OHAM Info

William Bolcom

with Ev Grimes

Saratoga Springs, New York

July 4, 1988

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Side a: pp. 1‑15

Music in the family‑‑grandfather had a singing group‑‑mother plays piano‑‑other grandfather was a lumber magnate/art patron/music patron of the Seattle Symphony ‑‑encouraged at a young age in music‑going to concerts as a small child‑‑listened to recording of The Rite of Spring‑‑Concord Sonata of Ives‑‑stuttered as a child‑‑was more comfortable with music rather than spoken language‑‑took piano lessons at age four‑‑"childhood prodigy"‑‑had another piano teacher from age five to eleven‑‑had one other piano teacher from age eleven to seventeen‑‑last teacher was demanding‑‑family moved often‑‑uneven lesson schedule‑‑took theory classes at the University of Washington at age eleven‑‑had a General Motors scholarship‑‑high school principal not encouraging‑‑entered University of Washington full‑time at age seventeen‑‑poetry class with Theodore Roethke‑‑interested in literature classes‑importance of words in music and diction.

Side b: pp. 15‑28

Word setting‑‑finished college in three years‑‑went to study with Darius Milhaud at the Aspen Music Festival‑‑ interest in Gustav Mahler ‘55‑‘58‑‑composition major‑‑Otto Kinkeldey‑‑played only piano‑‑Paul Hindemith‑‑Darius Milhaud as a teacher‑‑year studying with Milhaud at the Paris Conservatory on a French government scholarship‑‑draft notices‑‑Arnold Weinstein‑‑The Comedy of Horrors (Dynamite Tonite)‑‑toNew York‑‑went to get a doctorate at Stanford instead of going into the army‑‑Violin Sonata‑‑six string quartets‑influence of Joseph Haydn‑ ‑Theater of the Absurd‑‑Milhaud’s style‑Mills College‑‑Karl Stockhausen‑‑Pierre Boulez‑‑influence of Olivier Messiaen.

Side c: pp. 28‑43

Darius Milhaud‑‑‘61 and Fantasy Sonata‑‑teachingcomposition‑Western music‑‑mathematics ‑‑tonality‑‑Lel and Smith at Stanford‑rock score for Two Gentlemen‑of Verona in 1963‑‑William Blake‑problems with students‑‑ importance of facility‑‑popular music‑‑peer pressure‑‑Dynamite Tonite‑‑New School in New York‑‑avoided draft‑first marriage‑‑finished doctorate at Stanford‑‑thesis piece, Oracles‑‑performancewith Actor's Studio Theater in New York‑Guggenheim fellowship‑‑back in the University of Paris‑‑taught at the University of Washington‑‑position at Queens' College.

Side d: pp. 43‑57

Queen's College faculty‑‑breakup of first marriage‑‑moved to La Jolla, California‑‑LSD experiences ‑‑Black Host‑‑Etudes‑‑changes in style‑‑composer's place in society‑‑Rockefeller FouEdation‑‑Rudi Plesh's They All Played Ragtime‑ ‑Scott Joplin's Tremonisha‑-Heliotrope Bouquet‑‑Graceful Ghost ‑‑Greatshot at Yale‑‑William

Burroughs‑‑got married again‑‑stormy marriage‑‑Yale in ‘68‑‑crazy times‑‑end of second marriage‑‑Unpopular Songs‑‑Fives‑‑Dream Musics‑‑Whisper Moon.

Side e: pp. 57‑71

Dream Music No. 2‑‑Whisper Moon‑‑change in cohesion of New York artistic community‑‑ Session IV‑‑scandal of Black Host at Orion, France Music Festival‑‑George Rochberg‑‑Brass Knuckles and Bill Albright‑‑Garden of Eden‑‑A Serpent's Kiss‑‑Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle‑‑Shuffle Along‑‑concert pieces, Duet for Quintet and Whisper Moon‑‑pianist for Second City group of actors in New York‑improvisation at NYU‑‑"composer in residence" at Yale and Greatshot‑ ‑composer in residence at NYU‑‑dance projects‑‑music for The Great Hoss Pistol‑‑music for The Measures Taken by Brecht‑record business‑‑Nonesuch Records‑‑recording Bolcom Plays His Own Rags‑‑Session IV recorded with the Juilliard Repertory Ensemble for Vega‑‑ Praeludium‑‑Chorale and Prelude on Abide With Me‑‑Dark Music‑Theater of the Absurd‑‑"funny" pieces‑‑Duets for Quintet for the Aeolian Chamber Players.

