Lillie Ronvo Collection of Dance and Music Materials, 1915-2002, bulk 1952-1991
Lillie Ronvo Collection of Dance and Music Materials, 1915-2002, bulk 1952-1991
Summary Information
Abstract
At a Glance
- Call No.:
- MS#1796
- Bib ID:
- 12028397 View CLIO record
- Creator(s):
- Ronvo, Lillie, 1922-2011
- Repository:
- Rare Book and Manuscript Library
- Physical Description:
- 3.94 linear feet (7 document boxes and 1 record carton)
- Language(s):
- English , Hebrew , Russian , French , Japanese .
- 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 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.
This collection has no restrictions.
Description
Summary
The collection is composed of 3.94 linear feet of material collected by Rovno. It consists of books on Kabuki history and albums with images of dancers, as well as playbills and souvenir programs from Japanese Kabuki companies' performances in the U.S. In addition, this is an extensive collection of ballet memorabilia, containing souvenir programs and playbills from performances of Soviet-Union and American Ballet companies, as well as a large number of photographs of ballet dancers, some of which are signed. The collection also includes musical scores for piano, including arrangements of complete ballets or excerpts thereof, Italian and Jewish folk songs, and opera arias, as well as song books of Israeli folk songs. The collection as a whole encompasses materials from 1930-2002.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in three series and several subseries.
Using the Collection
Restrictions on 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 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.
This collection has no restrictions.
Terms Governing Use and Reproduction
Reproductions 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); Lillie Rovno Collection of Dance and Music Materials; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Accrual
No additions are expected
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2015-2016-M137: Source of acquisition--Roberta Gordon. Method of acquisition--Gift; Date of acquisition--April 22, 2016.
About the Finding Aid / Processing Information
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Processing Information
Papers processed by Orit Hilewicz (GSAS) June 2016.
Finding aid written by Orit Hilewicz (GSAS) June 2016.
Papers appraised Cole Ferry March 1, 2016.
Revision Description
2016-06-28 File created.
2016-06-30 XML document instance created by Catherine C. Ricciardi
2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.
Biographical / Historical
Lillie Rovno was deployed by the United States military in Germany, Japan, Alaska, and Hawaii, and continued to travel the world in later years. A scholar of Russian culture interested in performance arts, Rovno collected materials on a broad array of art forms: Kabuki and Japanese visual arts, ballet, Jewish music, and Italian music.
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.
All links open new windows.
Series I: Ballet Memorabilia, 1966-2002
Ballet Memorabilia contains Souvenir programs, playbills, and photographs of Ballet performances and dancers from the former Soviet Union, Cuba, American Ballet Theater, and Joffrey Ballet.
Ballet Programs and Clippings includes souvenir programs and newspaper clippings from performances of ballet companies in New York. Most of the programs document visits of Soviet Union ballet companies—Kirov, Donetsk, and others—in 1982-1991, year of the Soviet Union's dissolution. More recent materials include Bolshoi Ballet, American Ballet Theater, the Mariinsky Theater Ballet programs, as well as a profile program on Vladimir Vasiliev, former director of the Bolshoi Ballet, from 2000, when he was dismissed from the company.
Box 1 Folder 1
Box 1 Folder 2
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
(editions 1, 2, 3, 5)
Box 1
Box 1
(Program with Playbill)
Box 1
(item is in Carson-Brierly Dance Library Souvenir and House Program Collection, University of Denver, Colorado)
Box 1
Box 1
(including Radio City Playbill)
Box 1
Box 1
(forward written by Clive Barnes (1927-2008), renowned dance and theater critic for NY Times and NY Post)
Box 1
(Vasiliev (b. 1940) was director of the Bolshoi until 2000 when he heard of his dismissal on the radio)
Photographs includes numerous dated and undated photos, mostly of ballet performers from the former Soviet Union. The folders, arranged for the most part by company, include the Bolshoi Ballet, Kirov Ballet (which was later renamed the Mariinky Ballet), and Donetsk Ballet. Many of the photos are autographed by the dancers. Other folders include photos of the Cuban National Ballet from the 1960s and 1970s, Royal Danish Ballet, American Ballet Theater, and the Joffrey Ballet's revival of Nijinsky's choreography to Debussy'sL'Apres-midi d'un Faune,featuring Rudolf Nureyev's as the Faune. Photos were taken by photographers Nina Alovert, Petra Bober, Louis Peres, William Reilly, Susan Richelle, and others.
