May 25, 1988

Table of Contents

Side a                                                                                                                         pp. 1-13

Childhood in Rochester--"little Henry"--violin lessons--his hands, "lappa"--early attempts to write music--confusing lines on staff with the strings of the violin--influence of theater and films--Judaism and Catholicism--his mother's clothes designing--collecting actresses' autographs--Sadakichi Hartmann, The Last Days of Christ--Greenwich Village, E.E.Cummings, and writing music for Tom--Tom and other composers--Massine's choreography--Paul Sargent--Sonatina, for violin and piano--Cary Ross--Paul Whiteman Prize (Gershwin, a judge)--Hoytie Wyborg, patron--Massine's reaction to Diamond's score for Tom--Lillo Way and Gerard Schwarz's interest--Ben Shahn--Erick Hawkins--Rounds--Massine, N. Nabokov, Thomson, and Tom

Side b                                                                                                                                    pp. 13-25

Edwin Fleisher Collection--Stokowski and score requests--Overture to the Tempest--Koussevitzky and the Second Symphony--Schwarz conducts Orchestral Suite from Tom at Waterloo Festival--problems with getting full ballet staged--more on childhood musical experiences--Martha Graham--Greenwich Village, mid-'30s: Cummings, Kreymborg, Agee, deKooning--meeting Ravel: first time, 1928, and last time, 1937 (with Milhaud, Poulenc)--Matisse--meeting Gide--Gide's The Counterfeiters, and Green's novel, The Dark Journey--photographed by Philipe Halsman, and Halsman's photographs of Gide

Side c                                                                                                                         pp. 25-37

Emma Goldman--David Hochstein--Rochester Philharmonic and Albert Coates--Eastman School, Sibley Library--Sessions' score analysis, and other Sessions' students--hearing Music from Sadko--meeting Martha Graham--Leopold Mannes--Sinfonietta, Elfrida Whiteman Prize--Frankie Gershwin--meeting George Gershwin--Denishawn Company--ethnic authenticity in dance (Jack Cole)--Scriabin's Desir--

Graham, Howard Hanson, and the telephone book--New York, 1934--dancers in Graham's company--Icaro

Side d                                                                                                                        pp. 37-50

Musical ambience of parents' home--analysis and Freud--love for his father--a memory of almonds--music in temple--Christ and The King of Kings (film)--father's death--memories and influence of the moon--homosexuality and American composers--Leonard Bernstein--living with painter,  Allela Cornell, and with sculptor, Winifred Lansing--Melville--Dimitri Mitropoulos--Marc Blitzstein's death--composing film scores as a child

Side e                                                                                                                         pp.50-63

Hearing Ravel play his own music on piano--Ravel's Sainte--influence of Ravel on Diamond's compositions--Baroque music--Cleveland Institute, 1927--deRibaupierre and Ravel--Scriabin--return to Rochester; Eastman School--Howard Hanson--Symphony in One Movement--Hanson's Lament for Beowulf--conflicts in school--Partita, for oboe, bassoon, and piano--Dalcroze School--eurhythmics--gymnastics--Homage a Satie, and first performance, conducted by Gerald McGarahan--Ballade, for orchestra--Four Ladies: Cycle of Four Songs--Sonatina, for violin--Composer's Forum concert--Eight Piano Pieces for Children--conducts Violin Concerto and Psalm--studying with Sessions--teaching his own students: transitions and recapitulations--Philip Glass, John Adams, Steve Reich--traditional values in music--Boulez and "nineteenth-century technique"

Side f                                                                                                                                     pp. 63-75

Other Sessions' students--going to Paris, studying with Boulanger--Paris, This April Sunset--Three Madrigals--Quintet,for flute, string trio, and piano--technical craft--receives first Guggenheim--Paris in '38 and '39--meeting Picasso and meeting Matisse--George Antheil's Capriccio and Aiplane Sonata--Piano Sonatina--meeting James Joyce, and his comments on Tom--Sessions' phrase "delivering the goods"--Charles Naginski

Side g                                                                                                                         pp. 75-88

Playing in the orchestra of On The Town--Yaddo, and difficulties with Carson McCullers and Katherine Anne Porter--Mark Warner's Hit Parade Orchestra--Frank Sinatra--playing in Wonderful Town, Magdalena, and Candide--Music for The Tempest--The Rose Tatoo--Hollywood in '49: Stravinsky, Artie Shaw, Schoenberg, Greta Garbo--Two Piano Solo Concerto--Gertrude Schoenberg--Stravinsky and Robert Craft--New York during World War II--patrons--film scores: A Place to Live and Strange Victory--changes in compositional style--Ninth Symphony--"that awful aleatoric stuff"--Jacob Druckman--Italy, late '40s--Florence compared with Paris--interest in Michelangelo--Mitropoulos, and argument over Savonarola--Rounds for String Orchestra, Fourth Symphony, and music for Romeo and Juliet--avant garde in Italy--Cage's prepared piano pieces--Berio and Dallapiccola--comments on other avant-gardists--testifying before House Un-American Activities Committee--Pierre Degeyter Club--Copland's help--Italian interest (or lack thereof) in American music

Side h                                                                                                                                    pp. 88-101

More on Italy--back to Rochester in '65--teaching at Manhattan School of Music--John Brownlee--resigning at Manhattan, moving to Juilliard--Peter Mennin--opinion of Schuman's Literature and Materials of Music program--relationship between teaching and composing--necessity for students to master the large forms--serial music--The World of Paul Klee--Woodwind Quintet--Ninth Symphony--Maria Callas--Cherubini's Medea, with Callas and Bernstein--the "Callas wobble"--misunderstanding with Boulanger in '37

Side i                                                                                                                          pp. 101-109

Further misunderstanding with Boulanger in the '50s--Paris premiere of Stravinsky's Agon--Berg and Schoenberg on that same program--Pierre Boulez--Stravinsky and twelve-note music--Hans Rosbaud--William Glock--Elliott Carter-- an extraordinary letter from Boulanger--visiting Boulanger in her later years--A Song for Hope--Dawn Upshaw--The Noblest Game (opera), and difficulties getting it produced--Tantivy--a symphony in progress