Side f: pp. 71‑85

Theater of the Absurd‑‑Duets for Quintet at Bowdoin College‑-freelance work‑‑Seabiscuits‑‑Graceful Ghost ‑‑Satires ‑‑The Subway Beggar‑‑Commedia for the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra‑‑Fancy Tale-‑The Vampire's Sweetheart‑‑The Abandoned Fa‑iryboat‑‑Frescoes‑-Hydraulis‑‑microtonal music‑‑War in Heaven‑‑Caves of Orcus‑‑Roman hydraulis organ‑‑Black Host in Montreal‑‑Heliotrope Bouquet record

‑Within the Quota by Cole Porter‑‑Gerald Murphy and the Lost

Generation‑‑Parade of Satie‑‑Joan Morris.

Side g: pp. 85‑100

Successful recital with Joan Morris of American popular songs of the ‘20s and ‘30s‑‑recordings for Nonesuch‑‑Fourth Symphony‑‑Open House to poetry by Theodore Roethke‑‑Ninth Quartet‑‑Novella‑‑Summer Divertimento for Chamber music Northwest ‑‑Duo Fantasy‑‑Trauermarsch‑‑Raggin' Rudi‑‑started teaching composition at the University of Michigan‑‑still maintains ties with New York‑‑touring with Joan Morris ‑‑concert tours‑‑teaches composition for non-composition majors‑‑will teach "Words in Music" course‑‑hosted seminar, "Composer in the Music Business"‑‑Songs of Innocence and of Experience.

Side h: pp. 100‑114

Composing‑‑Piano Concerto‑‑Seasons for guitarist Michael Lorimer Piano Quartet‑‑Short Lecture‑‑married Joan Morris‑‑Mysteries, organ piece for Bill Albright ‑ ‑Gospel Preludes ‑‑Chorale Prelude on Abide with Me‑‑Revelation Studies at University of Michigan‑‑12 Cabaret Songs‑‑Violin Sonata No. 2‑‑Fields of Flowers‑‑Beggar's

Opera‑‑arrangements of old songs with Joan Morris‑‑Milhaud's arrangements for The Beggar's Opera‑‑Humoresk commissioned by the American Composer's orchestra‑‑Third Symphony.

Side i: pp. 114‑127

Style‑‑Third Symphony‑‑3 Donald Hall Songs‑‑poems of Donald Hall‑-Afternoon Rag Suite‑‑The Graceful Ghost‑‑Brass Quintet‑‑family genealogy of the name Bolcom‑‑grandf ather‑‑Monsterpieces‑‑Ragomania written for the Boston Pops‑‑Aubade‑‑6 New Cabaret Songs‑‑Dead Moth Tango‑‑Knock‑Stück‑‑ Abbacadabra‑‑Lilith for saxophone and piano‑edited collected writings of George Rochberg, The Aesthetics of Survival‑‑Orphée Sérénade‑‑Etudes‑‑Fourth Symphony‑‑Casino ParaTi‑se‑‑Fantasia Concertante‑‑9 Etudes‑‑12 Piano Etudes‑‑Violin Concerto‑‑Etudes‑‑12 New Etudes‑‑more on Fourth Symphony‑‑Fairy Tales‑‑work with group, Oregon‑‑won Pulitzer Prize.

Side j: pp.127‑142

Black Max Cabaret Songs album‑‑Berlin Album for Nonesuch‑‑album, Lime Jello for R.C.A.‑‑cabaret songs‑‑The Other Songs by Leiber and Stoller‑‑pulling disparate styles together in pieces‑‑intervals--Joan Morris‑‑singers and singing‑‑Piano Quartet ‑‑Mozart‑‑Rossini‑teaching, performing, writing.

