UA36I Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Series 4 Franz J. Strahm

Description: Records created by and about Joseph Strahm during his tenure as music professor at Western Kentucky University from 1910 to 1941. The collection includes biographical information and tributes, and Professor Strahm’s notes and drafts of publicity for the annual Music Festivals of 1911, 1912 and 1913. Also included are 3 composition books owned by Professor Strahm, and sheet music of many of his own compositions. The series is arranged in three sections, personal papers, sheet music and compositions and scores. The sections are arranged chronologically. For further information, see the University Archives vertical file and photograph file.

Extent: 3 boxes

Dates: 1844-1942

Biographical/Historical Note: Franz Joseph Strahm was born May 14, 1867 in Freiburg, Germany. He studied piano under Franz Liszt before coming to the United States in 1891 to play in a Nashville orchestra and teach at the Nashville Conservatory of Music. He became director of Western’s School of Music in 1910 and served until his death on June 26, 1941. During World War I Strahm published music under the pseudonym Franz J. Sadezky due to anti-German sentiment. Among his numerous compositions were the “Kentucky State Normal March” (1911) and the “B.G.B.U. March” (1919).

BOX 1 Section 1 - papers

Folder 1 nd Inventory and separation sheets

Folder 2 nd, 1942 Biographical sketches and eulogy

Folder 3 1911 Notes and program re: Oratorio, “The Last Judgment”

Folder 4 [1912?] Strahm, Franz J. - Baldwin Piano Co. re: program for Music
Festival

Folder 5 [1912-13] Notes describing Music department and faculty

Folder 6 1912 Notes and program re: Second Annual Music Festival

Folder 7 1912-13 Notes re: Third Annual Music Festival

Folder 8 1919 Correspondence re: Annual Music Festival

Folder 9 nd Unidentified memo, “Pedagogy”

Folder 10 [1935] Vesper service program commemorating twenty-five years’ service

Folder 11 nd Lessons 1 and 3-8 from H.J. Wrightson’s Course 151447 Musical Composition, University Extension Conservatory, Chicago, IL. See also box 3, folders 1-6 for Strahm’s compositions written for this course.

Folder 12 1936 Course Outline Advanced Composition 403, WKSTC

BOX 2 - Section 2 – sheet music

Folder 1 1884, 1935 Books of compositions by Cyrill Kistler, Hans Retzlaff, and J.S. Bach

Folder 2 nd List of sheet music 1900-1937

Folder 3 1899 “Rock City March”

Folder 4 1900 “Sweet Recollections,” “Sleep, Baby Sleep,” and “In June Days”

Folder 5 1901-1902 “Prayer for Strength,” Crimson & Gold,” “In Good Humor,” “Gentle Reproach,” and “Meteor March”

Folder 6 1911 Sheet music: “Kentucky State Normal March”

Folder 7 1914 “Our Hero,” and “Columbia Schottishe,”

Folder 8 1915 “A Dream,” “March Impromptu,” and “Dew Drops”

Folder 9 1918 “April Showers,” “A Toast,” and “Children’s March”

Folder 10 1918 “Playing Ball,” “Recess,” and “In the Swing”

Folder 11 1919 “B.G.B.U. March”

Folder 12 1921 “Funeral March Heroica” and “Sweet Forget-Me-Not”

Folder 13 1923 “Festival Mass in G”

Folder 14 1924 “Vespers in D”

Folder 15 1924, 1937 “Vivien Mazurka,” “Behold Our God, the Lord”

Box 3 Section 3 – compositions and scores

Folder 1-6 nd Strahm’s compositions for H.J. Wrightson’s Course 151447
Musical Composition continued. See also box 1, folder 11.

Folder 7 nd “B.G.B.U. March,” scores for instruments.

Folders 8-26 nd “Kentucky State Normal March,” sheet music and scores for instruments.

Subjects:

Musicians - Kentucky
Strahm, Franz Joseph, 1867-1941
Students’ songs
Western Kentucky State Normal School - Faculty
Western Kentucky State Normal School and Teachers College - Faculty

Accession Information:

These records were transferred to the University Archives upon its creation.

2008, June – Materials created by Franz Strahm were transferred from the Manuscripts and Folklife Archives to University Archives. These include some of Strahm’s student work and WKU course descriptions along with musical scores.

Access Restrictions: none

Copyright Notice:

Preferred Citation: UA36I Faculty/Staff Personal Papers, Series 1. Franz Strahm, WKU Archives, Kentucky Library & Museum, Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA.

Processing Information:

Processed by Lynn Niedermeier June 1998
2008 Accession processed by Suellyn Lathrop June 2008