Museum of Performance & Design

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS: Movie Music
Selections from the Bob Johnson Sheet Music Collection

DESIGNING WAGNER'S RING
An Aesthetic/Historic Overview 1876-2010

Wagner's monumental operatic work, The Ring of the Nibelung, with its mythological structure and its powerful story of fate, is so complex and challenging that over a period of 135 years it has been subject to a wide range of interpretations. This cameo exhibition -- curated by Professor William Eddelman, and on view in our hallway gallery -- concetrates on the design aspects of the many notable productions that have played around the world since its debut in 1876. The over 80 images follow the history of this fascinating artwork, and has been mounted in association with the San Francisco Opera's 2011 production.

San Francisco, 1900, On Stage

Called the “Paris of the West”, it is said that by the 1890’s San Francisco had more theaters than any other city in the United States. Thousands took in at least one show a week, and stock and traveling companies learned, rehearsed and produced hundreds of titles a year. Originally located in Portsmouth Square, the theater district had moved to the more desirable Market Street area in the later part of the 19th century. Ferries and local trains brought people in from the greater Bay Area and business was booming.

San Francisco was the home to eccentricity and flamboyance since its early gold mining days, and traveling performers soon fell in love with the city and its accepting star-struck inhabitants. The press coverage by the several newspapers in circulation fueled the enthusiasm. Announcing not only the upcoming performances, the papers also gossiped about the latest scandals rocking the theatrical worlds of San Francisco, New York, London, and Paris.

The city craved the latest sensations from the East and Europe and imported talent to prove to the world just how much this mining town had grown into a culturally rich environment rivaling its larger sister cities.

The theater of 1900 had no competitors for public amusement. Radio and phonograph had yet to be introduced, and moving pictures were not an individual form of entertainment, but usually part of a larger variety or vaudeville show. This exhibit is an introduction to this world, one where people interacted with each other for entertainment.

The photographs, programs, and newspaper clippings used in this exhibit have been reproduced from originals in the collections of the Museum of Performance & Design; California Historical Society; the San Francisco Historical Center, San Francisco Public Library; and private collections.

Maestro! Photographic Portraits by Tom Zimberoff

“ A negative is like the score of a symphony, and a print is the performance of that symphony.” - Ansel Adams

Bay Area photographer Tom Zimberoff was inspired to undertake a remarkable collection of portraits by this comment by Adams, who was, like himself, a musician turned photographer. The effort took him around the world, and six years to complete.

“A melody, vibrant in the mind of a composer,” says Zimberoff, “lies silent on a sheet of paper, a cipher of lines and dots and scratches of ink, until a conductor, in the darkness of an auditorium and in the company of his own instrument, the orchestra, renders those notes into music that the audience can hear. A photographer working alone in a darkroom sees an image with his mind’s eye. With his guidance it undergoes a metamorphosis to emerge as a print that the viewer can behold and admire. No two performances sound alike, and no two photographs look exactly alike.”

However, Zimberoff felt that all the portraits of conductors he had ever seen looked too much alike, stereotypical portrayals of the tuxedoed genius making strange faces while waving a baton. Working intimately with his subjects, Zimberoff developed a personal and individual depiction of each conductor’s character beyond the podium.

“I was lucky to meet such alternately arrogant, cantankerous, charming, gracious, and even a few self-effacing artists, all of whom I greatly admire. I hope these portraits will give some entertaining insights into the personalities of these conductors and add to the adventure of listening to their music.”

ONGOING EXHIBITIONS Our hallway galleries feature ongoing exhibtions focusing on the history of live performing arts in the Bay Area from the Gold Rush to the present, which represents the core of our collection.

From The Bob Johnson Sheet Music Collection		THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS: Movie Music Selections from the Bob Johnson Sheet Music Collection In 2007, Bob Johnson donated his collection of over 60,000 pieces of sheet music to the Museum of Performance & Design. This is the largest donation in the organization’s history since founder Russell Hartley started the archive in 1947, and one of the most extensive available collections of sheet music in the country. The collection includes sheet music from movies and stage musicals; includes works by famous composers such as Gershwin, Berlin, and Porter; concentrates on themes related to dance styles such as Ragtime, Cakewalk, and Two Step; and even showcases television and radio jingles, advertising themes and a smattering of pop music. The exhibition, now on view in our hallway gallery, is dedicated to the memory of Betty Grable and features 60 of Mr. Johnson's favorite movie-related sheet music covers. The sheet music itself is availablein the Library as part of our extensive performing arts collection.

From the 2010 Los Angeles production of Siegfried		DESIGNING WAGNER'S RING An Aesthetic/Historic Overview 1876-2010 Wagner's monumental operatic work, The Ring of the Nibelung, with its mythological structure and its powerful story of fate, is so complex and challenging that over a period of 135 years it has been subject to a wide range of interpretations. This cameo exhibition -- curated by Professor William Eddelman, and on view in our hallway gallery -- concetrates on the design aspects of the many notable productions that have played around the world since its debut in 1876. The over 80 images follow the history of this fascinating artwork, and has been mounted in association with the San Francisco Opera's 2011 production.

