James King papers, 1940-1999, bulk
1968-1999
A Guide to his Papers at the Indiana University Archives
Finding aid prepared by Carrie Schwier
Summary Information
Repository
Indiana University Archives
1320 East Tenth Street
Herman B Wells Library E460
Bloomington, IN 47405-7000
Phone: 812-855-1127
Email: archives@indiana.edu
http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives
Creator
King, James.
TitleJames King papers, 1940-1999, bulk
1968-1999
Collection No.
C337
Extent
6.4 cubic feet
Language
Materials are in English
Abstract
James King's career as an operatic
singer spanned a period of over three decades beginning the 1960s and continuing
into early 2000. King began his career as a baritone, but later retrained to become
a tenor. Performing throughout Europe and the United States, he was renowned for
specializing in the operas of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss. In 1984 he joined
the faculty of Indiana University as a professor of voice in the School of Music,
where he remained until 2002. Collection contains clippings, programs, posters, music, correspondence, recordings, photographs,
and notebooks all relating
primarily to his professional career as an opera singer.
Access Restrictions
Collection is open for research. Advance notice required.
Biographical Note
Born in Dodge City, Kansas on May 22, 1925, James Ambrose King began singing in
junior high at the age of 14. As a youth, he also played the violin. By the time he
had graduated from Dodge City High School, the United States had entered World War
Two and King served for two and a half years in the United States Navy Air Corps.
Upon the conclusion of the war, King studied at Louisiana State University in Baton
Rouge with Dallas Draper. During this period he studied French, German, and Italian,
and gave numerous performances in the opera department including the roles of
Valentin in
Faust, the Count in
Figaro, and other baritone roles. After receiving his Bachelor of Music
degree in 1950, he continued on to receive his Master of Arts from the University of
Kansas City in 1952 where he studied under Hardin van Deursen. Following the
completion of his studies he accepted a position as an instructor at the University
of Kentucky where he taught voice, music history courses, voice pedagogy, and
directed choirs until 1961. During this period he performed numerous operettas and
musicals, chorus parts, and small solo roles in the Kansas City Starlight
Theater.
At the age of thirty-one King began to make the difficult transition from baritone to
tenor studying under Martial Singher, the famous French baritone who was also
renowned as a teacher. In 1959, King took an eight month sabbatical and studied with
Singher in Philadelphia. The transition complete, in 1961 he entered the American
Opera Auditions at Cincinnati, and on May 19 he made his official debut singing the
tenor role of Don José in
Carmen with the Spring Opera
Theater of San Francisco opposite Marilyn Horne. When the tenor who had won the
American Opera Auditions couldn’t get out of a previous contract, King went in his
place to Florence where he performed Cavardossi in Tosca and then joined the
Deutsche Oper Berlin in 1962 where he debuted as Riccardo in
Un Ballo in Maschers, and until 1965 he performed fifty to sixty
performances a year there. In 1963 he sang his first Wagner role,
Lohengrin, and the same year he debuted as Bacchus in
Adriadne at the Vienna State Opera. In the
following years he generally conducted 15 to 20 performances annually. Other
performances followed in rapid succession including the role of Kaiser in
Die Frau Ohne Schatten at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden,
at the Salzburg Festival in
Iphigenie en Aulide and at
the Bayreuth Festival as Siegmund in
Die Walküre. After
establishing himself firmly in Germany and Austria, King returned to the United
States to make his New York Metropolitan debut as Florestan in
Fidelio.
Throughout the 1970s, King’s career continued in a similar path; he returned
regularly to the Metropolitan for roles including Siegmund, Lohengrin, Stolzing in
Die Meistersinger, Bacchus, the Kaiser, Don Jose,
and Calaf in
Turnadot. He appeared often with the San
Francisco Opera performing Manrico in
Il Trovatore,
Canio in
Pagliacci and
Otello. He debuted at the Bolshoi Opera in
Otello and also often performed at La Scala in Milan, the Teatro Colon
in Buenes Aires, the Paris Opera and the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. King also
maintained strong ties with the major music festivals in Europe including the
Salzburg Festival.
In 1984, James King joined the faculty of Indiana University as a professor of voice
in the graduate music program, while at the same time maintaining his professional
career. His final public performance was in 2000 at the University where he sang the
role of Siegmund in Wagner’s
Die Walküre. He remained
on the faculty until 2002.
