Peter Schoenbach

Dr. Peter J. Schoenbach served as Assistant to the President and Associate Dean at New England Conservatory from 1978-1982. After nine years at Wayne State University, Schoenbach went to the School of Music at the State University a Fredonia in 1993. In 2007, Schoenbach retired from his position as Director of the School of Music at SUNY-Fredonia, a position he had held for ten years. Currently, he is interim chair of SUNY-Fredonia’s modern languages department.  A life-long musician, Schoenbach has had a career in music administration that spans almost thirty years and includes other appointments at Boston University and the Curtis Institute of Music. Earlier in his career, he held teaching positions at Columbia, Temple, Rutgers and Minnesota.
 
Schoenbach is an accomplished bassoonist and woodwind coach and has performed at summer festivals such as the Berkshire Music Festival (Tanglewood), Marlboro, and Bowdoin, and was Director of the School of Music at the Chautauqua Institution from 1997 until 2002 where he played with the Chautauqua Symphony and taught bassoon. He has also played with the Philadelphia, Minnesota, English Chamber, Detroit, Buffalo, Chautauqua and Western New York Chamber Orchestras.
 
A native of Philadelphia, Schoenbach earned degrees from Swarthmore College (where he studied with Peter Gram Swing and Vincent Persichetti) and Columbia University, before completing his doctorate in Spanish and Portuguese at Rutgers University. He has published extensively in the fields of Latin American Literature, especially theatre and short story with emphasis on Brazil, and the music of the Hispanic world. His list of publications includes articles or reviews in Hispania, Latin American Theatre Review, Modern Language Journal, Revista de Estudios Hispanicos, and Portuguese Studies Review, as well as the book Classical Music of Brazil.

Source: Faculty profile, 'Peter J. Schoenbach' (Accessed 29 January 2007). State University of New York at Fredonia website

Physical description

Peter Schoenbach's collection includes fifteen folders comprising .2 lin. ft. or approximately 1/5 of a record carton.

Provenance

This collection was generated by Peter Schoenbach during his tenure at NEC (1978-1982) as Assistant to the President and Associate Dean. These materials had been kept in storage until they were transferred to the Archives in 2004.

Access

Access to the Peter Schoenbach Papers is granted by the Archivist. Appointments must be scheduled in advance. There may be some restrictions on this collection, particularly with regards to the faculty correspondence.  Issues of access will be addressed on a case by case basis.

Copyright

All copyrights to this collection belong to the New England Conservatory. Permission to publish materials from this collection is granted by the Archivist. This collection should be cited as: NECA 3.6. Peter Schoenbach Papers, New England Conservatory Archives, Boston,MA.

Scope & Content

The Peter Schoenbach Papers are organized into these five series:

1. Correspondence
2. Committee Records 
3. Funding/Scholarship Files
4. Special Event Files 
5. Subject Files

Peter Schoenbach’s Correspondence is divided into several types.  The first two folders contain general correspondence spanning the years 1978-1981. Included are recommendations, invitations to various events, and scheduling of guest artist visits. The administrative correspondence file contains materials concerning a number of topics including marketing strategies, the reorganization of the admissions office, the faculty woodwind quintet, consortia involving NEC(the NE/China consortium and Paddock Island), and Schoenbach’s job responsibilities both as the Assistant to the President and Associate Dean. There are also folders containing correspondence with faculty, staff, and students. The last folder in this series relates to the Alumni Club of Puerto Rico. The correspondence is primarily from club president Sylvia Lamotte. The material involves Puerto Rican students at NEC and scheduling of NEC auditions in Puerto Rico.

The Committee Records series consists of only one folder which contains Long Range Planning committee materials as well as student questionnaires.

The Funding/Scholarship series includes two folders.  The first contains information pertaining to the Music Assistance Fund(a fund providing scholarship assistance to minority students). The second contains a course proposal from the NEC Liberal Arts Department to be submitted for an NEH Pilot grant.

The single Special Events file documents the Association of Independent Conservatories of Music event, Careers in Music Day, which was held at NEC in March 1980.

Schoenbach’s Subject Files cover a variety of topics.  The first contains a small amount of biographical information about Schoenbach himself.  The second folder includes materials relating to Schoenbach’s trip to Brazil during which he toured and examined five music programs. Another subject file documents NEC’s Chinese student enrollment during that period as well as NEC’s participation in the newly formed New England/China Consortium. During his tenure, Schoenbach helped organize the Guest Conductors program, another topic covered in his subject files. The final subject folder documents Schoenbach’s role in the Hillel Foundation of Greater Boston, which had a chapter at NEC. The same folder also contains materials pertaining to NEC’s Christian Fellowship organization.

Container List

Series 1: Correspondence

Folder 1 – Correspondence, General, November 1978 - June 1980
Folder 2 – Correspondence, General, July 1980 - December 1981
Folder 3 – Correspondence, Administrative
Folder 4 – Correspondence, Faculty
Folder 5 – Correspondence, Students
Folder 6 – Correspondence, Alumni Club of Puerto Rico

Series 2: Committee Records

Folder 7 – Committee Records, Long Range Planning

Series 3: Funding/Scholarships

Folder 8 – Music Assistance Fund
Folder 9 – NEH Pilot Grant

Series 4:  Special Event Files

Folder 10 – AICM Career Day

Series 5: Subject Files

Folder 11 – Biographical Information
Folder 12 – Brazil Visit
Folder 13 – Chinese Student Enrollment
Folder 14 – Guest Conductor Program
Folder 15 – Student Religious Organizations