William Schuman
With Vivian Perlis
New York, NY and Greenwich, CT
Feb. 2, 1977-Nov. 16, 1977
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Side a pp. 1-16
Happy childhood with contrasts--brother Robert--Englewood, New Jersey, memories of first conversation about a mortgage and of Grandfather Heilbrun--mother and father, cousins and grandmother--sister Audrey--move to New York and P.S.165--Far Rockaway--back to New York and friendship with Edward Marks and Tony Ross--Camp Cobbosee--violin playing--musical shows at camp (Ross, Grad, Gilmore)--camp reunion--changing of family name by father--Grandmother and German jewry.
Side b pp. 16-31
Religious education--confirmation--views on Judaism--experience of cantor singing "Let Us Adore the Ever Living God"--good and bad aspects of expressing opinions openly (recent Mahler diatribe)--apolitical attitudes--passion for performing with band--performing limited due to physical handicap--effect on playing and conducting--methods of composition--Stravinsky anecdote--use and non-use of piano--singing and its importance in composing--Carter anecdote--proof‑reading at piano--giving up of violin--early band, Billy Schuman and his Alamo Society Orchestra--Speyer Experimental Jr. High School--boyish pranks--shows at Speyer--first original work "College Chums"--belief in excess, not moderation--discussion of family's non-moderate social ways but moderate political and other views--family's high idealism and its importance--Milray Outing Club--teenage awareness of wanting to "make good."
Side c pp. 31-47
Many interests as boy and later--lack of interest in procedures after work is composed--song writing with Frank Loesser--method of learning scoring--arranging songs--Marks Music--Robert Lawrence--description of jazz band arrangements--vocal soloist--Tin Pan Alley--writing special material with Loesser--"In Love With a Memory of You" and guitar part for Vallee--advantages of training as song writer--good times in the twenties--knowledge of songs--game with Bernstein--reasons for leaving Tin Pan Alley--NY Philharmonic concert of 1930--awareness of musical responses in films and other situations--Malkin Conservatory and Max Persin--support of family--brief attempts in printing and publishing--French tour of 1925 to show parents' attitudes--operetta with Loesser.
Side d pp. 47-68
Frankie, first meeting, her background in music--Columbia Teachers College, negative and positive experiences and its leading to Sarah Lawrence--anecdote of the catalogues; first meeting with Constance Warren--Brooklyn Ethical Culture--Mr. Swinford--Sarah Lawrence, fall '35--Salzburg Mozarteum, summer '35--Risa Stevens, Paumgartrier, Walter, Weingartner, Toscanini, Apfelder and experiences with Nazis--Four Canonic Choruses performed, Salzburg--experiences at Sarah Lawrence--faculty, atmosphere, students, reasons for leaving, description of classes and teaching methods, commencement speech.
Side e pp. 68-79
Guests at Sarah Lawrence: Crowther, Copland, Tudor and Alonso, Shaw, Loesser--teaching composition privately--choral music, directing and conducting--aspects of conducting and composing for amateur chorus--tours--Koussevitsky and N.Y. performance--arranging for the chorus--good times with the chorus--works written for the chorus--views about "choral composers"--First Symphony and interest in dance--Roy Harris--performance of First Symphony, First Quartet, Four Canonic Choruses by WPA orchestra--reactions--Second Symphony, description of and reactions of audience, fake contest, judges (including anecdote about Sessions)--performance of Second Symphony by Schenkman, Barlow and reactions from radio audience--meeting with Koussevitsky--cruelty of criticism, attitudes toward adverse criticism.
Side f pp. 79-95
Study with Roy Harris--continuation of attitude toward criticism and popularity (story of Sessions symphony at Schirmer's)--opinion about composers who "walk both sides of st:reet"--Bernstein, Boston and performance of Second Symphony--first rehearsal at Symphony Hall--Koussevitzky--description of performance and reception--explanation to parents--Rosenfeld--more on Koussevitzky's support and its importance--Copland in Modern Music on Pioneers--ideas about composers--preferences and reasons for them--influence of Roy Harris (to be continued).
