University at Buffalo Libraries

Finding Aid for the Recordings of June in Buffalo, 1975-1978, 1980

Mus. Arc. 30

State University of New York at Buffalo. Music Library

Finding aid prepared by John Bewley.
Finding aid encoded in EAD by John Bewley, October, 2011.
Finding aid written in English.
Finding aid prepared using DACS ( Describing Archives: A Content Standard ).

Revisions

August 30, 2012. The finding aid was updated with the addition of a series for the John Cage lecture recordings.

Preservation and digitization performed by George Blood Audio funded by a grant from the J. Warren and Charles Donald Perry Memorial Fund administered by the Community Foundation of Greater Buffalo.

© 2011. State University of New York at Buffalo. All rights reserved.

Collection Overview

Administrative Information

[Specified item], Recordings of June in Buffalo, 1975-1978, 1980, Music Library, The State University of New York at Buffalo.

Gift of State University of New York at Buffalo Music Dept.

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. Additionally, performers' permissions were not acquired at the time of the recordings. 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 John Bewley, 2006.

No further accruals are expected to this collection.

Historical Note

The June in Buffalo festival of contemporary music was established by Morton Feldman in 1975. Morton Feldman joined the University at Buffalo Music Faculty in 1972. He was the Slee Professor, 1972-1973, Edgar Varèse Professor, 1975-1987, and the Director of the Center of the Creative and Performing Arts, 1976-1980. Feldman established the June in Buffalo festival in 1975 as a counterpart to the Center of the Creative and Performing Arts' successful Evenings for New Music concerts. The new festival was presented 1975-1978, and again in 1980, with a year off in 1979 when Feldman was on sabbatical. The festival was revived in 1986 by composer David Felder.

In addition to presenting concerts, Feldman's festival created a seminar environment in which student composers attended workshops where distinguished composers-in-residence rehearsed their works and gave lectures. Feldman also wanted to create a more intense listening experience by presenting programs that contained multiple works by a single composer. To that end, twelve works by John Cage were presented on the three concerts that opened the first festival in June 1975. Other single-composer programs were devoted to the works of Christian Wolff, Ralph Shapey, George Crumb, Lejaren Hiller, Nils Vigeland, Steve Reich, Charles Wuorinen, Henry Brant, Elliott Carter, Stefan Wolpe, Milton Babbitt, Lou Harrison, Earle Brown, and Aaron Copland. Works by earlier twentieth-century composers, including Ives, Schoenberg, Satie, Cowell, Webern, Berg, and Bártók were also presented on June in Buffalo programs. Three works received their United States premieres and five works received their world premieres at the festival. All concerts but one were held in what was then called Baird Hall (now Allen Hall) on what is now the South Campus. The June 1, 1976 concert was held at the Albright Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo.

Scope and Content Note

The collection contains recordings for 51 of the 53 concerts that were presented 1975-1980 as part of the June in Buffalo concert series. It contains approximately 216 works. There are several instances of composers providing spoken introductions to their own works. The original recordings were made on reel-to-reel tapes (all but two are 10 inch reels). The contents were digitized in 2007 onto CDs (service and in-house masters) and DVDs (preservation masters).

Please note that this finding aid contains a description of the recorded concerts. The container list also reflects works not recorded (such as when tapes were played of works rather than live performances).

Concerts 7 and 34 were not recorded. Concert 7 took place June 17, 1975 and consisted of performances of the two piano sonatas of Charles Ives. Piano sonata 1 was performed by Nils Vigeland; Piano sonata 2 was performed by Yvar Mikhashoff. Concert 34 took place June 2, 1978. It featured performances by violinist Paul Zukofsky and pianist Ursula Oppens in John Cage's Cheap imitation (violin alone) and Six melodies, and Morton Feldman's Spring of Chosroes.

John Cage presented five lecture-seminars during June in Buffalo 1975. Of these the collection has recordings of the three seminars presented June 4, 5, and 6. These seminars by visiting composers were an integral part of Morton Feldman's plan for the festival. The presentations by Cage are of interest because they are unscripted, spontaneous discussions rather than the prepared lectures he often presented. His interactions with the students and his digressions from reviewing their compositions provide glimpses of his personality and his aesthetics. The June 5 lecture is notable for containing Cage's dramatic response to a performance of his Song Books by the S.E.M. performance on June 4.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in two series:

Search Terms

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

Contributors

Subjects

Genres