{"value"=>"<p>Christian Wolff (born 1934) is an American composer and literary scholar closely associated with John Cage, Morton Feldman, David Tudor, Earle Brown, Frederic Rzewski, Alvin Lucier, Cornelius Cardew, and other mid to late-20th century modernists.</p> <p>Born in France, Wolff moved with his family to New York City in 1941, where they settled in Washington Square. A year later, his parents, Helen and Kurt Wolff, founded Pantheon Press, which published Joseph Campbell, the first English translations of Carl Jung, and other progressive European texts. Christian received no extended formal training in music, but his parents were well-immersed in the classical tradition. Kurt was the son of a professional musician who knew Johannes Brahms, a composer whom the young Kurt had met at the funeral of Clara Schumann.</p> <p>After Helen and Kurt took Christian to the Tanglewood Music Festival in 1948, where he heard works composed by Viennese modernists Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, and Anton Webern, he became increasingly drawn to new types of musical composition. He immersed himself in the back issues of <span class=\"title\">New Music</span>, a journal published by the American composer Henry Cowell, where he was exposed to the first published scores of John Cage, Lou Harrison, and other American experimental composers. Via Henry Cowell, the teenage Wolff was put in touch with John Cage, 21 years Wolff's senior, who offered lessons to Wolff and brought him into the circle of artists with whom he became closely associated. This included Gordon Mumma and Merce Cunningham, with whom Wolff collaborated frequently.</p> <p>Beginning in the 1960s, Wolff's interest in socialism drew him closer to iconoclastic composers such as Frederic Rzewski and Cornelius Cardew. At the same time, Wolff began teaching Classics, first at Harvard (1962-1970) and then at Dartmouth (1971-1999). He also published extensively on Greek tragedy, with a particular focus on Euripides. All of Wolff's music is published and his music has been recorded commercially by over ten different record labels.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p>The Christian Wolff papers, dating from 1947 to 2017, document the composer's music and professional life, primarily through scores and letters. The collection also holds audio and moving image recordings, programs, clippings, and writings by Wolff and others.</p> <p>Series I: Scores, presents Wolff's compositions from every stage of his career, mainly in the form of notes, sketches, and drafts, but also including some fair copies.</p> <p>The letters in Series II are from such figures as John Cage, Frederic Rzewski, Merce Cunningham, Robert Ashley, Cornelius Cardew, David Tudor, Gordon Mumma, Eddie Prévost, Barbara Monk Feldman, John Ashbery, Peter Garland, and John Tilbury, among many others. Some files have return correspondence. The letters often discuss the music of Wolff and other composers, as well as professional matters.</p> <p>Series III: Programs and Clippings, offers a comprehensive account of performances of Wolff's music from throughout his career, as well other events attended by Wolff. Some of the clippings that accompany the programs contain interviews with Wolff.</p> <p>Series IV: Library, holds writings and scores authored or composed by Wolff's friends and associates, as well as Wolff's own writings. The writings include Wolff's essays on music in the form of edited manuscripts, as well as interview transcripts. Other authors featured here are Hans G. Helms, James Tenney, and Alvin Lucier. The scores include teaching material by John Cage, and music by Robert Ashley, Earle Brown, Malcolm Goldstein, György Kurtág, and Gordon Mumma, among others.</p> <p>Series V: Audio and Video Recordings, dating from 1952 to 2017, holds various recordings from throughout Wolff's career. They consist of studio recordings, public performances, workshops, lectures, and interviews. Many are radio productions. Compositions featured in the recordings include <span class=\"title\">Burdocks</span>, the <span class=\"title\">Exercises</span> series, <span class=\"title\">For One, Two, or Three People</span>, and the <span class=\"title\">Peace March</span> series. Some live recordings feature Wolff as a performer.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Christian Wolff papers are arranged in five series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mus/24591#c1524074'>Series I: Scores</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1947-2015</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>5.21 linear feet (15 containers)</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The Scores series represent Wolff's music at every stage of his career. The earliest are for works dating from the late-1940s, and the most recent composition is from 2015. A list of most of Wolff's compositions and their instrumentations, found on his faculty website at Dartmouth College, is available as an added resource in the archival portal. Within this finding aid, only compositions that do not appear on that list have descriptions of instrumentation.</p> <p>The music (in both notated and prose/narrative form) appears as notes, sketches, drafts, fair copies, and, in some cases, published scores. Not all compositions are represented in all these forms. Some have only sketches and drafts, some have only fair copies, and some have everything from sketches to published copy. Most, however, have sketches and drafts, and a smaller number have fair copies. Published copies are present for only a few of the compositions. Many works have explanatory notes by Wolff regarding history of the composition or performance directions and suggestions.</p> <p>Among the compositions for which both drafts and fair copies are present are <span class=\"title\">Serenade</span> (1950), <span class=\"title\">Duo For Pianists II</span> (1958), <span class=\"title\">Duet I</span> (1960), <span class=\"title\">Septet</span> (1964), <span class=\"title\">Lines for String Quartet</span> (1972), <span class=\"title\">For Cornelius</span> (1985), <span class=\"title\">Peace March 4</span> (1985), <span class=\"title\">Eight Days A Week Variation</span> (1990), <span class=\"title\">John, David</span> (1993-1998), <span class=\"title\">Pieces For Julius</span> (1995), <span class=\"title\">Spring</span> (1995), <span class=\"title\">She Had Some Horses</span> (2001), <span class=\"title\">Orchestra : Pieces</span> (2005), <span class=\"title\">String Trio For Robert Ashley</span> (2009), <span class=\"title\">Quintet For Merce</span> (2009), and <span class=\"title\">Individuals, Collective</span> (2012).