Renowned for specializing in the operas of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss in a
career that spanned over three decades, James King died on November 27, 2005 at the
age of 80. He was married three times and had five children. At the time of this
death he was married to Elizabeth Lively.
Arrangement
The collection is organized into ten series: Biographical, Clippings,
Correspondence, Itineraries, Programs, Music, Scripts, Recordings, Notebooks, and Oversize materials.
Scope and Content Note
With materials which date from the period from 1940 to 1999, the contents of the
James King collection relate primarily to King’s professional career as an opera
singer. The collection is organized into ten series which include: Biographical,
Clippings, Correspondence, Itineraries, Programs and Posters, Music,
Scripts, Recordings, Notebooks, and Oversize materials.
The Biographical (1952-1998) series includes materials such as artistic
representations of King, clippings of a biographical nature, honors received, a very
limited amount of material relating to his faculty position at Indiana University
and specifically on his tenure process, journals relating to his daily activities, a
section of an autobiographical manuscript entitled
Just a
Plain Country Boy
written with Donald Arthur, and numerous versions of
resumes and lists of King’s recordings.
The Clippings (1946-1999) series is divided into two separate sub-series. The first,
King’s Career (1946-1996), includes hundreds of newspaper and journal clippings
relating to the span of King’s career. These articles offer critiques and coverage
of the various operas King performed in as well as his career in general. The second
sub-series, Subject files (1975-1999) includes articles of interest which King
collected on topics such as funding for the arts, the decline of American culture,
music, the opera profession, quotes, religion, and numerous miscellaneous other
topics.
The Correspondence (1956-59; 72-79; 80-89; 92-99) series is divided into two
subseries. The first, General correspondence (1956-1999), is organized
chronologically and includes formal invitations, professional
contacts, and letters to politicians relating to King’s advocacy for arts funding.
The second series, Contracts (1980-1990), which is arranged chronologically,
consists of contracts from various opera houses relating to King’s performances.
The Itineraries (1962-75; 80-88; 90) series which is arranged chronologically
consists of schedules listing the dates of King’s performances.
The Programs and Posters (1940-1997) series is divided into two sub-series. Arranged
chronologically, the King’s Performances (1940-1996) sub-series consists of programs
and posters from performances ranging the span of King’s career. Some of the
productions represented include the operas
Ariadne auf Naxos,
Don Carlos, Otello, Tosca, Carmen, Moses und Aaron, Die Walküre, Il trovatore,
Fidelio, Parsifal, Die Frau ohne Schatten, Palestrina, Wozzeck, Die tote Stadt,
Anacréon, Billy Budd, Elektra,
along with several others. The General
(1966-1997) subseries, consists of programs in which King did not perform, with a
few containing King’s notes on the performance.
Organized alphabetically by composer, the Music series consists of hundreds of music
scores from composers such as Ludwig van Beethoven, Georges Bizet, Johannes Brahms,
H.T. Burleigh, Antonio Caldara, Eduardo Di Capua, S. Cardillo, Chopin, Francesco
Cilèa, Aaron Copland, Ernesto de Curtis, Claude Debussy, Luigi Denza, John Duke,
Henri DuParc, Antonin Dvořák, César Franck, George Gershwin, Umberto Giordano, Georg
Friedrich Händel, Arthur Honegger, Jerome Kern, James King, Erich Wolfgang Korngold,
Agustin Lara, Franz Lehár, Ruggiero Leoncavallo, Albert Lortzing, Robert MacGimsey,
Gustav Mahler, Joseph Marx, Jules Massenet, Mozart, John Jacob Niles, Hans Pfitzner,
Amilcare Ponchielli, Cole Porter, Giacomo Puccini, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Maurice
Ravel, Orrorino Respighi, Giuseppe Sarti, Franz Schubert, Rudolf Sieczynski, Robert
Stolz, Richard Strauss, Piotr Ilyitch Tchaïkovsky, Francesco Paolo Tosti, Giuseppe
Verdi, Richard Wagner, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and many others.
The Scripts (undated, 1969, 1991) series consists of three pieces, two which are
unidentified, and a copy from Walküre from 1991.
The Recordings series consists of audio recordings of several of King’s
performances. Many of these recordings are undated; those that are dated are from the
late 1960s and early 1970s. There is one video recording of a performance from 1989.
The Notebooks (1967-1995, undated) series is composed of 33 notebooks. They do not
have much order, with only about half containing dated material. Those notebooks
with dates were arranged roughly chronologically. However, in most cases the start
and end dates are unclear. The remaining undated notebooks are placed at the end of
the series. The notebooks contain a variety of materials including German and
English vocabulary lists, quotes, clippings of interest, thoughts on the field,
drafts of essays, notes, and teaching quizzes.