Side g pp. 95-111
Roy Harris (influence on Schuman's early works; evaluation of Harris; Koussevitzky's remark; recent encounter in Washington with Harris and Copland; Harris Third Symphony and coda; praise and criticism; study with Harris; personal relationship; comparison to taking of scores to Copland)--friendship with Harris outside of music and reasons--friendship with Shifrin--relationship to Frankie re music and other ideas--marriage--first apartment--home in Larchmont--New Rochelle--apartments in New York--Greenwich house--love for New York--Martha's Vineyard--Tony's birth--love for children--Andrea--grandson--withdrawal of certain early works--possibility of future works growing from early material--Piano Concerto--learning to write with large symphonic works rather than small ones--American Festival Overture (Harris reaction).
Side h pp. 111-127
More on American Festival Overture--use of thirds--ending and Koussevitzky--Overture well-received in Boston--parents' attendance--Prologue and performance at High School of Music and Art (Richter)--Bernstein piano reduction of Prologue--written on train--Taggard--performance at stadium with Smallens--Choral Etude--Quartettino--recording of American Festival Overture--Fritz Kroll and performance of Third Quartet and satisfaction with the piece--the League and assessment of it, minimal involvement with League--interest--in the arts in education rather than promotion of performances--Peyser's picture of composers' "Mafia" untrue--view of grouping composers into schools--more about the League--Intercollegiate Music Guild--friendship with Bernstein first in Boston and later--Bernstein and cuts--general attitude about changes--premieres by Bernstein.
Side i pp. 127-144
Use of term "Passacaglia" in Third Symphony and other titles--comparison to novelist being true to characters--importance of form in music (Beethoven, fault in Harris, Copland and admiration for Sextet)--personal view of symphonic form--Credendum--natural habitat of orchestra--choir concept of orchestration--problem of writing about music--objection to N.Y. Critics Award and winning it--Olin Downes (later friendship with Downes, experience of Persin's funeral)--Barzin and difficulty with playing Third Symphony--Free Song and love for Whitman and his suitability for choral works--Declaration Chorale--faithful to essence of Whitman--feelings about texts in choral settings--difficulty of finding adaptable poems--on opera composing--Dreiser--theatrical element in other situations than theatre productions (Bernstein's teaching and in all good music)--Pulitzer Prize story.
Side j pp. 144-159
Carter Symphony for Three Orchestras--Gerry Schwarz--problems and praise for Carter--Schuman's 4th Symphony and experiences with Rodzinski in Cleveland and Ormandy in New York and Philadelphia--dislike of patronage--Virgil Thomson's review of 4th Symphony--interest in band music--Newsreel in Five Shots--composing to suit subject matter--history of association with
Schirmer's--Carl Engel--personal and business relationships with Engel--story of arrangement of Orchestra Song; Gus Schirmer.
Side k pp. 159-175
more on Engel--war years--Prayer in Time of War (Saminsky)--appointment to Schirmer and initial activities there (Lord's Prayer)--general ideas re publishing business--invitation to head Juilliard--dislike of Gus Schirmer and mistake of being there--agreement to be editorial consultant--ability as editor-financial successes--general ideas about composers and economic problems in U.S.--current activities on boards (to continue later)--friendship with Norman Lloyd--situation with ASCAP and BMI--Hansheimer.
Side l pp. 175-190
more on ASCAP/BMI Struggle--Howard Company and Voyage--unpleasant experience with Hansheimer--dislike of unpleasant relationships--move from Schirmer to Presser--organizational abilities and enjoyment of same--Festschrift for Engel and Three Score Set--Holiday Song and all-Schuman concert at Town Hall--Robert Shaw--other works of 1943 (Free Song, Symphony for Strings) --wartime feelings, patriotism--interest in Billings--what happened to Billings Overture--more on Billings Overture--first performance on program with Shostakovich--Kostelanetz and New England Tryptich--problem of conductors not wanting to do difficult works of composers--recent hearing and admiration for new work by Fred Lerdahl--pleasures of Koussevitzky Foundation board in finding good new works--comments on Druckman, Cage, Ives.
