Collection context
Summary
- Creator:
- State University of New York at Buffalo. Music Library
- Abstract:
- The images in the collection provide documentation of performances at the University at Buffalo by Music Dept. faculty and visiting artists, especially in the realm of contemporary music. Among the many notable composers represented in the collection are: Earle Brown, Harrison Birtwistle, Pauline Oliveros, Colin Bright, Julius Eastman, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Lejaren Hiller, Cornelius Cardew, Carlos Chavez, Aaron Copland, Lukas Foss, Elliott Carter, David Del Tredici, Harold Shapero, Ralph Shapey, Ingolf Dahl, Henri Pousseur, Philip Glass, George Crumb, Fredric Myrow, Leon Kirchner, George Rochberg, New Rorem, Allen Sapp, Toru Takemitsu, Morton Subotnick, Leo Smit, and Augusta Read Thomas.
- Extent:
- 9 boxes and (639 items)
- Language:
- No textual materials are included in the collection.
Background
- Scope and Content:
The Music Department Photograph Collection contains 639 photographs of musicians who have participated in events of the Music Deptartment dating back to ca. 1920. This includes music faculty, students (though not student events and ensembles), and visiting musicians. The collection is especially strong in its representations of performers and composers of contemporary music from 1960-2000. Many of these musicians came to Buffalo as visiting faculty or as Creative Associates at the Center of the Creative and Performing Arts (1964-1980). The list of composers in the collection is impressive. It includes: Earle Brown, Harrison Birtwistle, Pauline Oliveros, Colin Bright, Julius Eastman, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Lejaren Hiller, Cornelius Cardew, Carlos Chavez, Aaron Copland, Lukas Foss, Elliott Carter, David Del Tredici, Harold Shapero, Mauricio Kagel, Ralph Shapey, Ingolf Dahl, Henri Pousseur, Philip Glass, George Crumb, Fredric Myrow, Leon Kirchner, George Rochberg, New Rorem, Allen Sapp, Toru Takemitsu, Morton Subotnick, Leo Smit, and Augusta Read Thomas.
The Music Department at the University at Buffalo has also hosted more than 24 string quartets that have performed the Slee Beethoven String Quartet Cycle series dating back to 1955. The collection includes photographs of the Budapest, Cassatt, Cleveland, Colorado, Concord, Emerson, Guarnieri, Juilliard, Orford, Prague, and Vermeer string quartets.
- Biographical / Historical:
The Music Department of the University at Buffalo truly began to flourish in the late 1950s and early 1960s. With the establishment of the Center of the Creative and Performing Arts in 1964, the Music Department became a major international location for the performance and composition of new music. The Center awarded positions to musicians to come to Buffalo and become Creative Associates of the Center. The Center, including participation by the Creative Associates, Univeristy at Buffalo Music Department faculty, and the many visiting musicians who came to Buffalo, was chiefly responsible for Buffalo's reputation during the 1960s and 1970s for being very hospitable to whatever was new in the arts.
The Department also benefited from two projects funded by local businessman and amateur musician, Frederick Slee: the Slee Beethoven String Quartet Cycle series and the Slee Visiting Professors in Music Theory and Composition. The performances of the Beethoven quartet cycle began in 1955 with performances by the Budapest Quartet and continues to this day. The Slee Professorship attracted several of the most noted composers of the period, including Aaron Copland, Carlos Chavez, David Diamond, Leo Smit, George Rochberg, Ned Rorem, Harrison Birtwistle, Mauricio Kagel, Henri Pousseur, Morton Feldman, Leon Kirchner, and Lejaren Hiller.
- Acquisition information:
- Materials acquired by the Music Library from the Music Department and the Center for the Creative and Performing Arts since 1968.
- Arrangement:
The collection is in one series arranged alphabetically by the principal subject. Newly acquired images are placed at the end of the collection.
- Rules or conventions:
- Finding aid prepared using DACS ( Describing Archives: A Content Standard ).
Access
- LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
- CONTACT:
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716-645-2924