Box 5 Folder 1
(including autographed photos)
Box 5 Folder 1
Box 5 Folder 1
Box 5 Folder 1
Box 5 Folder 1
Box 5 Folder 1
Box 5 Folder 2
Box 5 Folder 2
Box 5 Folder 2
Box 5 Folder 2
Box 5 Folder 3
(including autographed photos)
Box 5 Folder 3
Box 5 Folder 3
Box 5 Folder 3
Box 5 Folder 3
Box 7 Folder 1
Box 7 Folder 1
Box 7 Folder 1
Box 7 Folder 1
Box 7 Folder 1
Box 7 Folder 2
Box 7 Folder 2
Box 7 Folder 2
Box 7 Folder 2
Box 7 Folder 3
Box 7 Folder 3
Box 7 Folder 3
Box 7 Folder 3
Box 7 Folder 3
Box 7 Folder 4
Box 7 Folder 4
Box 7 Folder 4
Box 7 Folder 4
Box 7 Folder 4
Box 7 Folder 4
Box 5 Folder 4
(including autographed photos)
Box 5 Folder 4
Box 5 Folder 4
Box 5 Folder 4
Box 5 Folder 5
(including autographed photos)
Box 5 Folder 5
Box 5 Folder 5
Box 5 Folder 5
Box 5 Folder 5
Box 5 Folder 5
Box 5 Folder 6
(including autographed photos)
Box 5 Folder 6
Box 5 Folder 6
Box 5 Folder 6
Box 5 Folder 6
Box 5 Folder 7
Box 5 Folder 7
Box 5 Folder 7
Box 7 Folder 5
Box 7 Folder 5
Box 7 Folder 5
Box 7 Folder 5
Box 7 Folder 5
Box 7 Folder 5
Box 7 Folder 5
Box 7 Folder 6
(including photo of son Nikita at age 2)
Box 7 Folder 7
(guests with ABT inLa Bayadere)
Box 7 Folder 8
Box 7 Folder 8
Box 7 Folder 8
Box 7 Folder 9
Box 7 Folder 9
Box 7 Folder 9
Box 7 Folder 9
Box 5 Folder 8
Box 5 Folder 8
Box 5 Folder 8
Box 5 Folder 8
Box 5 Folder 8
Box 5 Folder 8
Box 5 Folder 8
Box 5 Folder 9
Box 5 Folder 9
Box 5 Folder 9
Box 5 Folder 9
Box 5 Folder 9
Box 7 Folder 12
Box 7 Folder 13
(including handwritten note with contents)
Box 7 Folder 13
Box 7 Folder 13
Box 5 Folder 10
(includes a newspaper clipping)
Box 5 Folder 10
Box 5 Folder 10
Box 5 Folder 10
Box 5 Folder 10
Box 5 Folder 10
Box 5 Folder 10
Box 5 Folder 10
Box 5 Folder 10
Box 5 Folder 10
Box 5 Folder 10
Box 5 Folder 10
Box 5 Folder 10
Box 5 Folder 10
Box 5 Folder 10
Box 5 Folder 10
Box 5 Folder 10
Box 5 Folder 11
Box 5 Folder 11
Box 5 Folder 11
Box 5 Folder 12
(includes greeting cards with dancers' images and a newspaper clipping)
Box 5 Folder 12
Box 5 Folder 12
Box 5 Folder 12
Box 7 Folder 10
(including newspaper clippings)
Box 7 Folder 10
Box 7 Folder 10
Box 7 Folder 10
Box 7 Folder 11
Box 7 Folder 11
Box 7 Folder 11
Box 7 Folder 11
Box 7 Folder 11
Box 7 Folder 11
Box 7 Folder 11
Box 7 Folder 11
Box 5 Folder 13
(Homage to Diaghelev, Miscellaneous--head shots, etc. candid street shots, ABT, etc., Ballet News)
Box 5 Folder 13
Box 5 Folder 13
Box 5 Folder 13
Box 5 Folder 14
(Joffrey Ballet)
Box 5 Folder 14
Box 5 Folder 14
Box 5 Folder 14
Box 5 Folder 15
(Joffrey Ballet)
Box 5 Folder 15
Box 5 Folder 15
Box 5 Folder 15
Box 5 Folder 15
Box 5 Folder 15
Box 5
Box 7 Folder 14
(including newspaper clipping on Amparo Brito)
Box 7 Folder 14
Box 7 Folder 14
Box 7 Folder 14
Box 7 Folder 14
Box 7 Folder 14
Box 7 Folder 14
Box 7 Folder 15
Box 7 Folder 15
Box 7 Folder 15
Box 7 Folder 15
Box 7 Folder 16
Box 7 Folder 16
Box 7 Folder 16
Box 7 Folder 16
Box 7 Folder 16
Box 7 Folder 16
Box 7 Folder 16
Box 8 Folder 1
Box 8 Folder 1
Box 8 Folder 1
Box 8 Folder 1
Series II: Japanese Art--Kabuki Books and Memorabilia, Ukiyo-e Books, 1978-1987
This series contains collection materials related to Japanese art.