Side m pp. 190-205
Prayer in Time of War--Stokowski and conducting experience with tempo for Prayer in Time of War, Stokowski and Seventh Symphony--other recollections of Stokowski--views on film composition--Steel Town--The Earth Is Born--Copland and film music--economic principle of being own patron--patriotism in later years--local identification and internationalism--International Choral Festival--politics and son's politics--Tony's experience at Columbia--role as father and family man.
Side n pp. 205-220
Discussion of composers and homosexuality--Symphony for Strings--Koussevitzky, first performance and subsequent one in honor of birth of son--Koussevitzky's problem with the rhythm--difficulties in talking about own music--how unity is achieved--form evolves as material evolves--more on Symphony for Strings and how the material evolved.
Side o pp. 220-227
More on methods of composition--tempo and consciousness of tempo--Bartok and comment on metronome marking in Third Symphony--use of harmony as "horizontal climate"--importance of "atmosphere"--architectural unity--effect of his own music on Schuman as listener.
Side p pp. 227-243
Frank Loesser in California--Billy Rose and Seven Lively Arts (Shaw, Side Show, Stravinsky score; Orpheus and Te Deum; Schirmer story)--Orpheus and Te Deum by Harvard and Sarah Lawrence--Undertow (Tudor, rehearsal pianists' problems projecting orchestral music, working with choreographers)--Martha Graham and Night Journey, Witch of Endor, Judith (recent conversation with Graham about recalling the choreography) Louis Horst and Night Journey with Boston Symphony.
Side q pp. 243-260
More on Graham--commissions--approach from James P. Warburg and John Erskine for Juilliard--Erskine and New School anecdote--meetings with board--chosen to be President of Juilliard--condition of school at that time--changes in first years--L & M system--new composers to arrive--Rosina Llevine--ideas about retirement and pension system--combining Juilliard and Institute for Musical Arts into one school--keeping the secret for a while before public announcement--Mark Schubart--relief of leaving Schirmer--more emphasis on contemporary music--no personal programming of own works--lack of interest in campus gossip and minor discontent--uncomfortable dismissal ideas on education for performers--recent address in Dallas about choral conducting--friends (including Koussevitzky) reactions to appointment as President of Juilliard.
Side r pp. 260-276
Discipline in order to continue composing during Juilliard year--procrastination--compromise theory--Schenkman and Koussevitzky conducting Juilliard orchestra at Carnegie Hall--replacement of Schenkman with Morel--more on Morel--other performers brougnt to Juilliard--Kappel--the Juilliard Quartet--Mann--Hillyer and Koussevitzky--Betty Bean--The Juilliard Review (Goldman-special programs and festivals--Bloch Festival--American--Copland--curriculum worked out with Norman Lloyd in Atlantic City--unattractive aspects of presidency--improving employment situation of faculty--summer sessions--visit from the Russians--Van Cliburn--initial approaches re Lincoln Center--early discussions about inclusion of Juilliard.
Side s pp. 276-293
Initial approaches concerning Lincoln Center and Juilliard--proposed Drama and Dance activities for Juilliard at Lincoln Center--fight for Juilliard's inclusion--Dance Department coming to Juilliard with Martha Graham, Anthony Tudor, Agnes De Mille, José Limon, Jerome Robbins--advantages of having dance and music schools together--narrowness of students in the arts--making students artistically responsible to the repertory--jet age hinders performers in expanding repertory--Schuman's better performers into efforts to lead education, decentralization--Juilliard started music departments instead of music education departments around the country--Schuman composed during the night while at Juilliard--view as an administrator--challenge of something new--decision to leave Juilliard based on intriguing, new challenge elsewhere--Marion Jones Farquhar and Ballad of Good Advice for Yale--Marion Farquhar tennis champion, violin pupil of Charles Martin Loeffler, and translator of texts.
