The Papers of George Antheil
About the Project
The George Antheil Digital Edition will be an annotated electronic edition of the complete correspondence of the American composer George Antheil. Antheil was a major artistic figure of the mid 20th century and his life and works resonated broadly, impacting many spheres from television to the classical music arena both in the United States and in Europe. The correspondence of George Antheil is one of the most significant documentary resources of the 20th century. The collection includes letters from nearly every major figure of his day and his letters illuminate the cultural and social history of this era in America with breadth and depth.
Antheil’s letters document a rich period in American cultural history with extraordinary written detail and topical breadth. The era during which the correspondence dates, 1920–1959, was a golden age for many American art forms; it was the dawn of modern media, the Golden Age of radio broadcasts, the birth of television and the height of classic Hollywood film. It was also a period in which Broadway and musical theatre thrived. Antheil’s life and work touched the worlds of high art music, the avant-garde European literati, the Hollywood business world, public media, and the social circles of the rich and famous. This correspondence gives insight into the oft-unseen formative mechanisms of contemporary culture. It points to the importance of trans-Atlantic cultural exchange during the mid 20th century as central to the development of modern American cultural identity. And underscores the relevance of Hollywood and popular media as a central support mechanism for high art, financially, socially, and artistically.