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Indexing Terms
-
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
IUCAT, the IU Libraries'
online catalog. Materials about related topics, persons or places can be found by
searching the catalog using these terms.
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Separated Material
Hundreds of photographs relating to King’s professional career were pulled and are stored separately.
Family photographs and photograph albums, two pillows decorated with photographic
images of King, one 8mm film reel labelled “Maria Louise, Daddy, Old Film”, 1 undated commemorative plaque, and
family correspondence were permanently removed from the collection in October
2016.
Administrative Information
Acquisition Information
Accession 2004/028
Usage RestrictionsThe donor(s) of this collection have not transferred their copyrights for the materials to the Trustees of Indiana University.
For more information, please contact the Indiana University Archives staff.
The Indiana University Archives respects the intellectual property rights of others and does not claim any copyrights for
non-university records, materials in the public domain, or materials for which we do not hold a Deed of Gift. Responsibility
for the determination of the copyright status of these materials rests with those persons wishing to reuse the materials.
Researchers are responsible for securing permission from copyright owners and any other rights holders for any reuse of these
materials that extends beyond fair use or other statutory limitations.
Digital reproductions of archival materials from the Indiana University Archives are made available for noncommercial educational
and research purposes only. If you are the copyright holder for any of the digitized materials and have questions about its
inclusion on our site, please contact the Indiana University Archivist.
Preferred Citation
[Item], James King papers, Collection C337, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.
Provenance
Transferred from the IU School of Music Library, March 2004.
Processing InformationProcessed by Carrie Schwier.
Completed in 2007
Container List
Series:
Box 1
Biographical, 1952-1998,
undated
Artwork on King, undated and 1978
Clippings, undated
through 1994
Education, 1952 and 1978
Honors, 1966-1989
(2 oversized items were placed in a folder at the top of this box
and 2 plaques for Best Opera Recording for
Die
Walküre
from 1966 and Alumnus of the Year presented by the
L.S. Alumni Federation from 1979 were removed and placed in the
memorabilia cabinet. 1 award form 1989 was removed and stored in the
oversized cabinet.)
Honors, Louisiana State University 1979 Alumnus of the Year award
scrapbook, 1980
(stored in Box 7)
Indiana University Bloomington, 1988-1989,
1994-1995
Indiana University Tenure Process, 1988-1989
Journals, 11981-1982,
1986-1987
Manuscripts, 1998
Passports, 1963 and 1986
Resumes/ Lists of Recordings, undated
Series:
Clippings, 1946-1999,
undated
Subseries:
King’s Career, 1946-1996,
undated
Box 1
Undated
1946-1967
1968-1969
1970-1974
1975-1979
1980-1982
1983
1984
1985-1986
1987-1989
1990-1996
Subseries:
Subject Files, 1975-1999,
undated
Box 1
Arts Advocacy, undated,
1977-1999
Decline of American Culture, 1979-1991
Miscellaneous, undated,
1975-1995
Music Articles, 1977-1992
Box 2
Opera Profession, undated,
1979-1998
Quotes, undated
Religion, undated
Voice/ Health Performance, 1979-1999,
undated
Series:
Correspondence, 1956-1999,
undated
Subseries:
General, 1956-1999,
undated
Box 2
Undated
1956-1959
1972-1979
1980-1989
1992-1999
Subseries:
Contracts, 1980-1990
Box 2
1980-1990
Series:
Itineraries, 1962-1990
Series:
Programs and Posters, 1940-1997,
undated
Subseries:
King’s Performances, 1940-1996,
undated
Box 2
Undated
(4 oversized posters from King’s performances are stored
separately in oversized cabinets. Ask archives staff for more
details.)
1940-1969
1970-1973
1974-1976
1977-1979
(7 oversized posters from King’s performances are stored
separately in oversized cabinets. Ask archives staff for more
details.)
1980-1981
(1 oversized poster from King’s performances is stored
separately in oversized cabinets. Ask archives staff for more
details.)
1982-1985
(5 oversized posters from King’s performances are stored
separately in oversized cabinets. Ask archives staff for more
details.)
1986-1996
(3 oversized posters from King’s performances are stored
separately in oversized cabinets. 1 oversized program is stored with
oversized photographs. Ask archives staff for more
details.)
