University at Buffalo Libraries

Finding Aid for the Yvar Mikhashoff Collection of Tangos, 1983-1991

Mus. Arc. 1.10

State University of New York at Buffalo. Music Library

Finding aid prepared by Amy Ward.
Finding aid encoded in EAD by Molly O'Brien, November 2007.
Finding aid is in English.
Finding aid prepared using DACS ( Describing Archives: A Content Standard ).

© 2007. State University of New York at Buffalo. All rights reserved.

Collection Overview

Administrative Information

[Specified item], Yvar Mikhashoff Collection of Tangos, 1983-1991, Music Library, The State University of New York at Buffalo.

Gift of the estate of Yvar Mikhashoff, 1994

Materials can be examined by qualified researchers in the Music Library during hours of operation during which Music Librarians are present. In order to insure access, researchers are advised to contact the Music Library in advance of visits.

Copyright for the materials in the collection does not reside with the Music Library. Therefore, patrons wishing to publish any item, or part of an item from this collection for any purpose, are responsible for securing requisite permissions.

Processed by Amy Ward.

No further major accruals are expected to this collection. Revisions of the tangos are occassionally received from composers. They are housed with the original score.

Biographical Note

Yvar-Emilian Mikhashoff was born Ronald McKay in Troy, near Albany, New York in 1941. He began piano studies with Betty Weir and Stanley Hummel in Albany. Mikhashoff studied at the Eastman School of Music in 1959 and in the 1961 academic year, he studied piano at the Juilliard School in New York City. He also had a career as a ballroom dancer from 1962-1965. In 1964 Mikhashoff entered the University of Houston, where he earned a B.M. in 1967 and a M.M in composition in 1968.

Receiving a Fulbright scholarship, he studied the music of the French Impressionists with Nadia Boulanger. After his return to the United States, Mikhashoff earned a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Texas at Austin in August 1973. In the Fall of 1973 Mikhashoff was appointed Assistant Professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Based in Buffalo until his death in 1993, Mikhashoff had an international performing career which led him to promote new music and American music around the world.

In 1982 Mikhashoff had finished a project of commissioned piano pieces, <title>The Buffalo Piano Collection</title>, and was inspired to create a new project. Mikhashoff collaborated with the publishing firm Quadrivium Press, whose contact was Ed Snider, to commission composers from all over the world to write piano pieces based on a dance form, the tango. Mikhashoff's brief but rewarding career as a ballroom dancer was the impetus for centering the project on the tango and composers were enthusiastic to contribute to this collection. Eighty-eight tangos by composers from 30 countries were officially premiered on April 14, 1985 at the North American New Music Festival. Mikhashoff toured internationally performing the tangos and to this date the collection totals 127 tangos for solo piano. It was intended that the tangos be published in a multi-volume set by Quadrivium Press. However, the publication was never issued.

Scope and Content Note

The core of this collection contains photocopies of musical scores for 127 tangos for solo piano submitted to Yvar Mikhashoff between the years 1984-1991. Starting in 1983, Mikhashoff commissioned tangos from composers such as Robert Ashley, Milton Babbitt, Lukas Foss, Otto Luening, Luis de Pablo, and Nils Vigeland. The majority of the original manuscripts are held by Anthony de Mare, pianist, pupil and friend of Mikhashoff; however, this collection does contain manuscripts worthy of mention: The Three Fathers by Gilberto Mendes, Del Tingo al Tango by William Ortiz, Red-sweet Tango by Jorges Peixinho, Tangonetta by Poul Ruders, and Collage-tango by Tadeusz Wielecki. Other unique items in this collection include the sketches of Tiefertango by Oliver Knussen and autographed photocopies of tangos by Mikael Edlund, Tom Johnson, Betsy Jolas, John Myhill, Luis De Pablo, and Marcello Panni.

The collection also contains nine tangos arranged for a chamber ensemble and three tangos for voice and piano. Mikhashoff performed these works on April 15, 1987 with members of the Houston Symphony Orchestra in Houston, Texas. These arrangements have been collated to create another series within this collection.

Correspondence in the collection includes letters from composers, signed agreements for the commission, and/or biographical information about the composers sent to Mikhashoff and/or Ed Snider dated 1983-1989. Not all composers represented in this collection of tangos are included in the correspondence and not all composers with a correspondence folder submitted a tango. After the collection was donated to the Music Library, attempts to contact composers have resulted in updated information for the composer and revised versions of a few tangos previously submitted to the collection. These include Tango para Ivar by Orlando Jacinto Garcia, Moon-Dark Tango by Anthony Genge, Tin-pan Tango by Adrian Jack, and Tango Blue by Charles Sepos.

Mikhashoff's research into the history of the tango included journal articles, magazine articles, newspaper clippings, and a playbill and ticket stub for the Broadway show Tango Argentino. In addition, Mikhashoff collected images of couples dancing the tango and images of works of art that were inspired by or depicted the tango. Mikhashoff incorporated much of this information into his performances of the tango collection, including a lecture on the history of the tango and a slide show.

The performances were always evolving as more tangos were submitted to the collection. As a result, Mikhashoff created many lists of tangos received from 1984 to 1987. He saved programs and reviews of his performances, wrote a preface to the collection and had covers and postcards designed by Bud Jacobs, intended to be used for publishing.

Arrangement

Arranged into six series:

Search Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog.

Subjects

Genres