Scope and arrangement
The Richard Hundley papers, dating from the early 1900s to 2014 (bulk dates 1950s-2014), document the composer's career through scores, subject files, performance files, photographs, letters, and datebooks.
Scores comprise the majority of the collection. Nearly all of Hundley's output is present, from the 1950s to the 2010s. Arranged by title, the scores contain sketches, manuscripts, drafts, publishing proofs, and various final versions of compositions. Most are songs for voice and piano, but Hundley often rearranged them for multiple voices or choir, and he may have further edited songs when they were republished in collected editions. Some songs appear in the container list as separate compositions and as part of song cycles or published collections. The songs include settings of poetry by James Purdy, Edgar Allan Poe, Marianne Moore, Langston Hughes, Christopher Marlowe, Wallace Stevens, William Blake, Allen Ginsberg, Robert Louis Stevenson, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Jose Garcia Villa, Gertrude Stein, D.H. Lawrence, James Joyce, and Edna St. Vincent Millay, among others. Compositions with substantial documentation include "Arise, My Love" (in several arrangements), "Ball," "Come Ready And See Me," "Jenny Wren," the cantata The Sea Is Swimming Tonight, and the song cycle Octaves And Sweet Sounds. The scores also include Hundley's harmony and orchestration studies; music and studies by Theodore Newman; and sketches by John Fletcher.
The Subject Files hold information on master classes; notes on compositions; lectures and essays by Hundley; interview transcripts, including a joint interview with Hundley and James Purdy; biographies and autobiographies (which also hold lectures by Hundley); and business correspondence with the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), the publisher Boosey and Hawkes, and people and organizations that commissioned work from Hundley. Also present are academic writings about Hundley's work; poetry considered by Hundley for songs; and files on vocalists and other figures associated with Hundley, some of which contain letters. These include Carl Van Vechten, Paul Sperry, James Purdy, and Zinka Milanov. Researchers should also consult the Letters file. The lecture file on Virgil Thomson contains correspondence with Thomson. Other lecture topics include "How I Began To Compose Music," "How To Set Words To Music," and "The Art Song In New York, 1955-1965." The file on Carl Van Vechten holds the transcript of a conversation between Hundley and Clare Fischer about Van Vechten.
The Performance Files contain programs, clippings, press releases, letters, and notes dating from 1946 to 2014. Arranged roughly chronologically, they document performances, festivals, master classes, residencies, lectures, and other events featuring Hundley or his music.
The Letters are mostly organized by date, but include files of letters from family, friends, and colleagues including Anna Moffo, Lee Hoiby, Dana Gioia, and Rick Bogard. They also hold letters of recommendation written for and by Hundley. Those writing in support of Hundley include Zinka Milanov, John Corigliano, James Purdy, and J.W. Fulbright. Most of the remainder of the letters are professional in nature and discuss commissions, performances, scheduling, contracts, travel arrangements, and other business.
The Photographs contain formal and informal portraits of Hundley from throughout his career; informal shots of Hundley with friends and collaborators, including Rosalind Elias, Anna Moffo, Teresa Stratas, and Jeanette Scovotti; and photographs from Hundley's time with the Metropolitan Opera. These include group photos and opera scenes with Hundley, Ada Calabrese, Laurel Hurley, and George London. Also present is a small collection of family photographs, some dating to the early 1900s.
The Datebooks offer spotty chronological coverage (1969-1975, 1989-1991, 2005-2007); Hundley did not use them consistently.
The collection also includes sound and video recordings dating from 1960 to 2012. The sound recordings contain performances of Hundley's work, some with the composer at the piano; home recordings of works-in-progress; interviews with Hundley; and interviews with the pianist Bertha Melnick and the artist Clarence H. Carter (interviewed by Hundley). Performers include Paul Sperry, Anna Moffo, Jeanette Scovotti, Billie Lynn Daniel, the Robert Paige Singers, Jeanne Ommerlee, Frederica Von Stade, Judith Nicosia, Christopher Trakas, and Dawn Kotoski. The video recordings are of a Hundley master class and a performance at the Newport Music Festival. Sound and video recordings are unavailable pending preservation transfer.
Arrangement
The papers are arranged in the following divisions: Datebooks, Letters, Performance Files, Photographs, Scores, and Subject Files.