This subseries includes, for the most part, Kabuki plays translated to English and photo books of Kabuki actors. Several of the books focus on Tamasaburo Bando (b. 1950), a celebrated onnagata (the term for male Kabuki actors who specialize in depicting women).
Box 1
Box 6
(all Japanese text)
Box 6
(reissue of earlier book)
Box 6
Box 6
(text is in Japanese)
Box 7
Box 8
(photography by Kishin Shinoyama)
Box 8
(2 copies, photography by Shunji Okura)
Box 8
Box 8
(photography by Chiaki Yoshida; text entirely in Japanese)
Box 8
(later reissue also in collection)
Box 8
(photography by Iwata Akira)
Box 8
Kabuki Programs and Magazines includes souvenir programs from The Grand Kabuki of Japan's performances in the U.S in 1982, and a 1981 magazine copy containing mostly photos of Kabuki performances. The souvenir program of the Grand Kabuki's 1982 North American tour contains autographs of seven members of the group, including celebrated actor Ichikawa Ebizo.
Box 8
(includes autographs of seven members of the group: Utaemon, Tomiijuro, Tamaschuro Ebizo, Nakamara Utaemon, Nakamara Kanzeburro, Ichikawa Ebizo, and Kiyomoto Shizutayu)
Box 8
(Metropolitan Opera, New York City)
Box 8
This subseries includes two books on the Japanese art of wood carving.
Box 8
(part of seriesGreat Japanese Art)
Box 8
(part of seriesGreat Japanese Art)
Series III: Musical Scores, 1915-2000
Piano arrangements of ballets and opera arias, song books of Jewish folk music, and single-leaf piano scores of folk and pop songs from Italy and Israel.
This subseries includes scores of complete ballets as well as excerpts and collections, arranged alphabetically by composer name. There is a 1959 score of the Pas de Deux from Minkus'Don Quixotethat includes a cover photo of Claire Motte (1937-1986), ballet mistress and leading ballerina of the Paris Opera Ballet.
Box 2
Box 2
(no date)
Box 2
Box 2
Box 2
Box 2
Box 2
Box 2
(cover photo of Claire Motte (1937-1986), ballet mistress and leading ballerina of the Paris Opera Ballet)
Box 2
Box 2
Box 2
Box 2
Box 2
Box 2
Box 2
Box 2
(in Etude de la Danse collection)
Box 2
Box 2
Box 2
Box 2
Box 2
Box 2
Box 2
Box 2
Box 3
Box 3
(excerpt)
Box 3
Box 3
Box 3
Box 3
Box 3
Box 3
(hard cover edition)
Box 3
Box 3
Box 3
Box 3
(hard cover edition)
Box 3
Box 3
Box 3
Box 3
This subseries includes voice and piano arrangements of folk and popular songs as well as opera arias. Scores are arranged in folders according to publishing company.
Box 4 Folder 1
(43 items)
Box 4 Folder 2
(21 items)
Box 4 Folder 3
(10 items)
Box 4 Folder 4
(14 items)
Box 4 Folder 5
(17 items)
This subseries includes piano and voice arrangements as well as songbooks of Jewish folk songs and a few Hebrew translations of popular songs from film published by Negen Press. There are 3 booklets including melodies and Hebrew lyrics for national folk songs published in the first years of the State of Israel's founding.
Box 4 Folder 6
(15 items)
Box 4
(volumes 1 and 2)
Box 4
Box 4
Box 4
Box 4
Box 4
Box 4
Box 4
Box 4
Box 4