Subseries:
General, 1966-1997,
undated
Box 2
Undated
1966-1997
Series:
Box 3
Music, undated
Composer, A-B
Composer, C
Composer, D-E
Composer, F-G
Composer, H-K
Composer, L-Marx
Composer, Mas-P
Composer, Q-R
Composer, S
Composer, T-V
Composer, W-Z
Composer, Unknown
Box 4
Composer, Compilations
Series:
Scripts, 1969-1991
Box 4
Untitled script, 1969
Walküre, 1991
Series:
Recordings, 1946-1989,
undated
Box 4
Jessie Norma Concert, Music Hall, Aug. Ga., February 1, 1970, E. Remington at the
Piano
(7 inch magnetic tape reel)
TurandotAct I, undated
(7 inch magnetic tape reel)
Gluck:
Iphigenie en Aulide (sung in
German), Salzburg Festival- Austria, Live Broadcast Performance of
1962-Christa Ludwig, Inge Borkh, James King, Walter Berry, Otto
Edelmann, undated
(7 inch magnetic tape reel)
Die Meistersinger Act III, January
15, 1972, James King as Walther, undated
(7 inch magnetic tape reel)
San Francisco Broadcast
Otello,
November 15, 1974, undated
(7 inch magnetic tape reel)
Sohensaal, Vienna, June 1966, Excerpts: James King Recordings,
Mahler: "Das Lied Von der Erde" nos. 1,
3, 5; Wagner: Lohengrin, undated
(7 inch magnetic tape reel)
Turandot, performed by James
King,
undated
(7 inch magnetic tape reel)
Die Meistersinger Act II,
January 15, 1972, James King as
Walther
(7 inch magnetic tape reel)
Frau Ohne Schatten, James King radio recording
December 17,
1966, Metropolitan Opera Company at Lincoln Center with Leonie
Rysanek, Walter Berry, Christa Ludwig, and Karl Bohn as
conductor
(7 inch magnetic tape reel)
Bayreuter
Ring, from "Die Walküre" Act III, July 26, 1965
(5 inch magnetic tape reel)
Rienzi- Von Noe, undated
(5 inch magnetic tape reel)
Duett, Butterfly, undated
(5 inch magnetic tape reel)
Bayreuth- Signers, Driving between Bayreuth and Bantberg,
August 1, 1964
(5 inch magnetic tape reel)
Ariadne auf Naxos, Munich, July 23, 1970
(5 inch magnetic tape reel)
Rienzi, Von Noe, undated
(5 inch magnetic tape reel)
Die Frau ohne Schatten,
February 26, 1972
(5 inch magnetic tape reel)
Der Freischütz,
undated
(5 inch magnetic tape reel)
Tristan and Isolde, broadcast via
WGBH FM Boston Massachusetts, copy from an original cassette, April 23, 1972
(5 inch magnetic tape reel)
Wien Pagliacci, performance with
King, Lipr, Thodei, Dickey, and Kerns, April 20, 1965
(5 inch magnetic tape reel)
Pusta Lied,
undated
(5 inch magnetic tape reel)
Act IV
Wien Cariuer???,
undated
(5 inch magnetic tape reel)
Label worn off, undated
(5 inch magnetic tape reel)
Live- Sedung anläßlich "Robert Stolz U.