Lola Montez		Stars of the Early San Francisco Stage The great California Gold Rush transformed San Francisco from a sleepy village into a vibrant metropolis in a matter of months, changing the city from cultural backwater to entertainment Mecca. The 75,000 men who made their way to the raw, muddy town in 1849 were mostly young and footloose, with scant family responsibilities, few religious or social inhibitions, gold in their pockets, and a raging appetite for all forms of stimulation, intoxication, and diversion. They wanted to spend their time and their gold dust on the loftiest and the lowest amusements. San Francisco's mix of Harvard graduates, farm boys, European miners, entrepreneurs, sophisticates, and ruffians constituted an enthusiastic audience for live entertainment. Early San Franciscans had an insatiable appetite for the stage and all of its pursuits, whether high tragedy, low comedy, grand opera, minstrelsy, burlesque, concerts, popular songs, dance, or circus. This exhibition is based upon photographs of stars of the early stage from the permanent collection here at the Museum of Performance & Design including a studio portrait of Luisa Tetrazzini, the famed Italian soprano who made her debut in San Francisco in 1905. Also in the exhibition are theCallender Minstrels, who made several Bay Area appearances and are thought to be the first African-American minstrel company to visit San Francisco. Lotta Crabtree is also featured in this exhibition as she was the most popular comedienne of her era, as well as the highest paid performer on the Broadway stage until that time.

Edwin Booth		San Francisco, 1900, On Stage Called the “Paris of the West”, it is said that by the 1890’s San Francisco had more theaters than any other city in the United States. Thousands took in at least one show a week, and stock and traveling companies learned, rehearsed and produced hundreds of titles a year. Originally located in Portsmouth Square, the theater district had moved to the more desirable Market Street area in the later part of the 19th century. Ferries and local trains brought people in from the greater Bay Area and business was booming. San Francisco was the home to eccentricity and flamboyance since its early gold mining days, and traveling performers soon fell in love with the city and its accepting star-struck inhabitants. The press coverage by the several newspapers in circulation fueled the enthusiasm. Announcing not only the upcoming performances, the papers also gossiped about the latest scandals rocking the theatrical worlds of San Francisco, New York, London, and Paris. The city craved the latest sensations from the East and Europe and imported talent to prove to the world just how much this mining town had grown into a culturally rich environment rivaling its larger sister cities. The theater of 1900 had no competitors for public amusement. Radio and phonograph had yet to be introduced, and moving pictures were not an individual form of entertainment, but usually part of a larger variety or vaudeville show. This exhibit is an introduction to this world, one where people interacted with each other for entertainment. The photographs, programs, and newspaper clippings used in this exhibit have been reproduced from originals in the collections of the Museum of Performance & Design; California Historical Society; the San Francisco Historical Center, San Francisco Public Library; and private collections.

Gennadi Rozhdestvensky Photo by Tom Zimberoff		Maestro! Photographic Portraits by Tom Zimberoff “ A negative is like the score of a symphony, and a print is the performance of that symphony.” - Ansel Adams Bay Area photographer Tom Zimberoff was inspired to undertake a remarkable collection of portraits by this comment by Adams, who was, like himself, a musician turned photographer. The effort took him around the world, and six years to complete. “A melody, vibrant in the mind of a composer,” says Zimberoff, “lies silent on a sheet of paper, a cipher of lines and dots and scratches of ink, until a conductor, in the darkness of an auditorium and in the company of his own instrument, the orchestra, renders those notes into music that the audience can hear. A photographer working alone in a darkroom sees an image with his mind’s eye. With his guidance it undergoes a metamorphosis to emerge as a print that the viewer can behold and admire. No two performances sound alike, and no two photographs look exactly alike.” However, Zimberoff felt that all the portraits of conductors he had ever seen looked too much alike, stereotypical portrayals of the tuxedoed genius making strange faces while waving a baton. Working intimately with his subjects, Zimberoff developed a personal and individual depiction of each conductor’s character beyond the podium. “I was lucky to meet such alternately arrogant, cantankerous, charming, gracious, and even a few self-effacing artists, all of whom I greatly admire. I hope these portraits will give some entertaining insights into the personalities of these conductors and add to the adventure of listening to their music.”

Anna Halprin		Dance in California: 150 Years of Innovation The West has always been a region of expansion and cultural innovation. Here, on the edge of the Pacific, many of the nation’s greatest dance iconoclasts crossed thresholds of innovation, and in doing so, changed the course of dance throughout the world. This exhibition samples the historical and artistic breadth of the state’s dance world. The exhibition-- comprised of photographs from private as well as the Museum’s collections-- begins in the mid-nineteenth century when the raucous milieu of a young San Francisco became home to the boisterous theatrical personality of Lola Montez. At the fin de siècle, a fascination with Greek culture captivated the Bay Area and inspired Isadora Duncan to conceive the fledgling ideals of modern dance. Inspired by the utopian California land and seascapes, two Southern California based dancers, Ruth St. Denis and Martha Graham, expanded the nascent discipline of interpretive dance, giving shape and substance to a new American art form. California’s ballet tradition began in the nineteenth century and was sharply defined in the mid-twentieth century by the Christensen brothers, whose commitment benefited the Bay Area for almost five decades. Modern and creative dance institutions have long flourished throughout the state including the Peters Wright School and Lester Horton’s company. During the 1960s, Anna Halprin created and performed public rituals on her dance deck in Marin County. Danny Pinola, born on the Kashia Pomo reservation revived the traditions of his Native American culture including ritual dances performed in educational settings and open to the public. The San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Dance Festival, the nation’s first, was started in 1997. In recent years, increasing numbers of national and international dance artists like the late Lucas Hoving, who was born in the Netherlands, have chosen to renew their careers in California.

MUSEUM OF PERFORMANCE & DESIGN \| VETERANS BLDG. \| 401 VAN NESS AVE. SUITE 402 \| SAN FRANCISCO \| CA \| 94102 \| 415-255-4800