represented. This series includes annotated scores for many of the operas that Gabriele directed, including a full score, piano-vocal score, and parts for a reconstruction of Andrew Barton's The Disappointment. Many of the productions featured in this series have audio and visual documentation, including recordings of productions at Masterworks Laboratory Theater and at SUNY Purchase, and photographs of productions that Gabriele directed or starred in.
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Series III: Chez Vito, 1953-2000 (bulk 1953-1978)
Series III comprises material relating to Gabriele's marriage to Vito Pisa, and her performances at his New York restaurant (across both its locations), Chez Vito, which she inherited and managed after his death. At Chez Vito, the divide between Gabriele's personal and professional life was blurred: although she started out at the restaurant as a part-time employee, Gabriele's marriage to Pisa placed the restaurant at the center of both her social and professional life. This series primarily comprises press clippings, photographs, and correspondence documenting Gabriele's life at Chez Vito as a performer, restaurateur, socialite, and wife. It also includes a copy of the original menu, promotional materials produced for the restaurant, recordings of Gabriele and the Chez Vito band, administrative documents, and score of arrangements performed at the restaurant and on its recordings. Notably, the series documents the private lives of Gabriele and Pisa, including photographs of their wedding, vacations, pets, and yacht. This series includes a number of recordings related to life at Chez Vito, including professionally produced LPs and other private recordings.
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Series IV: Personal memorabilia, 1940-2016
Series IV comprises a range of personal memorabilia including correspondence with friends and family, a copy of Gabriele's autobiography, material (documents and recordings) relating to performances by Gabriele's students and colleagues, photographs from Gabriele's travels, and materials relating to Gabriele's early, non-musical education (materials relating to Gabriele's vocal education, including recordings of singing lessons, are included in Series I). Gabriele kept many personal documents relating to her marriage to Vito Pisa; however, because these documents intersect so closely with her career at Chez Vito, these have been filed under Series III. This series closely documents Gabriele's social relationships both with the broader operatic community, but also with Italian and Italian-American culture.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged into four series. These series generally maintain Gabriele's original order of materials and are arranged primarily according to activity. Although Gabriele generally avoided chronological organization, in some cases, materials relating to different activities (opera productions, recitals, workshops) that occurred in a similar time period were grouped together: these loose chronological groupings have been maintained.
Gabriele arranged some material by format. Scores were generally grouped together, with scores relating to the same or similar projects kept separately from other related print material. Recordings and photographs, too, were often kept separately from print documents relating to the same project or activity. This collection generally maintains these separate groupings.
In some cases, groupings of material relating to the same activity were found in multiple places in the original organization of Gabriele's collection (for example, materials relating to Chez Vito were found across several boxes, often in small groupings, and often stored alongside other unrelated material). In these cases, the materials have been grouped together by the archivist, but retained in separate folders in order to maintain Gabriele's division of materials.
In some cases, labels or track lists on reels, tapes, or compact disks indicate that they may contain material relevant to multiple series. These items are stored in the series that appears most salient to the content of the recording. Similarly, there are a number of ambiguous or unlabeled recordings: these are in Series IV.
- Series I: Vocal career, 1945-2012
- Series II: Masterworks Laboratory Theater and "Acting in Opera", 1964-2015 (bulk 1964-2004)
- Series III: Chez Vito, 1953-2000 (bulk 1953-1978)
- Series IV: Personal memorabilia, 1940-2016
Using the Collection
Conditions Governing Access
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
This collection has no restrictions.
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. One oversized folder is located in a map case on site.
Conditions Governing Use
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Preferred Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Leyna Gabriele Papers; Box and Folder (if known); Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Related Materials
The Leyna Gabriele papers resonate strongly with a number of other collections at the RBML. Gabriele collaborated with a number of composers whose papers are held at the RBML, including Douglas Moore (MS#0896), Jack Beeson (MS#0097), and Peter G. Davis (MS#2058). Although Gabriele was never hired at New York City Opera (which she considered a bitter slight), she collaborated with a number of musicians who did and whose careers may be documented in the New York City Opera records (MS#1684) at the RBML (notably, Gabriele took singing lessons with László Halász, the former director of New York City Opera).
Outside of the RBML, Gabriele's collection may intersect with: the Lee Strasberg papers at the Library of Congress (which document his work at the Actors Studio); the Central City Opera House Association records and the Central City Opera Guild records at the University of Denver (which include documents relating to the premiere of The Ballad of Baby Doe); and the Richard Hughes papers at the New York Public Library (which document the early years of the Masterworks Laboratory Theater).
Custodial History
After Gabriele's passing in 2019, this material was passed down to Gabriele's niece, Michelena Hallie, who donated it to the Rare Book and Manuscript Library in 2022.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Michelena Hallie (Gabriele's niece), 2022.
About the Finding Aid / Processing Information
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Callum Blackmore (GSAS). Finding aid written by Callum Blackmore in August 2023.
The processing of this collection was made possible by a Graduate Internship in Primary Sources from Columbia Libraries.
This collection was originally housed in a variety of boxes and storage conditions, leading to some mold, deterioration, and bending--especially among the oversize materials. Standard-sized print and oversized materials have been housed in acid-free boxes and folders. The original folders were in poor condition and have been discarded, but (where necessary) any annotations or labels on the folders themselves have been transcribed in the folder description.
In some cases, thematically similar material that was originally stored over separate folders has been combined into a single folder (with the original order of documents maintained), and material that was originally stored in a single overstuffed folder has been distributed over multiple folders. Loose material has been either added to an existing folder or given its own folder.