</p> <p>Also present are untitled sketches and orphan score pages; these can be found at the end of the series. Wolff's Library in Series III holds scores by other composers.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mus/24591#c1524075'>Series II: Letters</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1950s-2013</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>1.67 linear feet (4 containers)</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The letters and correspondence in the collection illustrate the depth of Wolff's interests and connections with a cross-section of composers, musicians, and artists. One portion of the letters is arranged chronologically and consists primarily of incoming mail. The other portion is filed by writer, and in some cases holds return correspondence from Wolff. Letters filed under Wolff's name are outgoing only. Some letters in this series are in German.</p> <p>Writers and correspondents include the composers John Cage, Frederic Rzewski, Gordon Mumma, Robert Ashley, Cornelius Cardew, Barbara Monk Feldman, Aki Takahashi, Larry Polansky, David Tudor, Pauline Oliveros, Howard Skempton, Tomomi Adachi, Gerhard Stäbler, Erik Ulman, and Urs Peter Schneider; choreographer Merce Cunningham; the musicians Eddie Prévost, John Tilbury, and Martin Ingenhütt; the composer, writer, and publisher Peter Garland; the poet John Ashbery; and Björn Nilsson, owner of the Swedish label Mode Records.</p> <p>With the exceptions of John Cage, Frederic Rzewski, and Björn Nilsson, there is not a large amount of letters from any one figure. The Cage letters date from the mid-1950s to 1988. In addition to originals, there are copies and transcriptions of Cage-Wolff correspondence. Cage's letters are friendly and describe events in his and Merce Cunningham's lives, both personal and professional. Some discuss philosophical ideas, and his and Wolff's music, as well as that of other composers. Also present is correspondence between Cage and Helen Wolff (Wolff's mother) regarding Cage's piece <span class=\"title\">4'33\"</span>; Cage defends it from Helen's criticism and explains his intentions in composing it.</p> <p>Correspondence with Frederic Rzewski is over a longer period (54 years) than with any other figure in the collection. Most of those letters, however, date from the 2000s and consists of printed email exchanges.</p> <p>The Björn Nilsson correspondence mainly discusses recording projects on which Nilsson and Wolff collaborated.</p> <p>Wolff took notes on the contents of his letters, listing correspondents, years, and number of letters. These can be found at the end of the series.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mus/24591#c1524076'>Series III: Programs and Clippings</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1950s-2010s</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>6.25 linear feet (15 containers)</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series holds a comprehensive set of programs documenting performances of Wolff's music from throughout his career. The number of programs expanded from the 1990s onward as such performances became more frequent. In many cases, Wolff participated in the performances. Some of the programs are accompanied by clippings discussing the concert or event; these may contain brief interviews with Wolff or the performers. Also present are programs for concerts or events unrelated to Wolff. Some contain Wolff's annotations, while others may have been sent to him by friends.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mus/24591#c1524077'>Series IV: Library</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1950-2013</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>1.58 linear feet (5 containers)</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series holds writings and scores authored or composed by Wolff's friends and associates, as well as Wolff's own writings.</p> <p>Wolff's writings consist of essays on music, interview transcripts, and recommendation letters. They are comprised of typed manuscripts (or reproductions), most of which are annotated or have edits. The longest of these is \"Experiments in Music Around 1950 and Some Consequences and Causes (Social-political and Musical).\" Shorter pieces include \"On Verbal Notations\" and notes on Wolff's compositions <span class=\"title\">Prose Collection</span> and <span class=\"title\">Burdocks</span>.</p> <p>Also present are typed notes on Wolff's colleague Cornelius Cardew, and notes on John Cage's composition <span class=\"title\">Apartment House 1776</span>. There are three interview transcripts, ranging from 9 to 19 pages. One is derived from a public conversation with Wolff, Stephen Chase, and Clemens Gresser at the 2002 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, while the other two are one-on-one interviews. The recommendation letters are for students and colleagues, and include Wolff's own Senior Faculty Grant Proposal for the winter of 1993.</p> <p>The writings also include work by the composer/critic Hans G. Helms, the composer James Tenney, the composer/poet Jackson Mac Low, and the composer Alvin Lucier. These are published items which were sent or gifted to Wolff (the latter are inscribed to Wolff). Some are in German. The pamphlet from Yoko Ono (who was associated with John Cage's circle) and John Lennon advertises an Ono-Lennon event in Coventry, England.</p> <p>The scores are a mixture of manuscripts, manuscript reproductions, and published copies. Most are gifts inscribed to Wolff. The John Cage manuscripts are instructional material written for Wolff's lessons with him in 1950 or 1951; these also bear Wolff's annotations. Other composers represented here include Robert Ashley, Earle Brown, Morton Feldman, Malcolm Goldstein, György Kurtág, Gordon Mumma, Frederic Rzewski, Howard Skempton, Yūji Takahashi, and La Monte Young.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mus/24591#c1524078'>Series V: Audio and Video Recordings</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1952-2017</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Series V: Audio and Video Recordings, dating from 1952 to 2017, holds various recordings from throughout Wolff's career. They consist of studio recordings, public performances, workshops, lectures, and interviews. Many are radio productions. Compositions featured in the recordings include <span class=\"title\">Burdocks</span>, the <span class=\"title\">Exercises</span> series, <span class=\"title\">For One, Two, or Three People</span>, and the <span class=\"title\">Peace March</span> series. Also held here are recordings with the bands Sonic Youth, The Barton Workshop, and Ugly Culture. Some live recordings feature Wolff as a performer.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}