Seine Welt," with Professor Marcel Prawy, Einzi Stolz, Marta
Eggerth, James King, Michael Heltau, January 2, 1989
(VHS tape)
Guerre Lieder, Performance: Carnegie
Hall 1946, Conductor: Leopold Stowkowski, “Walkdemar,” Paul Acthouse-
Tenor
(1 empty box for a 5 in magnetic tape reel)
Series:
Box 5
Notebooks, 1967-1995,
undated
1 green notebook which contains quotes, vocabulary lists,
thoughts on the music profession, notes, biography dating up to 1967,
list of recordings, and clippings of interest, circa 1975
1 yellow spiral notebook which contains essays relating to the
music profession and American culture, quotes, German and English
vocabulary lists, circa
1974
1 green notebook, the earliest date in the notebook is circa 1975. Includes journal entries,
quotes, and notes
1 orange notebook, 1976-circa 1977. Includes notes, schedules of
performances, journal entries, thoughts on music
1 blue spiral notebook with some loose sheets inserted which
contains notes, quotes, sections of an essay, lists of vocabulary and
thoughts on the music profession, circa
1978
1 blue notebook which contains quotes, notes, lists of
vocabulary, drafts of essays, and lists of German vocabulary, circa 1985
1 yellow spiral notebook which contains quotes, vocabulary lists,
clippings of interest, clipping titled "My
Philosophy on My Art Form-James King,"
circa
1986-1990
1 orange notebook labeled "Deposit Box,
Deposit Record,"includes vocabulary lists, and German
vocabulary lists, quotes, notes, journal entries, opera quizzes, "Pop-Music Essay"clippings of interest,
circa 1988
1 black and blue notebook which contains German vocabulary lists,
quotes, drafts of essays, notes, thoughts on the music profession,
circa 1988
1 yellow spiral notebook labeled "King" which includes clippings of interest, vocabulary lists,
quotes, exam outlines, circa 1989
1 orange notebook labeled "King"
containing German vocabulary, clippings of interest, schedule of
performances, notes, sheet music, circa
1988
1 blue spiral notebook which contains notes on voice performance,
quotes, vocabulary lists, test questions, and clippings of interest,
circa 1990
1 yellow spiral Indiana University notebook labeled "James King" which includes recipes,
vocabulary lists, quotes, 1990-circa 1992
1 tan spiral notebook labeled "Important Essay, Full" which includes vocabulary lists,
performance schedules 1991, thoughts on voice performance, notes,
quotes, and an essay on the decline of culture in the United States,
circa 1991
1 yellow spiral notebook labeled "Dec.
1992 Essay"which includes vocabulary lists, quotes, French
vocabulary, draft of an "Essay" on the
status of the arts in the United States, 1992
1 black and blue notebook which includes vocabulary lists,
quotes, clippings of interest, circa
1993
1 blue spiral notebook labeled "Letters
to Senator Mula – Essay-, Address of Legislators" which
includes vocabulary lists, quotes, clippings of interest, drafts of
letters to politicians, 1993-circa 1994
1 blue spiral notebook with some loose sheets labeled "Letter to Dole,"which includes notes and
drafts of a letter to Senator Bob Dole regarding arts funding,
vocabulary lists, quotes, notes on composers, and clippings of interest,
1994-circa
1995
1 white "Subject Notebook" which
includes clippings of interest, quotes, vocabulary list and schedules,
1995?
1 green and purple spiral notebook, which includes vocabulary
lists, quotes, and notes, undated
1 purple spiral notebook which includes vocabulary lists, quotes,
clippings of interest, and notes, undated
1 blue spiral notebook with drafts of letters relating to the
decline of the arts in the United States, undated
1 teal spiral notebook with loose sheets which includes
vocabulary lists, quotes, German vocabulary lists and notes, undated
1 blue notebook labeled "Auto-Bio" which includes lists of vocabulary, notes, drafts
of manuscripts and letters, and thoughts on the music profession,
undated
1 orange notebook labeled "This an’
That, James King"which contains quotes, thoughts on the field,
German vocabulary lists, and lists of recordings, undated
1 red binder labeled "Telephone &
Addresses, L. King"which contains notes, lists of vocabulary,
drafts of letters, and quotes, undated
1 black and blue notebook with includes lists of vocabulary and
quotes, undated
1 cream notebook labeled "King"
which contains, notes, poetry, German vocabulary lists, and quotes,
undated
1 orange notebook which contains lists of vocabulary and quotes,
undated
1 orange notebook with numerous loose pages which contains drafts
of letters, thoughts on the music profession and drafts of essays,
undated
1 yellow notebook which contains lists of German and English
vocabulary, quotes, thoughts on the music profession, drafts of letters
and notes, undated
1 yellow notebook which contains lists of German and English
vocabulary, drafts of essays, and quotes, undated
1 orange notebook labeled "King"
which contains German and English vocabulary lists, quotes, notes on
voice performance, essay titled "Tragedy in
American theater," quotes, and an essay on American culture,
undated
1 orange and white spiral notebook which contains quotes, German
and English vocabulary, and essays relating to the music profession,
undated
Notebooks- undated loose sheets from notebooks which includes notes,
vocabulary lists, and drafts of essays relating to the field
Series:
Box 6
Oversized materials, circa
1970s-1980s
Honors, Louisiana State University 1979 Alumnus of the Year award
scrapbook, 1980
Contact Archives Photographs Curator for
access.
Box 7
Oversized performance photographs and program, circa
1970s-1980s
Contact Archives Photographs Curator for
access.
Box 8
Photographs, undated
Contact Archives Photographs Curator for
access.