SCHERZO was an independent camper publication introduced in 1928 as a mimeographed letter, 8.5x11”; there were 7 issues.

In 1929 the girls did one issue, the boys and faculty did the last two. For the last week of 1929, and all of 1930, (the 2nd & 3rd summers), “Scherzo” was a 9x12” newsprint tabloid.

In 1931-33 the weekly publications were titled “Program and Scherzo”; the “Scherzo” portion generally with Op and Nr. identification -- for 1931, “Opus 4”. In later years “Opus” would identify year; “No.”, the week.

In 1934, the weekly program/scherzo was titled “The Scherzo | National Music Camp”, i.e. “program” isn’t even on the cover page. Each week’s program was 48 pp., and a separate publication, ala the Yearbooks, was produced also.

In 1935 and ‘36, the 48-page weekend program booklets were titled “The Scherzo - Weekly magazine of the National Music Camp”, but lacked the gossipy-newsy element of early years.

In 1937 the booklets were entitled slightly differently, as “The Weekly Scherzo - Magazine of the National Music Camp”. Some weeks during 1935-37 the booklet was reduced to 32 pages.

1938-39 “Scherzo” issues were only 16 pages with no commercial advertising: 9 were for the front- and back-page Bowl photographs, Sunday Service, weekly concerts, employee and student rosters and map of Michigan. The remainder includes radio script excerpts, notes about mail received, faculty info, et cetera. For 1939, the title returned to “The Scherzo - Weekly Magazine of the National Music Camp”, and the final issue was a souvenir edition from the performance at the New York World’s Fair, with a different cover image.

The Scherzo for 1940 continued the cover image from the World’s Fair edition, now titled “The Scherzo - National Music Camp”. The size remained at 16 pages. In 1941, the name “Scherzo” disappeared, (not to return until 1949), but individual weekly programs continued; these are also 16 pages long, but with a different cover image of a camper each week.

1942: Programs for the first summer of the war may have been only single pages, a folded sheet of four pages, or even a mimeographed copy with minimal information. We have discovered a few originals here, the Bentley Library has some, and we have some photocopies. We have not discovered any collections of the entire 1942 sequence. There was however a 12- page “carcass” [ Interlochen Bowl | National | Music Camp |1942 ] which may have been designed to enclose inserts of the program(s) for each weekend, although the nature of Dr. Maddy’s piece on page 2 suggests that this sole reminder of the traditional programs may have been produced after the season was over.

1943-1948: A new stage arrived when the single-sheet programs were re-formatted after the summers ended and published in chronological order as a booklet. General information and camp history were augmented by rosters of faculty and staff, students by division and home state/country, and membership in ensembles. The 1943 book is a unique size (5” wide x 10” tall); the typical size is 8 to 8.5 inches tall and about 5 inches wide. The news/commentary elements that had waned in the early 40s are gone altogether from 1943 on.

In 1949, the Scherzo re-appeared. The first issue was a 5-page mimeographed edition in 8.5 x 14” size. The remaining seven weeks of the camp, the Scherzo was a 4-page newsprint tabloid in 11 x 14” size. Subsequently, the Scherzo became a memory-yearbook and continued as such into the 1990s.

In 1950, the Scherzo was reduced to an 8-page printed pamphlet in 7 x 10” size. Only three issues were released for the season. In 1951 this format continued, but only two issues were released. We have found no issues for 1952.

In 1953-54, the Scherzo returned to the 4-page newsprint tabloid format, this time in 11.5 x 17” size. Again only two issues were released each year.