Guide to the Harrington Shortall Papers 1907-1984


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Table of Contents

• Descriptive Summary
• Information on Use
• Access
• Citation
• Biographical Note
• Scope Note
• Related Resources
• Subject Headings
• INVENTORY
• Series I: Nadia Boulanger
• Series II: Compositions
• Series III: Teaching and Lecture Materials
  • Subseries 1: Piano Method
  • Subseries 2: Copies of Works by Others
  • Subseries 3: Lecture Notes
• Series 4: Personal

Descriptive Summary

Information on Use

Access

The collection is open for research, with no restrictions.

Citation

When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Shortall, Harrington. Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library

Biographical Note

Harrington Shortall was born to a wealthy Chicago family in 1895. He attended the Thatcher School in Ojai, California and Harvard University. Like many young American composers, Shortall studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. During World War I he served in the U.S. Navy, and afterwards began a life of music composition.

During the 1930s, Shortall’s work was included as part of the Federal Music Project Composer’s Forum, an event sponsored by the Works Progress Administration. In 1939 his "The Night is Well-Nigh Spent," was conducted by Nadia Boulanger at The Library of Congress Coolidge Theater.

Shortall was a composer for most of his adult life, although he rarely had his works published or performed after the 1940s. His work is characterized by its clarity, directness, and an embrace of pre-romantic compositional models. Simultaneously, it is music grounded in the everyday life and holiday celebrations of wealthy Chicagoans.

Shortall’s work as a music educator took two forms. He produced (although never published) a piano method book, and served as a lecturer at The Chicago Theological Seminary and Rosary College (now Dominican University) in River Forest, Illinois. Additionally, Shortall copied music from the collection of Chicago’s Newberry Library and produced his own treatises on music composition and theory.

During the 1940s, Shortall briefly taught courses at the Chicago Theological Seminary, Rosary College, and the Latin School. He died in Evanston in 1984.

Scope Note

The Harrington Shortall Papers span the years 1907-1984, with the bulk of material dating from 1920-1960. The collection is organized into three series.

Series I: Nadia Boulanger, contains documents relating to the relationship between Harrington Shortall and his piano and composition teacher. Material in this series includes correspondence from Nadia Boulanger to Harrington Shortall and to his mother, Mary Shortall. It also includes published piano reductions of Lili Boulanger’s music, dedicated to Shortall by Nadia Boulanger; clippings of magazine and newspaper articles; and a bound copy of course notes taken by Sister Edward Blackwell while studying musical analysis with Boulanger. The material in this series ranges from 1913-1979.

Series II: Compositions, contains completed compositions, revisions, unfinished compositions, and related notes. Compositions in this series range from 1907-1981, with significant concentrations from the 1920s-1950s. This series is arranged chronologically.

Series III: Teaching and Lecture Materials, contains material relating to Shortall’s piano method book "Singing Fingers," copies of works by other composers, and course lecture notes. Material in this series spans the 1940s-1950s.

Series IV: Personal, contains Shortall's journals and other personal writings, as well as correspondence and newspaper reviews relating to Shortall’s career as a composer. Also found in this series is an obituary and a photograph of Shortall. This series contains material from 1937-1984.

Related Resources

The following related resources are located in the Department of Special Collections:

http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/spcl/select.html

Nef, Elinor Castle. Papers

Subject Headings

• Boulanger, Nadia
• Shortall, Harrington
• Composers -- United States

INVENTORY

This series contains documents relating to the relationship between Harrington Shortall and his piano and composition teacher Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979). Material in this series includes correspondence from Nadia Boulanger to Harrington Shortall and to his mother, Mary Shortall. It also includes published piano reductions of Lili Boulanger’s music, dedicated to Shortall by Nadia Boulanger; clippings of magazine and newspaper articles; and a bound copy of course notes taken by Sister Edward Blackwell while studying musical analysis with Boulanger. The material in this series ranges from 1913-1979, although the dedicated scores were likely not presented to Shortall until after 1934.

This series contains bound and completed compositions, revisions, unfinished compositions, and related notes. This series is organized chronologically; however, revised and alternate copies are grouped with the earliest version of the composition. Compositions in this series range from 1907-1981, with significant concentrations from the 1920s-1950s. There are multiple drafts, versions, and revisions of "Es Lachelt der See (Song in Search of English Words)," "Reed Song," "The Candidate’s Daughter or Love in Politics," "The West Wind," "Stabat Mater Speciosa," "Ad Romanos XIII 11, 12, 13, 14," "Music for the Order of the Burial of the Dead," "Round a 3," "Semi sentennial Hymn," and "Peaceful Cannon."

This series is organized into three subseries. Subseries 1: Piano Method, contains material relating to Shortall’s piano method book "Singing Fingers." Subseries 2: Copies of Works by Others, contains compositions in a variety of formats, many of which are organized into anthologies. These items are undated, although are likely from the 1940s-1950s when Shortall began having his work professionally bound. Subseries 3: Lecture Notes, contains drafts and notebooks pertaining to course lecture, as well as a copy of a lecture delivered by Reverend Bernard J. Sheil. Material in this series spans the 1940s and 1950s.

This series contains Shortall's personal writings, as well as correspondence and newspaper reviews relating to Shortall’s career as a composer. The correspondence folder also includes the collection’s only photograph of Shortall. The journals include Shortall’s copies of essays and articles on history, music, psychology, theater, and politics, as well as his reflections on these subjects. This series contains material from 1937-1984.