Leon Levitch music collection

Identifier
irn538539
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2000.625.1
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • Italian
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

oversize box

1

Creator(s)

Biographical History

Leon Levitch was born August 29, 1927, in Belgrade, Serbia. His parents both played piano, and he began composing music at an early age. During World War II, he and his family were sent by Italian authorities to a concentration camp north of Milan. Levitch found a piano in the camp, and began taking lessons from a fellow prisoner named Vera Levenson. In 1943 his family was sent to the Ferramonti camp, where in 1944 they were among a group of nearly 1,000 refugees chosen to go the Fort Ontario Emergency Rescue Shelter in Oswego, NY, After the war Levitch pursued a career in music, briefly attending Los Angeles City College before earning a master of arts degree in composition from the University of California Los Angeles. He became a well-known composer. He died November 26, 2014 in California.

Archival History

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Acquisition

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Leon Levitch

Donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2000 by Leon Levitch.

Scope and Content

Consists of six paperbound workbooks of with sheet music booklets of music (in Italian), some with hand-written notes; one single sheet of undated music (four pages), entitled "Le scale maggiori colle armonie (triadi)"; one bound music booklet entitled "Jüdische lieder / Harmonie: Leon Levitch / Ft. Ontario / Oswego Youth Choir"; one notebook with handwritten notes in pencil; and one interoffice envelope with the insignia "G. Shirmer ... Publishers, Importers and Dealers." Most items were used by the donor while he was at the Ferramonti camp in Italy, or as a refugee at the Fort Ontario Emergency Rescue Shelter in Oswego, NY.

People

Corporate Bodies

Subjects

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.