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Creator
De Cormier, Robert
Call number
JPB 26-3
Physical description
23.75 linear feet (85 boxes). 40 audio recordings. 1 moving image recording
Language
Multiple languages; English, with portions of the collection in Yiddish, Hebrew, Spanish, French, and German.
Preferred Citation
Robert DeCormier papers, JPB 26-3. Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Repository
Music Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Restrictions apply

Robert DeCormier (1922-2017) was an American arranger, conductor, and composer best-known for his associations with the New York Choral Society, Harry Belafonte, and Peter, Paul, and Mary. The Robert DeCormier papers, dating from the 1940s to 2019, comprehensively chronicle DeCormier's decades-long career with hundreds of his arrangements, as well as subject files.

Biographical/historical information

Robert Romeo DeCormier was born on January 7, 1922 in Farmingdale, New York and grew up in Poughkeepsie. His mother Selma Stigberg was a musician, and DeCormier began playing trumpet at age seven with her encouragement. He studied music at Colby College in Waterville, Maine before transferring to the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. While serving in the United States Army during World War II, a mortar shell seriously injured DeCormier's wrist, preventing him from pursuing a trumpet performance career. After recovering, he studied choral music at the Juilliard School and joined the newly formed chorus at the Congress of Industrial Organizations, through which he met folk singer Pete Seeger. DeCormier became increasingly involved in labor causes during this time; he taught music and directed the chorus at the progressive Elisabeth Irwin High School in Manhattan, where he mentored Mary Travers, later of the folk trio Peter, Paul, and Mary.

During the late 1940s, DeCormier began arranging for the Jewish Young Folksingers. He subsequently arranged choruses for Cisco Hamilton, Paul Robeson, The Weavers, and Harry Belafonte. Following his successful Calypso album in 1956, Belafonte invited DeCormier to arrange songs for his next project; DeCormier worked as Belafonte's arranger through the 1960s, often credited as Robert Corman to mask his prior affiliation with the Communist Party. He simultaneously led and conducted The Belafonte Folk Singers (Harry's backing group that recorded and performed separately) from 1957 to 1965. In addition to his work with Belafonte, DeCormier arranged or directed music for several Broadway productions during the 1960s, notably The Happiest Girl in the World, Milk and Honey, and 110 in the Shade.

DeCormier became the music director for Peter, Paul, and Mary in 1970, a position he held through the 1990s. Also in 1970, DeCormier joined the New York Choral Society as its director, serving until 1987; he wrote or arranged numerous pieces for the Society, including show tunes, ballets, folk songs, and spirituals. DeCormier subsequently co-founded the Vermont Symphony Orchestra Chorus in 1993 and served as conductor until his retirement in 2014. In 2000, he founded the similar vocal ensemble Counterpoint in Montpelier, Vermont.

Throughout his career, DeCormier guest conducted or arranged for a variety of artists such as Jessye Norman, André Previn, Kathleen Battle, Milt Okun, and James Levine. His own choral group, The Robert DeCormier Folk Singers (later The Robert DeCormier Singers, sometimes called The Robert DeCormier Singers and Ensemble), toured from the 1960s through the 1990s, performing DeCormier's own compositions along with folk and popular music.

DeCormier's major works include the ballet Rainbow 'round My Shoulder, which was performed by the Alvin Ailey Dance Company; The Jolly Beggars, a setting of Robert Burns poetry; The Terezin Project, featuring music that was performed at the Nazi concentration camp in Terezin, Czechoslovakia; and the choral works Legacy, Shout for Joy: A Suite of Christmas Spirituals, Spiritual Suite, and Under a Greenwood Tree.

DeCormier received many honors for his work. These included the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts from the Vermont Arts Council, lifetime achievement awards from Choral Arts New England and the New York Choral Society, and honorary degrees from Middlebury College and the University of Vermont. He also served on the New York State Council of the Arts and a choral panel for the National Endowment for the Arts.

DeCormier was married to Louise Dobbs, with whom he had a daughter, Robin DeCormier. The family moved to Belmont, Vermont in 1977. On November 7, 2017, DeCormier died of kidney failure in Rutland, Vermont.

Scope and arrangement

The Robert DeCormier papers, dating from the 1940s to 2019, chronicle the entire career of the American arranger, composer, and conductor. The collection is made up primarily of DeCormier's arrangements of songs for artists and ensembles with whom he worked. The arrangements, numbering in the hundreds and largely choral, feature handwritten and printed scores, parts, and sheet music. DeCormier's papers also hold his subject files, which detail the logistics of performances and recording projects, and include press coverage, photographs, and recordings of DeCormier and his collaborators.

The Robert DeCormier papers are arranged in two series:

  • Series I: Notated Music
    1940s-2014
    18.42 linear feet (71 boxes)

    Series I contains all notated music in the collection, spanning DeCormier's career. There are hundreds of his arrangements of songs for assorted artists, recording projects, concert series, and tours. Most arrangements are of traditional folk songs from around the world, popular music, holiday music, or religious music. DeCormier arranged, edited, or composed nearly all music in the series. Dating from the 1940s to 2014, it holds sheet music, scores, and parts, much of it handwritten by DeCormier.

