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Creator
Finney, Ross Lee, 1906-1997
Call number
JPB 04-15
Physical description
25 linear feet (34 boxes)
Preferred Citation

The Ross Lee Finney Papers, JPB 04-15. Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Repository
Music Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

The American composer Ross Lee Finney enjoyed a long, prolific and illustrious career. His papers document his life and career and consist of correspondence, professional writings and lectures, press clippings, concert programs, photographs, and published and unpublished music scores and manuscripts.

Biographical/historical information

Ross Lee Finney (b Wells, MN, 23 Dec. 1906; d Carmel, CA, 4 Feb. 1997) was the son of intellectual parents; his father was a professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota. He began playing and composing music as a child, learning cello, piano and guitar. Finney retained an interest in the guitar and folk music throughout his life and folk song and melody were important elements in his music.

His first rigorous music courses were at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, where he studied with Donald Ferguson. He received a B.A. from Carleton College in 1927, after which he traveled to Paris to study composition with Nadia Boulanger. Finneys other teachers were Edward Burlingame Hill (1928-29), Alban Berg (1931-32) and Roger Sessions (1935), with whom he enjoyed a long friendship.

Finney joined the faculty of Smith College in Massachusetts in 1929. He was awarded Guggenheim and Pulitzer fellowships in 1937, and from 1943 to 1945 he served in the Office of Strategic Services in France, where he sustained combat injuries and received a Purple Heart. He won a second Guggenheim Fellowship in 1947.

In 1949 he was appointed professor of music and composer-in-residence at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he remained until his 1972 retirement. There, Finney attracted many students who went on to become important composers, including George Crumb, Roger Reynolds and William Albright. Finney continued composing through the mid-1980s.

Finneys music was tonal and melodic while sometimes employing serial technique, particularly after 1950; he lectured and wrote about the evolution of his style and his continuing interest in tonal resources. He was also interested in setting poetry to music. In the course of his career he composed for many musical settings, including soloists, chamber groups, choirs, wind ensembles, orchestras, opera and dance. His output was prolific and his music was performed often in his lifetime, both at the University of Michigan and by major orchestras and chamber groups around the country. He frequently served as a guest artist and lecturer at universities and symposia and wrote about composition and music education for both children and advanced students.

Sources:

Albright, William. Finney, Ross Lee, Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 30 Nov. 2004),

Borroff, Edith. Finney, Ross Lee, Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 30 Nov. 2004),

Scope and arrangement

The Ross Lee Finney Papers consist of 25 linear feet of material dating from 1916 to 1996. They document the composers life and career from several perspectives. The personal and professional correspondence between Finney and his colleagues, students and friends provides first-hand evidence of many of the projects and events in his life. The writings present a more formal look at Finneys own thoughts on his compositions, teaching and music in general. The press clippings and concert programs are a detailed, year-by-year record of the public performances of Finneys music and the publicity it attracted. The scores, many never published, date from throughout Finneys life and provide views of his work-in-progress, and also shed light on his development as a young composer. Photographs, degrees, certificates and awards complement other elements of the collection.

The Ross Lee Finney papers are arranged in seven series:

  • Series I: Correspondence
    1916 - 1996 and undated
    9 boxes

    The correspondence is divided into two sub-series, Personal and Professional. The first contains correspondence between Finney and his family or close personal friends. The second contains correspondence between Finney and other composers, colleagues, publishers, music presenters, students, musicians and conductors, and deals with various aspects of his professional composing or teaching life. Before examining this series, the researcher should read the transcript of a tape Finney made in 1982 describing the letters he was donating to the library; it also serves as a short memoir. It is located in New York Public Library correspondence, Box 8, Folder 5. Although some letters from Finney are gathered in sub-levels of their own, many more are located throughout the series if they were part of an ongoing set of correspondence between him and another party. Oversized correspondence is in Series VII, Sub-series 2, Oversized Materials.

  • Series II: Writings
    1950 - 1984 and undated
    2 boxes

    The writings are a formal presentation of Finneys thoughts on the process of composition, teaching, the evolution of his music and style, and music in general. They are divided into two sub-series, lectures and articles/other writings. The lectures were delivered to students and to other composers and teachers at meetings, symposia and commencements. The articles appeared in various publications. Both sub-series often contain differing or evolving versions of the lecture or article.

  • Series III: Press Clippings and Concert Programs
    1926 - 1993 and undated
    6 boxes

    The combined elements of this series create a detailed history of the public performances of Finneys work, and the reaction to them by critics, from throughout his career. Many performances are documented in both sub-series. The press clippings also contain general articles about Finney not associated with a particular performance. The second sub-series, Concert Programs, encompasses meeting, symposium and lecture programs in addition to musical performances. Oversized clippings and programs are in Series VII, Sub-series 2, Oversized Materials.

  • Series IV: Degrees, Certificates and Awards
    1948 - 1980 and undated
    1 box 9 folders

    Includes honorary degrees from Carleton College and the New England Conservatory of Music, membership certificates for the National Institute of Arts and Letters and Phi Beta Kappa, and other honors. Two awards are located in Series VII, Sub-series 2, Oversized Materials.

  • Series V: Photographs
    ca. 1920 - 1987 and undated
    1 box 6 folders

    Photographs are divided into five categories: Ross Lee Finney, other composers, other musicians, trips and events, and unidentified. The photos of Finney are from throughout his life and show him with friends and colleagues, including a set of photos from a performance of the ballet Ahab (1985) by the Erick Hawkins Dance Company. Other composers includes Elliot Carter, Aaron Copland, Luigi Dallapicolla and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Other musicians includes Stephen Fisher (a composer who worked with Finney at his publisher, C.F. Peters) and the Stanley Quartet. Trips and events documents Finneys 1964 visit to Greece and his 1965 International Fair trip.

  • Series VI: Scores
    1922 - 1985 and undated
    10 boxes

    The scores document every phase of Finneys career and include many unpublished works, particularly from his early days, but also from late in his career (for instance, the opera Weep Torn Land (1984)). There are also music analyses dating from both his student and teaching days.

  • Series VII: Oversized Materials
    1933 - 1984 and undated
    5 boxes

    Most of this series is scores, all of which date from Finneys mature period. Many have parts found in Series VI. The second sub-series is the oversized portions of Series I, III and IV.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Bulk donated by Ross Lee Finney in 1982 and 1986. Additional material donated by Henry C. Finney in 2002.

Processing information

Processed by Matthew Snyder; Machine-readable finding aid created by Matthew Snyder.

Related Material

The Ross Lee Finney Collection, *L(Special) 98-16, Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound. Other Finney papers are held at the University of Michigan School of Music, Ann Arbor, and at the Library of Congress.

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

Conditions Governing Use

For permission to publish, contact the Chief, Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.