Collection context
Summary
- Creator:
- State University of New York at Buffalo. Music Dept.
- Abstract:
- The collection contains recordings of 93 of the approximately 173 concerts presented at the Evenings for New Music concerts from 1964-1980. Approximately 464 works were recorded as well as some spoken introductions to works by their respective composers. The original recordings were made on reel-to-reel tapes. The contents were transferred to cassettes in the 1980s and then digitally reformatted in 2007 onto CDs (service and in-house masters) and DVDs (preservation masters).
- Extent:
- 12 linear feet, (162 reel to reel tapes,, 278 audio compact discs, and 96 DVDs)
- Language:
- Collection material includes spoken word recordings in English.
Background
- Scope and Content:
The collection contains recordings of approximately 464 works performed at 93 of the Evenings for New Music concerts 1964-1980. This finding aid contains a description of the recordings of concerts held by the Music Library. Not all concerts were recorded so the inventory in this finding aid does not represent a complete description of all the concerts presented in the series. A fuller listing can be seen in the online version of the original catalog compiled of the concert programs.
There are more than 200 composers represented in the collection. They include most of the major composers of the first half of the twentieth century, including Cage, Boulez, Babbitt, Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, Stockhausen, Stravinsky, Copland, and Feldman. The composers were often present at the concerts and rehearsals of their works so many of the performances were conducted under the supervision of the composer. The list of composers who appeared as performers in the concerts is equally impressive, including Earle Brown, Bussotti, Cage, Crumb, Del Tredici, Foss, Hiller, Pousseur, Riley, Rzewski, Sahl, and Wuorinen. The performers included some of the most prominent specialists in contemporary music, including Eberhard Blum, Ursula Oppens, Paul Zukofsky, Julius Eastman, Jan Williams, David Tudor, Stuart Dempster, Robert Dick, and Joan La Barbara.
- Biographical / Historical:
The Evenings for New Music concert series was a product of the Center of the Creative and Performing Arts, established to give young professional performers and composers the opportunity to focus on the production of new music. Lukas Foss, Music Director for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra 1963-1971, approached Gordon Smith, director of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery 1955-1973, to develop ideas for a Center of New Music in Buffalo. In discussions with Allan Sapp, Director of the University at Buffalo Music Department, and the Rockefeller Foundation, a proposal was submitted to the Foundation for the development of the Center. Modeled after the Evenings-on-the-Roof concert series in Los Angeles, the Center of the Creative and Performing Arts was “founded on notions of providing performing ensembles, of making definitive renditions of new and complicated music feasible, of bringing composers and performers into the closest working relationships, of developing a corpus of recordings and privately-held scores, of establishing a central locus for the study of new techniques of composition notation and performance practice.” The proposal was accepted and the Center of the Creative and Performing Arts began operation in 1964.
Directors of the Center of the Creative and Performing Arts included the founders, Lukas Foss and Allan Sapp, who acted as Co-Directors from 1964-68; Lejaren Hiller, Co-Director with Lukas Foss from 1968-74; Jan Williams, Co-Director with Renée Levine from 1974-76; Renée Levine, Center Coordinator from 1964-74 and Co-Director from 1974-78; and Morton Feldman, Music Director from 1976-1980. Performers and composers selected to be fellows at the Center were given the title of Creative Associate.
There were two main concert series produced by the Center of the Creative and Performing Arts: Evenings for New Music concerts and Creative Associate Recitals. Evenings for New Music concerts were performed in Buffalo and also performed, often with changes in programs, at various venues in New York City, including Carnegie Hall, Cooper Union, and the WBAI Radio Free Music Store, at other State University of New York campuses, and at venues in other states, including New Jersey, New Hampshire, Michigan, Indiana, Vermont, and Washington, D.C.
- Acquisition information:
- Gift of State University of New York at Buffalo Music Dept.
- Arrangement:
The collection is arranged in two series:
- I. Service copy compact discs reformatted from reel to reel tapes
- II. Reel to reel tapes not reformatted
- Physical location:
- The reel to reel tapes are currently housed in Music Library Storage (B-32). The preservation masters are located in the Music Library's Treasure Room.
- Rules or conventions:
- Finding aid prepared using DACS ( Describing Archives: A Content Standard ).
Indexed Terms
Access
- LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
- CONTACT:
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716-645-2924