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Seymour Levine Collection, 1939-1989

 

Summary

Creator:
Levine, Seymour
Abstract:
This collection contains hand-notated music, playscripts, and lyrics written and composed by Seymour Levine, (1938-2005). Levine was a self-published composer who mainly composed music for the now-defunct Interstate Commerce Commission.
Extent:
61 items
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Title of Item], [Date of Item], Seymour Levine Collection, Warren D. Allen Music Library, Tallahassee, Florida.

Background

Biographical / historical:

Biography from grandson Steve Levine:

Seymour, the second of three siblings, was born on May 9, 1920 to immigrant parents (Russia) in Brooklyn, New York. Father Jacob Levine, mother Fanny, and sister Lillian. During the early days of the Great Depression, he, and his older sister, were placed into a children's home because his parents were no longer able to feed them. After the depression ended, he and his sister moved back into the family's apartment and at ten-years-old Seymour began delivering silk ties his father made to business customers which heled support the family. Soon afterwards, his father bought him a cornet which began his life-long musical career. He graduated high school at age sixteen after skipping two grades.

In 1940, Seymour joined, as a founding member, the New York Post Office Symphony Orchestra playing the cornet. However, his life changed in March, 1941, when he was offered a job with the Federal government in Washington, D.C.

During the last twenty years of his thirty-three-year career with the Interstate Commerce Commission, a now defunct agency, Seymour composed official correspondence for the agency. Composing was his passion in life –– letters, music, lyrics and, later, musical plays.

Also, in 1941, Seymour and his fiancé, Shirley Rothbard, secretly married so she can (sic) join him in Washington, D.C. They were officially married three months later with a large, planned wedding in New York City. They had two children and remained happily married until her untimely death from cancer in 1961 when she was thirty-nine years old.

Seymour wrote his first song titled "Tappin' Away" including both the music and lyrics in 1939 and completed his sixty-third song in 1989. While living in Greenbelt, Maryland, from 1941 until mid-1982 (except when he was in the U.S. Army in World War II including fighting in the Battle of the Bulge), he was always busy with music and received many awards with his talent. Seymour joined the Greenbelt Concert Band and was an active member for many years. The two musical plays entitled "Undershaft" copyrighted in 1983 and "David" copyrighted in 1985, were written while he was living in Pikesville, Maryland. They were the highlights of his life-long hobby and, together, contained twenty-one songs and three poems.

Arrangement:

There are 61 titles in this collection. 60 folders include parts and copyright statements for sheet music. 1 folder contains an inventory created by the family and an undated photograph.

Physical facet:
Collection has 61 folders. 60 contain sheet music, 1 contains mixed materials.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

This collection is open to all researchers. Users may access this collection by making an appointment with the Music Special Collections staff at AMLSpec@fsu.edu.

Preferred citation:

[Title of Item], [Date of Item], Seymour Levine Collection, Warren D. Allen Music Library, Tallahassee, Florida.

Location of this collection:
FSU College of Music
122 N. Copeland St.
Tallahassee
FL
32306-1601
USA