Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Alan Walker fonds
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Level of description
Fonds
Reference code
RC0107
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Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
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ca. 1836-1908 (Creation)
Physical description area
Physical description
7.22 m of textual records and graphic material
10 sound recordings
Publisher's series area
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Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Alan Walker, Doctor of Music, F.R.S.C., university professor and writer, was born in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England on 6 April 1930. He was educated at the Guildhall School of Music and at Durham University, where he specialized in piano, theory, harmony and counterpoint. In his early career, he lectured at the Guildhall School of Music from 1959 to 1961, and at London University from 1954 to 1970.
Walker was a producer at the British Broadcasting Corporation from 1961 to 1971, and has contributed to programmes at the BBC and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He served as Distinguished Visiting Professor of Music at City University in London from 1984 to 1987 and has been a Professor of Music at McMaster University since 1971, where he was Chairman of the Department from 1971 to 1980 and again from 1990 to 1993. Walker is the recipient of numerous honours, including the Hungarian Liszt Society Medal in 1980, the American Liszt Society Medal in 1984, and the Pro Cultura Hungaria Medal in 1995. He was awarded an honorary doctorate, D. Litt (honoris causa), from McMaster University in 2002. In January 2012, he received the Knight's Cross of Merit of the Republic of Hungary, one of Hungary's highest honours.
He is the author of A Study in Music Analysis, 1962, An Anatomy of Musical Criticism, 1968, Franz Liszt, 1971, Robert Schumann, 1976, Franz Liszt: Volume One, 1983, (for which he won the James Tait Black Award in 1983, and Yorkshire Post Music Book of the Year Award in 1984), Franz Liszt: Volume Two, 1989, Franz Liszt: Volume Three, 1996, and The Death of Franz Liszt, 2002. He co-authored, with Gabriele Erasmi, Liszt, Carolyne, and the Vatican: The Story of a Thwarted Marriage, 1991, and was the editor of Symposium on Chopin, 1967, Symposium on Liszt, 1970, Symposium on Schumann, 1972, The Diary of Carl Lachmund: An American Pupil of Liszt, 1995, and Hans von Bülow: a life and times, 2009. He has written over 100 articles for learned journals including a major entry on Franz Liszt for the latest edition of Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2001. His biography, Fryderyk Chopin, was launched in October 2018 to much acclaim and has subsequently been translated into numerous languages.
Custodial history
Scope and content
The fonds consists of material related to Alan Walker's research, recordings, and other professional activities. As well as personal material, including correspondence. The third accrual contains 30 items related to Liszt and his Circle, including 14 letters from Liszt.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
The first accrual was donated in 1997, the second accrual in 2004, the third in 2007, the fourth in 2013, the fifth in 2017, and the sixth in 2022 all from Alan Walker.
Arrangement
The fonds consists of six accruals. The first accrual (34-1997) is arranged in two series consisting of correspondence and personal files. The second accrual (35-2004) is arranged in three series consisting of correspondence, academic and personal material, books and photographic reproductions. Also received as part of the accrual were fifteen books either written or edited by Walker; these books have been catalogued for Research Collections. The third accrual (43-2007) consists of two series: (1) letters of Franz Liszt and and his circle; and (2) copies of unpublished letters of Hans von Bülow to Cécile Gorrison-Mutzenbecher. The fourth accrual (12-2013) is arranged in five series consisting of correspondence; academic and personal material; photographs; discography; Liszt collection. The fifth accrual is arranged into five series: correspondence, programmes and reviews, manuscripts, photographs and commemorative items, and Liszt research material. The sixth (2022-035) accrual is arranged into two series: correspondence, and material related to his biography of Chopin.
Language of material
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
There are no access restrictions.
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Associated materials
A biographical essay on Walker by James Deaville is available in hard copy only in the Reading Room.
Accruals
Further accruals are expected.
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Description record identifier
RC0107
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Dates of creation, revision and deletion
B. Whittle, 2023.