    The vast majority of music is for one or more voices with assorted instrumental accompaniment, usually piano, orchestra, chamber, or band. Each song is represented by some combination of handwritten notation, mostly in the form of a piano/vocal score or full score; printed notation; and photocopied notation. Many songs contain only handwritten scores. Sketches occasionally accompany arrangements. Most arrangements are undated.

    While some songs are ordered together by larger project, such as album or artist, many are listed simply by title without connection to specific projects. These songs were likely used for one or more of DeCormier's projects but are not indicated as such in the collection.

    There are more than one hundred arrangements in the series of songs performed by Peter, Paul, and Mary. These consist of DeCormier's handwritten scores of well-known songs such as "America the Beautiful," "Auld Lang Syne," "Blowin' in the Wind," "Kum Ba-Ya," "The Midnight Special," "Pastures of Plenty," "Puff the Magic Dragon," "River of Jordan," "September Song," "This Land Is Your Land," "Turn, Turn, Turn," Wayfaring Stranger," and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" Fewer arrangements are present for Harry Belafonte and The Belafonte Folk Singers, mainly spirituals and popular songs. A separate selection of songs composed or adapted by Pete Seeger exists as well.

    The series contains forty arrangements listed under "Folk Songs." These include American, Irish, Scottish, Balkan, South African, Argentinian, and Canadian songs. Elsewhere, the series holds numerous arrangements of Yiddish folk music, under both "Yiddish Songs" and Juliana Yaffé Sings Yiddish Folk Songs (a concert and educational series with all songs arranged by DeCormier). Also present are arrangements of Christmas and holiday songs for different projects, and DeCormier's similarly titled suites of Christmas music: 5 Spirituals, Shout for Joy: A Suite of Christmas Spirituals, Spiritual Suite, Spirituals, and A Suite of Christmas Spirituals.

    There are full scores, parts, and research files for The Jolly Beggars and The Terezin Project. The latter features DeCormier's extensive notation of the project's two operas, Hans Krása's Brundibár and Viktor Ullman's Der Kaiser von Atlantis oder Die Tod-Verweigerung.

    Also of interest are arrangements of folk and popular songs for specific albums by the Robert DeCormier Singers and Counterpoint, such as Bobby Burns: Music Celebrating the Poetry of Robert Burns; Heritage (American Ballads and Songs 1750-1840); The Man on the Flying Trapeze: A Celebration of an Era; Oh! You Beautiful Doll: A Celebration of Tin Pan Alley from the First Two Decades of the 20th Century; and Shalom: Folk Songs and Dances of a Young Nation.

  • Series II: Subject Files
    1940s-2019
    6.0 linear feet (16 boxes). 40 audio recordings. 1 moving image recording

    This series, dating from the 1940s to 2019, holds DeCormier's subject files. The majority of materials here are professional in nature, pertaining to specific artists or ensembles; music projects, such as albums and concerts; and individual compositions. The series contains correspondence, press clippings, event programs, notes, itineraries, budgetary materials, biographical files, photographs, audio recordings, one video recording, and two scrapbooks.

    There are many materials for two of DeCormier's major projects of the 1990s: The Terezin Project and The Jolly Beggars. The Terezin Project materials feature concert reviews; programs; DeCormier's research files, including United States Holocaust Museum victim identification cards; copies of his lectures on the Terezin concentration camp; tour logistics; performer audition materials; and photographs used in exhibitions and performances. There are also recordings of two radio performances of music for The Terezin Project. Materials for The Jolly Beggars include press clippings, programs, business forms, studio recording logistics notes, and three audio recordings of the cantata.

    Among the files for artists and ensembles are lists for Harry Belafonte's 1977 tour; concert reviews, programs, and recordings of the Eastman School of Music Choir and Symphony Orchestra; a recording of the New York Choral Society's 1978 performance at Carnegie Hall; correspondence and recording schedules for Peter, Paul, and Mary; and early press for the Robert DeCormier Singers from the 1960s. Photographs feature portraits of DeCormier and the various ensembles and artists with whom he worked. There are images of DeCormier in the studio or performing with Harry Belafonte and Peter, Paul, and Mary. The scrapbooks contain photographs of DeCormier, as well as newspaper clippings documenting his career.

    Other items of interest include DeCormier's student composition book from the Juilliard School, a record album gifted to his parents with recordings he made in the late 1940s, and his notes from the 1961 production of The Good Soldier Schweik.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Donated by Robin Timko in 2024.

Processing information

Processed by Nathan Evans in 2026.

While DeCormier's last name typically appears as two words (De Cormier) in published work and press, he and his family preferred it as one word (DeCormier). The one-word spelling is used in description for this finding aid.

Using the collection

Location

Music Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor

Access restrictions

Inquiries regarding audio and video materials in the collection may be directed to the Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound (recordedsound@nypl.org). Audio and video materials will be subject to preservation evaluation and migration prior to access.