Research Catalog

Interview with Merce Cunningham

Title: Interview with Merce Cunningham, 1978-06-20/1978-07-07.
Author: Cunningham, Merce
Publication: June 20, 27, and July 7, 1978.

Available Online

NYPL Digital Collections

Details

Additional Authors

Found In

Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection.

Description

2 streaming audio files (93 minutes total) : digital, stereo

Summary

Streaming file 1, Jun. 20, 1978: Merce Cunningham speaks with David Vaughan about Pool of darkness (1950) with music by Ben Weber, including the serious tone of the piece and its choreography; he speaks about dancers he worked with at the time and his distaste for the mannerisms of dancers trained in the [Martha] Graham Technique; they mention Before dawn, a work perfomed on the same program as Pool of darkness; he speaks about teaching at Louisiana State University for a summer course and creating Waltz (1950), and Rag-time parade (1950) there; subsequent performances of Rag-time parade at Cooper Union including the cast of dancers as well as the relationship of his choreography to Erik Satie's music; they speak about other possible works by Cunningham performed at Cooper Union that year; more on the group of dancers in the Rag-time parade performances at Cooper: Remy Charlip, Marianne Preger-Simon, Sudy Bond, Rachel Rosenthal, François Canton, [Julie Walter]; they list later casts of Rag-time parade including Carolyn Brown, Anita Dencks, Paul Taylor, and Charlip; Cunningham lists the original cast of Sixteen dances for soloist and company of three (1951): Anneliese Widman, Dorothy Berea, and Mili Churchill; other dancers who performed in Sixteen dances, including Brown and Natanya [Neumann]; they speak about Cunningham's decision to costume the dancers for the first time in leotards rather than in skirts and dresses, and Churchill's resigning as a result; Cunningham speaks about his use of chance methods in ordering the choreography for Sixteen dances; his memory of the dancers' response to the chance methods including Joan Skinner's seeming enjoyment of the piece, they speak about John Cage's score for Sixteen dances and the orchestra musicians' response to his music; the costumes and props for Sixteen dances including a chart made by Charlip to direct the performers with these aspects; Cunningham speaks about the coat that he wore as a costume in the section, "the ballad of the odious warrior"; more on the nine sections and ordering them; he speaks about the interludes, challenges in, and complexity of Sixteen dances; an anecdote on Anna Sokolow and Dorothy Bird in response to another audence member's dislike of the piece; more about how the orchestra musicians disliked the piece; Cunningham speaks about his solo Variation (1951), that he created by using chance methods to order classical ballet steps including an anecdote about a performance of it; Cunningham speaks about making Suite by chance (1953) that was previewed in a 1952 performance; they list the original cast of Suite; Cunningham speaks about Christian Wolff's electronic music for Suite as well as the complexity of his choreography as being determined by chance; they speak more about when Suite was created and performed; ends abruptly.
Streaming file 2, Jun. 27 and Jul. 7, 1978: Merce Cunningham speaks with David Vaughan on June 2, 1978, about his Collage (1952), commissioned by Leonard Bernstein for the Festival of [Creative] Arts at Brandeis University; the costumes, cast and choreography for Collage, including his use of chance methods; Cunningham speaks about remakes of Collage; Cunningham speaks about the music for Collage, excerpts from Symphonie pour un homme seul, a piece of musique concréte by Pierre Schaeffer with Pierre Henry; he speaks about some of the dancers who performed in Collage over the years; challenges he experienced, due to the configuration of the theater, during the Brandeis University performances; the dancers in his Noces (1952), and rehearsals for it in New York before the Brandeis Festival; he speaks about how the Noces choreography folllows the structure of the [Igor] Stravinsky music, [Svadebka]; an anecdote on dancer Donald McKayle and working with student dancers in the performances of Noces; Cunningham speaks about his choice, moving forward, to use only dancers that he trained as a result of this performance; rehearsing Noces using pre-recorded music; an anecdote on the car that Cage and Cunningham used to go between the Burnsville Summer School and Black Mountain College to teach during the summer of 1952; the musical comedy performed that summer at Black Mountain, [Occupe-toi de Brunhilde]; briefly, on meeting Bob [Robert] Rasuchenberg at Black Mountain; other artists that he met at Black Mountain over the years; Cunningham speaks briefly about how Cage met David Tudor; Cunningham speaks about meeting Carolyn Brown including her attending his class in both Denver and New York; Cunningham speaks about his choreography for Solo suite in space and time (1953) and how challenging it was to dance; Cunningham speaks about teaching at Black Mountain during the summer of 1953 and bringing his own dancers from New York to rehearse there; he lists the works performed at Black Mountain in 1953 and they speak about the performances taking place in the dining hall; they speak about this summer marking the beginning of his [Merce Cunningham Dance] Company; Cunningham speaks about David Tudor playing the music for his Banjo (1953) in a rehearsal; he speaks about the independent relationship between the music and dance for Dime a dance (1953); they speak briefly about a rarely performed solo that Cunningham called the Oriental dance; ca. 40:22, ends abruptly; ca. 40:23, start of interview on July 7, 1978; they speak about a solo from Dime a dance that Cunningham would perform as an encore; they briefly discuss and recall Cage's activities at Black Mountain during the summer of 1953; they speak about how Cunningham's titles for the parts relate to Satie's musical titles in his Septet (1953); Cunningham continues to speak about the choreography and music for Septet; ends abruptly.

Alternative Title

Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection. Audio materials.

Subject

Genre/Form

Interviews.
Sound recordings.

Note

David Vaughan interviews Merce Cunningham, probably in New York, New York, on June 20, 27, and July 7, 1978. This interview was created as research for David Vaughan's book, Merce Cunningham: Fifty years (New York, Aperture).
Title and dates provided by cataloger based on audition and handwritten and typed notes on original container.
Handwritten and typed notes on original original container: "1. David Vaughan: Interview with Merce Cunningham, 20 June 1978 ; 2. 27 June 1978 ; Concluded ; 7 July".
Sound quality is mostly good; at times the interviewee is muffled or speaks away from the recording microphone but is mostly audible.

Access (note)

Patrons can access streaming audio only on site at NYPL Research Libraries.

Source (note)

Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation

Linking Entry (note)

Forms part of the Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection.

Call Number

*LTC-A 1446

OCLC

913960220

Author

Cunningham, Merce, interviewee.

Title

Interview with Merce Cunningham, 1978-06-20/1978-07-07.

Production

June 20, 27, and July 7, 1978.

Playing Time

004624 004625

Type of Content

spoken word

Type of Medium

audio

Type of Carrier

audiocassette

online resource

Digital File Characteristics

audio file

Event

Recorded in, [New York, New York], 1978 June 20, 27, and July 7.

Restricted Access

Patrons can access streaming audio only on site at NYPL Research Libraries.

Original Version

Archival original: (1 audio cassette (93 minutes) : analog) in *LTC-A 1446 no. 3.

Linking Entry

Forms part of the Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection.

Local Note

Transferred from original analog cassette by George Blood Audio on March 25, 2015; two preservation files were created based on the cassette sides.

Source

Gift; Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation, 2011-2012.

Connect to:

NYPL Digital Collections

Added Author

Vaughan, David, 1924- interviewer.

Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation, donor.

Added Title

Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection. Audio materials.

Found In:

Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection.

Research Call Number

*LTC-A 1446

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