In the life of a highly creative person, it is almost inevitable that important materials go missing. This page documents works, materials, and recordings connected to Moses Pergament that are currently lost or whose whereabouts remain uncertain. It also records recent rediscoveries of previously unknown archival materials. Information about the items described below is still incomplete, and readers or researchers who may possess relevant knowledge, archival documents, or recordings are warmly encouraged to get in touch.

Abrams Erwachen

Among Moses Pergament’s most significant late works is the still-unperformed opera Abrams Erwachen, with a libretto by Nelly Sachs, a close friend of Moses and Ilse Pergament who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1966. The premiere of this work was under consideration at the Royal Opera in Stockholm in the mid-1970s, and preliminary plans for a premiere in 1978 were on the agenda according to archival documents. However, the sudden death of Pergament in March 1977 appears to have put a halt to these plans. Pergament’s correspondence and calendar entries show that the composer translated the entire libretto into Swedish at the request of the Royal Opera in Stockholm in 1974, for which he was paid 3,000 SEK. It was previously known that a printed score of the work existed in the archival collections of the Royal Opera. Yet it was only through recent research that it became clear that the score in the possession of the Royal Opera was the only existing copy containing this Swedish translation of the work.

Krelantems och Eldeling

In 1920, Moses Pergament was in Paris and was highly impressed by the Ballets Russes production of The Rite of Spring, which received repeat performances following its scandalous premiere in 1913. Pergament soon got acquainted with Sergei Diaghilev, the famous impresario of Ballets Russes, and Diaghilev became interested enough to commission the choreographic poem “Krelantems och Eldeling” from Pergament. It is not entirely clear what happened with these plans, but it took many years until the work was finished, and it was instead premiered at the Royal Opera in Stockholm in 1928, where it was a resounding success. And yet: not only has the work never been performed in full since 1928, but there are uncertainties regarding the whereabouts of the printed score.

At present, only one worn copy of the full score, with proposed changes pencil-marked in many places, has been found – at the Music and Theater Library in Stockholm. This copy appears to have belonged to the composer, and it is difficult to say when the suggested changes were written in. It is known that Pergament submitted a score to the Swedish Society of Composers in 1939 or earlier, but the whereabouts of this copy are not known. Similarly, Svensk Musik/STIM makes a mention of this score in their catalogue of Pergament’s works, yet they are also unaware of the whereabouts of the score.

In practice, this means that the score and parts for one of the most significant Swedish ballet works of the early twentieth century are unavailable for purchase and hire. The work cannot be performed due to lack of necessary materials.

A solution to this dilemma exists. Moses Pergament made a suite of this work, which included a large amount of the original score, likely re-orchestrated in accordance with the pencilled markings in the full score. A full score of this choreographic poem could be reconstructed, on the basis of the suite and the surviving early copy of the full score. If such an edition was made, it would again be possible to perform “Krelantems och Eldeling”.

The Lost Archival Tapes

Moses Pergament noted in his calendar that the Swedish Radio would visit him on March 21 1977 to pick up his archival tapes. As fate would have it, this turned out to be his final, preliminarily written calendar entry – Pergament died in his home on March 5 1977. What, then, happened to his archival tapes after his passing?

There is no certainty about the whereabouts or precise contents of these tapes. Many of them likely contained already-existing radio recordings, many of which may be found elsewhere. But they may also have contained the aforementioned tapes with electronic sounds for his opera Abrams Erwachen, as well as a recording of Moses Pergament’s Piano Concerto, with the Finnish Radio Orchestra (RSO) conducted by Erik Cronvall and with Vasso Devetzi as soloist. It is known that Moses was very pleased with this recording, and with the level of both the soloist and the orchestra. The recording was made in late December 1963. Pergament also notes that conductor Cronvall and the intendant Kai Maasalo were both positive about the concerto, which is confirmed in Cronvall’s case by a complimentary letter to Pergament after the recording. The recording was broadcast by YLE, the Finnish Broadcasting Company, but the tape of the recording has not been preserved by them. Copies of the recording were made for both Moses Pergament and Vasso Devetzi. Could they still be found somewhere?

The cases described above illustrate how much of Pergament’s legacy still remains to be fully documented. It is entirely possible that manuscripts, recordings, or other materials connected to these works survive in private collections or institutional archives. Anyone who may possess relevant information is warmly invited to make contact.