Side t pp.293-309
Marion Farquhar at Sarah Lawrence--Farquhar taught Schuman rounds, such as "Amaryliss"--performance of Ballad of Good Advice at Yale with Bartholomew and Hindemith--premiere of Sixth Symphony in Dallas in 1948--Sixth Symphony--Violin Concerto--geographical difference in critics around the USA--Antal Dorati's program notes to Sixth Symphony--modern percussion writing--composing "tricks" or effects or coloristic devices that last only as long as they are perceived as exotic--originality--John Cage's ideas--Violin Concerto performance in Minnesota with Rafael Druian--Isaac Stern's and Paul Zukofsky's performances compared--rewriting of Violin Concerto--Samuel Dushkin story--second movement and cadenza changed in 1956 for Stern.
Side u pp. 309-325
Violin Concerto first version in 1949; reintroduced in 1956 and 1959--opinion of Zukofsky--Schuman's piolin--family--adopted daughter--father's accident--Schuman questions interviewing process--Fourth String Quartet--slow movement and last movement incorporated into the Eighth Symphony--première at Library of Congress--dislike of public side of writing--love for writing music--Frankie's role--forfeits pension rights on leaving Juilliard--invitation to be head of Lincoln Center.
Side v, w, x pp. 325-373
Side v
Invitation to become President of Lincoln Center--Lincoln Center Teacher's Institute--General Maxwell B. Taylor first paid President of Lincoln Center--meeting with Rockefeller and board--Dreams for Lincoln Center--reflections on experiences--resignation over cut programs but Mark Schubart--international series for summer months--relationship to John Rockefeller following resignation--continued success of Lincoln Center--Henahan interview for New York Times--theater of Lincoln Center--power of "Wall Street" on arts and volunteer leaders.
Side w
Family problems during Lincoln Center period--Lincoln Center budget problems--Dick Shepard's story in the New York Times on resignation--conflict with Krawitz and Bing--institutional discipline--non-political outlook--Rudolf Bing and Lincoln Center Repertory Company with Krawitz--fund raising from institutions--society aspect of position--positive memories of Lincoln Center--reaction in the New York Times when Center's festival ceased--public apathy re Philharmonic strike and Met closing--Lincoln Center as a real estate operation--talents and methods of placements.
Side x
Effect of the arts environment on certain employees--music composed during Lincoln Center period--memorial to 350 Italians killed by Germans outside Rome and Symphony No. 9 to recall massacre--frustrations of Lincoln Center and Juilliard jobs in relation to Schuman's discipline to compose--need to work with people--additional story about John Rockefeller and farewell reception--Kennedy Center a booking house--idea of cross-subscriptions--office life at Lincoln Center and camaraderie--Chamber Music Society and Film Society--Film Festival--Alice Tully and Chamber Music Society--Promenade Concerts--Peter Mennin and Juilliard School--Peter Mennin and Naumburg Foundation.
Side y pp. 373-390
Peter Mennin--Juilliard under Peter Mennin--opening of Juilliard's Alice Tully Hall--Mennin's music--Schuman's influence on Elliott Carter and Mennin--Bergsma and Chamber Music--Chamber Music Society and American music--Avery Fisher's opposition to performance of certain music at Lincoln Center--honorary degrees and quilt--Brandeis and MacDowell awards--National Institute of Arts and Letters & American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Side z pp. 390-406
American Academy & Institute of Arts and Letters--Conference of Creative Artists in Venice--Koussevitzky Award--Naumburg Foundation--Ives Society--Advisory committee for Columbia Records--Mighty Casey (critics, original idea of doing "Lil Abner," Jeremy Gury libretto, Omnibus production)--Credendum for UNESCO and Thor Johnson.
Side aa pp. 406-423
Theodore Presser--view of symphony as multifacited work--Symphony for Strings compared with Credendum--fascination with titles--reasons for untitles--Carols of Death--view of scholarly analysis of own music--university choruses‑‑7th Symphony as connected with 8th and 9th--musicians' unions and their effect of performance of new compositions--Munch and 7th Symphony--Koussevitzky Foundation commissioned Schuman's 7th Symphony--dislike of writing program notes--influence of jazz--The Earth was Born & Life Magazine Science Series--8th Symphony--writing for harp.