William Bolcom

with Jenny Raymond

Ann Arbor, Michigan

July 8, 1999

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cassette Side k p. 1-23

Pulitzer Prize--Stephen Albert--Fifth Symphony--conductors and their commitment to composers--Dennis Russell Davies--Leonard Slatkin--Sonata for Violin, Cello and Piano--relationships with performers: Marilyn Horne and I Will Breathe a Mountain--McTeague--Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra--Derek Bermel--Violin Concerto--Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano--Nadja Solerno-Sonnenberg--Sonata No. 3 for Violin and Piano--I Will Breathe a Mountain--The Mask--setting a poem--Roethke--Ramon Delgado Palacios--Casino Paradise: “opera for actors” or “cabaret opera”--Dynamite Tonite--setting English--American popular song as a model--Ninth Quartet--Casino Paradise--Dynamite Tonite.

Cassette Side l p. 23-47

Robert Altman--Stravinsky’s neoclassical operas--Arnold Weinstein--McTeague: Weinstein-Bolcom-Altman collaboration--Third Sonata--Nadja Solerno-Sonnenberg--Emmanuel Ax--involvement with American Academy of Arts & Letters--Sonata for Two Pianos--Recuerdos--Palacios--Armonias del Avila--Catherine Malfitano--Lyric Concerto for Flute and Orchestra for James Galway--Koussevitzky Foundation award: Dynamite Tonite--Let Evening Come--Benita Valente--Tatiana Troyanos--poet Maya Angelou--poet Jane Kenyon--Broken Glass--A View from the Bridge--suite for cello--impact of teaching at an university on performing and composing--Gordon Beeferman--composer-performers--Luciano Berio--What young composers should study--teaching composition students.

Cassette Side m p. 47-68

A Whitman Triptych with Marilyn Horne--Whitman poetry--week in residence with the New York Philharmonic--orchestras and conductors--Fantasia Concertante for the Vienna Philharmonic--advantage of residencies with the orchestra--Joan Tower--Dennis Russell Davies--James Levine--twentieth century orchestra literature--Ernest Fleischmann--building relationships with other musicians--exploration of percussion in the orchestra in the twentieth century--Cuban Overture by Gershwin--Nine Bagatelles for the tenth Van Cliburn international competition--Dallas-Fort Worth area--Van Cliburn jury--Gaea, for two pianos, left hand and orchestra, for Graffman and Fleisher--David Zinman--Darius Milhaud--two orchestras--Pietro Raimondi--more on two orchestras of Gaea--Fanfare for the Detroit Opera Orchestra.

Cassette Side n p. 68-89

Fanfare (cont.)--Boulez--McTeague--twelve-tone music--music at the university--La Monte Young--Fourth Symphony and audiences--Songs of Innocence and of Experience--Cabaret Songs, Vols. 3 & 4--partnership with his wife--Lester Young--Office Girl’s Lament--popular song--Die Winterreise--Des Knaben Wunderhorn--Henry Russel lectureship--funding for the arts--NEA--Meet the Composer--orchestra audiences--Concert Suite for Saxophone and Band--Sixth Symphony.

Cassette Side o p. 89-110

Vincent Youmans--Porgy & Bess--more on Gershwin--Third Symphony--Sixth Symphony--film score for John Turturro’s Illuminata--film The Usual Suspects--Arnold Black--Abba Cadabra--Laurence Rosenthal’s film music--John Corigliano’s Red Violin--Claude Vivier--Violin Concerto--Donald Byrd--ballet--Palacios Waltzes--opera View From the Bridge--defining American music--Bright Sheng--New York City as center of culture--future protects: Seventh Symphony, Concerto for Orchestra, piece on subject of flight for 2003, concerto grosso, Cycle for Naumberg winner, possibility of another opera, more chamber music, songs, etc.