Audiovisual materials have been mostly kept in their original containers: some items were given new cases on the rare occasion that they were found loose or in deteriorating packaging. All paper clips have been removed. Where items were in envelopes, the envelopes have been kept with the items that held them (unless these envelopes were bulky or deteriorating, in which case, any annotations on the envelope have been transcribed in the folder description). All slides have been rehoused in archival sleeves. Photos that were originally housed in non-archiva albums have been placed in folders and the original albums discarded. Many materials (such as scores and libretti) are unbound; these materials have been stored in their original order, even if they were not found in page-number order.
All annotated duplicates of print materials have been retained; excessive duplicates have been deaccessioned. If a commercially produced recording was clearly duplicated within the collection, one copy has been retained and the rest have been deaccessioned. Gabriele held 43 copies of her LP, "A Night at Chez Vito": one copy has been retained for digitization, two have been sent to the Wiener Music and Arts Library, and the rest have been deaccessioned. Labels indicate that there may be further duplicate recordings among the non-commercial recordings.
Oversized materials (such as scores and posters) and audiovisual materials (reels, tapes, cassettes, disks, etc.) have been stored separately, with their original order maintained wherever possible. In the rare case that the original order could not be maintained, these oversized and audiovisual items have been arranged according to activity, following the broad strokes of Gabriele's original organizational scheme. There were four sets of items which could not fit in flat boxes (posters, props, etc.): these have been stored in a map case.
Many recordings in Series I were originally stored in containers titled "Baby Doe" and "Baby Doe Film and DAT recordings." Recordings across all series were found in containers titled: "Reel-to-Reel Professional Recordings, 9/10/2015," and "Reel-to-Reel Tapes of Recordings, 9/10/2015: Chez Vito, Halasz etc., Recitals."
Some materials in this collection contained adhesives (such as tape or deteriorating laminations) which caused them to stick together: in these cases, the materials have been carefully separated and sheets of acid-free paper have been interleaved with them to prevent further sticking. Some of the LPs have been scratched and, in some cases, the vinyl is deteriorating: these have generally been rehoused in acid-free cases. Many documents were bent, rolled, or folded during storage: these documents have been unfolded and unfurled where possible, but may still contain bends or creases. In some cases, the paper itself is crumbling or torn, or has been stained with wet or damp. One box was found to contain mold before it could be completely surveyed. These materials will be integrated into the collection after cleaning.
Separated Materials
One box of materials has been removed for mold treatment: although this box was never fully surveyed, it was labeled "teaching materials."
Some legal and personal financial documents have been discarded for privacy concerns.
Biographical / Historical
Leyna Gabriele (1924-2019, born Lena Madalyn Gabriel, also known by her married names, Lena Pisa and Leyna Weber) was an American operatic soprano, director, pedagogue, producer, socialite, and restaurateur.
Born in Fairmont, West Virginia, to a family of working-class Italian immigrants, Gabriele began her career as an opera singer and recitalist after her graduation from Fairmont State College in 1944. After touring locally in West Virginia in the late 1940s, Gabriele broke out onto the national stage in the early 1950s, establishing a significant presence in New York State, the East Coast, and the Midwest. Gabriele had her big break when she shared the title role in the 1956 premiere of Douglas Moore's The Ballad of Baby Doe at Central City Opera in Colorado. With the success of Moore's opera, Gabriele's singing career flourished: splitting her time between Europe and the United States, she gained a particular reputation as an interpreter of contemporary music, premiering the works of several prominent American and Italian composers.
In the early 1950s, Gabriele took a side job singing at Chez Vito, a restaurant and nightclub on the Upper East Side. At Chez Vito, Gabriele, a group of male opera singers called the "Three Musketeers," and a band of violinists would roam from table to table, singing to diners as they drank cocktails and sampled the Italian gastronomy. The restaurant was a magnet for socialites, politicians, and celebrities, appearing frequently in the gossip pages of local papers (where Gabriele herself achieved a degree of notoriety). Gabriele married the restaurant's proprietor, Vito Pisa, in 1954, and took over the management of the restaurant after his death in 1966. Entertaining the restaurant's elite clientele earned Gabriele a reputation as a socialite, connecting her name with various influential figures in the New York social set. Chez Vito was not merely a restaurant but a small media empire, producing LPs and other audiovisual media to promote the dining experience. The restaurant was frequented by several prominent political and cultural figures: Judy Garland was famously ejected from the restaurant for heckling; Richard Nixon loved the restaurant so much that Pat Nixon brought Gabriele's musical act to the White House for the president's birthday ("They are not ultra-sophisticated but they are in a class of their own," the president wrote).
In the last decades of her career, Gabriele turned to issues of opera dramaturgy and pedagogy. While working as a restaurateur, Gabriele began taking classes in method acting under Walt Witcover at the Actors Studio in New York City. These classes culminated in a critically acclaimed production of La Traviata (performed in installments between 1967 and 1969) in which Gabriele sought to apply these new techniques to the role of Violetta. This operatic project spawned a new theatrical enterprise, the Masterworks Laboratory Theater (often shortened to MLT in Gabriele's papers), which brought Stanislawskian acting techniques to bear on opera and classic theater. At Masterworks Laboratory Theater, Gabriele worked as a producer, director, creative advisor, educator, and fundraiser. The troupe had a strong pedagogical outlook, seeking to train young singers in the art of Method acting. As such, Gabriele transferred this approach to the opera training program at SUNY Purchase and to the opera workshop at Princeton, teaching classes and workshops on Method acting to aspiring singers at these universities. Gabriele passed away in Tarrytown, New York, in 2019, outliving both her first husband, Vito Pisa, and her second husband, John Weber.
Subject Headings
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
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