archives.nypl.org

Description data TOP

unitid: {"value"=>"3430852", "type"=>"local_mss"}
unitdate: {"value"=>"1971-2015", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1971/2015"}
unittitle: {"value"=>"Series II: Audio and Moving Image Recordings"}
physdesc: {"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"866 audio files", "unit"=>"audio_files"}]}

{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"120 video files", "unit"=>"video_files"}]}
scopecontent: {"value"=>"This series documents most of Swados's theatrical, film, and television work and collaborations, from demos and workshop recordings to rehearsals and performances and finished recordings. They also contain Swados's live performances of selections of her work; interviews with Swados; Swados's field recordings of indigenous music in various countries; Swados's mix tapes of commercially-released music; and unidentified recordings. Works by Ellen Stewart are present as well. The series is in 11 major divisions: Projects, Commencement Addresses, Compilations, Demos, Field Recordings, Holiday Music, Interviews, Mix Tapes, Performances, Work Recordings, and Unidentified. The Project recordings of Swados's major works consist of work and composition recordings; demos; rehearsals; and performances. Most are audio recordings, but some video is present as well. Many of the works start with Swados composing with her own vocals and solo guitar, though as the 1980s progressed she employed more digital keyboards, recording production, and score realization software to compose and create demos. Compositions were also created and shaped during rehearsals with cast members and other musicians. The Projects include stage and vocal works; music for plays; film and television soundtracks; and music for dance. Stage and vocal works created primarily by Swados (as composer, writer, and director) with audio and/or video documentation include The 49 Years, Alice in Concert, The Beautiful Lady, Bible Women, Conscience and Courage: Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust, Dispatches, The Emperor's New Clothes, Esther: A Vaudeville Megillah, Giving Thanks, The Golem, Groundhog, The Haggadah: A Passover Cantata, Hansel and Gretel, The Hating Pot, The Incredible Feeling Show, Jabu, Jerusalem, Job: A Circus, Jonah, Kasper Hauser: A Foundling's Opera, Lullabye and Goodnight, Millennium Lounge, Missionaries, The New Americans, Nightclub Cantata, The Pied Piper, Piano Bar, Political Subversities, The Prince and the Pauper, Samuels, The Secret Window, Song of Songs, Songs of Innocence and Experience, Swing, The Trojan Women, Under Fire, The Violence Project, Weather, and Women of Hope and Valor. Other Swados projects here are Songs of Innocence and Experience (an adaptation of poetry by William Blake shot for television); the television program Wilfrid's Special Christmas; the Swados-directed film What Do Children Think of When They Think of the Bomb?; and television and film projects with music by Swados, such as Animal Alphabet, the documentary Gauguin the Savage, Barn Burning, Family Sins, Four Friends, The House of Ramón Iglesia, King of America, The Occult History of the Third Reich, OHMS, Rapaccini's Daughter, A Year in the Life, Rate It X, Saying Kaddish, and Too Far to Go. Also present is footage and trailers for a never-completed documentary by Swados titled Haircut, about the relationships between women and their hair. Documented projects on which Swados collaborated with others include stage works created with Andrei Serban (Agamemnon, Medea, The Trojan Women, Electra, and Hamlet), Peter Brook (The Conference of the Birds), and Garry Trudeau (Doonesbury and Rap Master Ronnie); animated films by Faith Hubley and John Canemaker; dance works such as The Mermaid Wakes and Popular Science; and plays with music by Swados, including productions of The Beloved Dearly, The Good Woman of Szechuan, and The Odets Project. There are also several works present in audio or video which were never completed or performed, but were workshopped and rehearsed. These include the musicals Disturbed by the Wind (about the Wright Brothers), Houdini, and The Three Gods; an operatic adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray; and a Chilean song cycle. The Projects recordings also holds video of three theater works by Swados's mentor and the founder of La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, Ellen Stewart: Dionysus Filius Dei, Mythos Oedipus, and The Monk and the Hangman's Daughter. Swados wrote some of the music and vocal arrangements for Mythos Oedipus. Other audio/video content includes live performances of Swados singing material from various projects (these date mostly from the late-1970s); Swados's field recordings of indigenous music in Africa, Bali, Brazil, Bulgaria, and the United States; audio demos and work recordings not linked to a known project; interviews with Swados; the 1977 documentary film Elizabeth Swados: The Girl With the Incredible Feeling; commencement addresses delivered by Swados at Bennington College; and mix tape compilations of commercially-released music created by Swados for her own use or for friends. Work tapes made for unidentified productions are arranged under Work Recordings. Recordings of indeterminate origin are arranged under Unidentified."}
accessrestrict: {"value"=>"Audio and moving image materials can be used onsite at the Library for the Performing Arts. To request materials, please contact the Billy Rose Theatre Division."}
note: {"value"=>"All audio and video items have a six-digit identification number assigned by the library. Some items also bear another number, which was assigned by Swados or her assistants."}
date_start: 1971
keydate: 1971
date_end: 2015
date_inclusive_start: 1971
date_inclusive_end: 2015
extent_statement: 866 audio files. 120 video files

Series II: Audio and Moving Image Recordings

Description data TOP

Repository Assets

Resources TOP

File attachments

Links to external resources

Child components TOP