Side bb pp. 423-439
Boulez's farewell at NY Philharmonic--Opinion of Berlioz's music--Boulez as conductor--Student Composers' Awards of BMI--Joan Peyser & Musical Quarterly--Boulanger's influence on composers‑‑ Hindemith's method of teaching--Charles Haubiel--influence of Stravinsky on American composers.
Side cc pp. 439-455
Performers' tastes--Mehta--thoughts on discussing own music--opening of Philharmonic Hall--more on Eighth Symphony--To Thee, Old Cause--programmatic works--somber music--In Praise of Shahn (Lawrence Fleishman)--Ninth Symphony--orchestration of Ives' Variations on America--Boulez's Ives Mini-Festival--Royal Academy honorary fellow--Japanese performances of Schuman's music--"Amaryllis," version for forthcoming promenade concerts--current chamber music and Philharmonic commission for solo horn--future Univ. of Carbondale, Illinois, Einstein commission
Side dd pp. 455-470
Videorecord (initial involvement with CBS, later with Videorecord and Mr. Hogwood and Goddard Lieberson)--illness and leaving Lincoln Center--Video disk market and potential as educational device--heart attack and subsequent health.
Side ee pp. 470-485
Composers as administrators--on personal need to participate in many activities--apolitical nature--on being misquoted and misunderstood--interest in young composers--continued performances of Schuman's music--10th Symphony--Bicentennial commissions: Young Dead Soldiers; 10th Symphony (American Muse); performance of Casey at the Bat--manuscripts--reliability, changes in first edition of scores--manuscripts at Library of Congress--McGinnis, violist.
Side ff-hh pp. 485-533
Side ff
the composing of Concerto on Old English Rounds for Solo Viola, Women's Chorus, and Orchestra (Don McGinnis, first performance in Boston, West Coast performance, New York with Bernstein, working with McGinnis compared with Rose, Stern,Totenberg, Dushkin)--current composition commissioned for Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center--next commission for Philharmonic.
Side gg
more about commission--Young Dead Soldiers--Symphony #10--all-Schuman evening in Washington with Dorati--Rosalind Rees--Casey--Einstein commission and refusal by Schuman--comments on Weisberg, Penderecki, Druckman (Maazel's conducting of Chiaroscuro)--Round for Alice [Tully]--life since Lincoln Center--advantages of leaving Lincoln Center--association with organizations and foundations.
Side hh
consulting positions--Norlin--evaluation of present personal situation--Greenwich vs. New York City living--problems and pleasures of demands from fans, students, performers, young composers (BMI awards)--speaking engagements--reading for pleasure and for finding vocal texts--attitude toward electronics and other recent developments in music.
AMERICAN MUSIC SERIES 46 pp-qq
William Schuman Eightieth Birthday
with Vivian Perlis
For the New York Times
July 19, l990
New York, N.Y.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Side pp pp. 1-16
Some works composed since the seventh-fifth birthday: On Freedom’s Ground, The Fifth Symphony, 1990--Dennis Davies radio program--what American music is being played--Third Symphony--Symphony for Strings--derivation of the dances and divertimento--Bernstein Variation: “Let’s Hear It For Lenny”--working with the poets on On Freedom’s Ground--Schuman’s interest in poetry, setting poetry to music--successful working relationship with Richard Wilbur--McClatchy as librettist--work with G. Taggart--the importance of words in opera--Schuman’s string quartets--Awake, Thou Wintry Earth--Cooperstown Fanfare--new version of Chester--The Lord Has A Child--stylistic trends in music.
Side qq pp. 16-29
Schuman’s involvement with musical organizations--The Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society--the American symphony composer--the threat to the National Endowment for the Arts--funding the arts--trend towards writing accessible music--composition as a career--neglected repertoire--recordings, cds of his music: Robert McDuffie ‘s recording of the Violin Concerto--other cds--some works that are often played: New England Tryptich, Variations on Ives, American Festival Overture--the end of the symphony?-advantages to special birthdays--memoirs.