Research Catalog

Title

Dean Dixon papers, 1939-1979 (bulk 1950-1976).

Author

Dixon, Dean, 1915-1976.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

9.1 lin. ft. (12 boxes)

Summary

• The Dean Dixon papers reflect Dixon's career as a conductor of philharmonic orchestras, and is particularly strong for the years he worked in Europe (1950s-1960s) and his American tours in the early 1970s.
• The collection consists of personal papers including biographical articles and a series of interviews conducted by journalist Kaj Kristoffersen in 1970. The Correspondence files discuss primarily music related topics with friends and associates from the United States and Europe. The correspondence also concerns Dixon's recordings, invitations to guest conduct university and other orchestras, and honorary awards (1960s-1970s).
• Other files pertain to Dixon's position as an orchestra conductor. His 1944 essay described his founding and operation of the All-American Youth Orchestra in New York City. Also included in the collection are his concert itineraries and touring schedules for 1964-1975 during the period that he was the music director of Hessischer Rundfunk Sinfonie in Frankfurt, Germany. Dixon maintained detailed files of his repertoire including works he had performed and intended to perform, 1961-1973. There is also correspondence with two managers Dixon hired for his extensive touring schedule, and for the 1950s-1970s detailed itineraries, typed programs, and contracts provide additional information. His tour to the United States included conducting the Young People's Concert for the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. The verbatim script (the concert was filmed) for this teaching experience, which was filmed, is part of this series.
• The Dixon papers encompass printed programs featuring concerts Dixon conducted both as head and guest conductor. The programs cover performances in Europe, the United States, Japan, Israel, and Australia, 1939-1976 (bulk 1950s-1970s).
• The recordings made while conducting in Europe are documented via agreements, interviews, and correspondence. The collection also includes a vast number of reviews and feature articles about Dixon, 1939-1979, and scrapbooks of newsclippings and photographs document his tours conducting Sydney's Symphony Orchestra in 1962 and 1966 and as its musical director in 1967. Publicity files primarily concern the planning of Dixon's American tours in 1970-1972.
• Dixon's role in music education is documented by his evaluations of numerous international students he taught for the Stitching Nederlandsche Radio Unie in Holland in 1963 and again in 1971.
• Some of the printed matters and letters are written in German, Dutch and Czech.

Subjects

• Symphony orchestras > Germany
• African Americans > Music
• Black author
• Sydney Symphony Orchestra
• Interviews
• Music > Instruction and study
• Conducting
• Dixon, Dean, 1915-1976
• Conductors (Music)
• New York Philharmonic
• Symphony orchestras > Australia
• Itineraries
• Symphony orchestras > United States
• Reviews
• Programs
• Scrapbooks
• Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt
• African American conductors (Music)
• Symphony orchestras > Europe
• Orchestra
• All-American Youth Orchestra

Genre/Form

• Scrapbooks.
• Reviews.
• Itineraries.
• Programs.
• Interviews.

Note

• Record albums, reel to reel tapes and film transferred to Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division.
• Photographs transferred to Photographs and Prints Division.

Source (note)

• Ritha Dixon

Biography (note)

• Dean Dixon was a distinguished conductor of symphonic orchestras in the United States, Europe, Australia, and Asia, and guest conducted virtually all of the leading orchestras on four continents.
• Born in Harlem, Dixon was graduated from the Juilliard Institute of Musical Art, Julliard Graduate School and Columbia University Teachers College (1936-1939). In 1942, he made his debut as guest conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, thereby becoming the first Black person to conduct this major orchestra. Unable to secure a permanent position in the United States due to racial discrimination, Dixon went to Paris in 1949, at the invitation of the National Orchestra of Radio France. In 1953 he was appointed chief conductor of the Göteborg Symphony Orchestra in Sweden, a position he held until 1960.
• Between 1960 and 1974 Dixon served as the music director of the Hessischer Rundfunk Sinfonie (Radio Symphony Orchestra) in Frankfurt, Germany. During this period he held two posts simultaneously, as he was also the principal conductor of Australia's Sydney Symphony Orchestra from 1964 to 1967. Dixon ended his twenty-one year self-imposed exile in 1970 and visited the United States to guest conduct the New York Philharmonic as well as other orchestras throughout the United States. He toured widely during the 1960s and the 1970s as a guest conductor for major symphony and radio orchestras in Europe, the United States, the Far East, and Latin America. Dean Dixon died in 1976 in Switzerland, world renowned yet virtually unknown in his own country.

Call Number

Sc MG 324

OCLC

122517335

Author

Dixon, Dean, 1915-1976.

Title

Dean Dixon papers, 1939-1979 (bulk 1950-1976).

Biography

Dean Dixon was a distinguished conductor of symphonic orchestras in the United States, Europe, Australia, and Asia, and guest conducted virtually all of the leading orchestras on four continents.

Born in Harlem, Dixon was graduated from the Juilliard Institute of Musical Art, Julliard Graduate School and Columbia University Teachers College (1936-1939). In 1942, he made his debut as guest conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, thereby becoming the first Black person to conduct this major orchestra. Unable to secure a permanent position in the United States due to racial discrimination, Dixon went to Paris in 1949, at the invitation of the National Orchestra of Radio France. In 1953 he was appointed chief conductor of the Göteborg Symphony Orchestra in Sweden, a position he held until 1960.

Between 1960 and 1974 Dixon served as the music director of the Hessischer Rundfunk Sinfonie (Radio Symphony Orchestra) in Frankfurt, Germany. During this period he held two posts simultaneously, as he was also the principal conductor of Australia's Sydney Symphony Orchestra from 1964 to 1967. Dixon ended his twenty-one year self-imposed exile in 1970 and visited the United States to guest conduct the New York Philharmonic as well as other orchestras throughout the United States. He toured widely during the 1960s and the 1970s as a guest conductor for major symphony and radio orchestras in Europe, the United States, the Far East, and Latin America. Dean Dixon died in 1976 in Switzerland, world renowned yet virtually unknown in his own country.

Connect to:

Finding Aid

Local Subject

Black author.

Research Call Number

Sc MG 324