JOHANNES RIEDEL:

Correspondence, newspaper clippings, interviews, lectures, grant proposals, concert programs, television program scripts and recordings, sheet music, and audio materials documenting the work of Johannes Riedel, professor of music at the University of Minnesota.

The bulk of the paper materials is related to a project Riedel directed entitled "Discovering Southwestern Minnesota through Music," (September 1973 March 1974). Papers related to this project include correspondence, newspaper clippings, project statistics, lecture and interview notes, and Riedel's biographical data. The project consisted of a series of interviews conducted in the communities of Pipestone, Luverne, Marshall, and Worthington, Minnesota; a mini lecture and recital series in Pipestone (November 11, 1973), Luverne (January 28, 1974), and Marshall (February 11, 1974); and a concert/conference in Worthington, Minnesota (March 4, 1974).

The project's objectives, procedures, and format were adapted for another proposed project entitled "Discovering Minnesota Through Music" (1974 1976) which was an effort to articulate musical profiles of the entire state on regional and statewide bases. Correspondence and grant proposals related to this second project are also included.

Pieces of music written by Minnesotan composers including Harry Tierney (1915), Stephen Paulus (undated), Elizabeth Larsen (1973), Charles R. McHugh (1974), and Maud Miller Stevenson (1934 and 1942) are included, as well as three student papers (undated, 1956, 1961) discussing the life and career of Ross Lee Finney.

Other papers include several concert programs from the Charles Ives festival in Minnesota (1970, 1971, 1974), which Riedel directed; a handwritten Riedel lecture discussing Minnesota's Singelust culture (1976); as well as handwritten scripts and video recordings of television programs (January March 1976) entitled "Music in Minnesota," written by Riedel.

Audio recordings consist of interviews and performances, materials related to the New Riverside Cafe, Native American performances, and folk music. This series contains performances in a variety of languages including Czech, Danish, English, Finnish, German, Irish, Norwegian, Ojibwa and Swedish. The interviews and performances include many individuals who are either musicians or music teachers and many are noted as being from Marshall and Luverne, Minnesota. The interviews were likely gathered for the "Discovering Southwestern Minnesota Through Music" project. Performances include interviewees, church groups, and musicians who performed at Walker Art Center's New Music Festival in 1980. New Riverside Cafe recordings consist of a public meeting about the demolition of the cafe, interviews, and performances. The Native American and folk music recordings include many performers and a variety of songs and dances.

Scope and contents originally written by Frank Hennessy in August 1991 and revised by Karen Obermeyer-Kolb in June 2019.

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Access Restrictions:

The audio and video recordings in copyright in this collection are not available online, but can be accessed upon request for use in the Gale Family Library reading room. Please consult reference staff for more information.

Use Restrictions:

Minnesota in Music video recordings, interview with Johannes Riedel, interview with Ernst Krenek, and New Music America audio recordings are in copyright. Please consult the reference staff for more information.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Johannes Riedel Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 14,511; AV1986.92

Location of Master Files:

Digital masters of the audiovisual material are maintained on the Society's secure digital collections storage servers and are managed and preserved in accordance with archival best practices.

The original audio reels, audiocassettes and videocassettes were disposed after they were digitally reformatted into digital MOV and WAV files.

Processing Information:

Digital audiovisual files transferred from the master audio reels, audiocassettes and videocassettes by the Minnesota Historical Society for preservation purposes (May, 2019).

Catalog ID number: 990017148600104294

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Concerts -- Minnesota.

Music -- Minnesota.

Music festivals -- Minnesota.

Musicology -- Minnesota.

Persons:

Finney, Ross Lee, 1906-1997.

Ives, Charles, 1874-1954.

Larsen, Elizabeth, author.

McHugh, Charles R., author.

Paulus, Stephen, author.

Stevenson, Maude Miller, author.

Tierney, Harry, author.

Organizations:

Discovering Southwestern Minnesota Through Music (1973-1974 : Pipestone, Minnesota, etc.)

Ives at Minnesota (1970-1971)

Minnesota Centennial Ives Festival (1974)

Places:

Luverne (Minn.) -- Songs and music.

Marshall (Minn.) -- Songs and music.

Nobles County (Minn.) -- Songs and music.

Pipestone (Minn.) -- Songs and music.

Pipestone County (Minn.) -- Songs and music.

Rock County (Minn.) -- Songs and music.

Worthington (Minn.) -- Songs and music.

Document Types:

Audio recordings.

Correspondence.

Interviews.

Sheet music.

Video recordings.

Occupations:

Musicians -- Minnesota.

Musicologists -- Minnesota.

Titles:

Music in Minnesota (Television program)

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