Vivian Fine Music Manuscripts
Catalog Record: http://lccn.loc.gov/2006560739
General International Standard for Archival Description
Music Division Library of Congress Washington, D.C.
Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Music Division, 2011
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Vivian Fine Music Manuscripts 1927-2004 (bulk 1929-1994)
Fine, Vivian, 1913-2000
Biographical History for: Vivian Fine Music Manuscripts 1927-2004 (bulk 1929-1994)
Biographical Note Date Event 1913, Sept. 28 Born, Chicago, to Russian-Jewish immigrants Rose and David Fine 1918 Began piano studies with mother Became youngest student ever to receive a scholarship from the Chicago Musical College 1924-1926 Studied piano with Djane Lavoie-Herz, former student of Scriabin 1926 Composed first work, Lullaby, for piano 1926-1928 Studied harmony and composition with Ruth Crawford and counterpoint with Adolf Weidig at American Conservatory in Chicago Met Henry Cowell, Dane Rudhyar, and Imre Weisshauss, who became early supporters 1929 Solo for Oboe premiered at Carnegie Hall 1931 Moved to New York City Dance accompanist, Gluck-Sandor Dance Theater and other studios 1932 Became member of Aaron Copland's Young Composers' Group Premiere of Four Polyphonic Pieces for Piano at the First Yaddo Festival 1934-1942 Studied composition with Roger Sessions 1935 Married sculptor Benjamin Karp 1937 Helped found The American Composers' Alliance 1937-1945 Studied piano with Abby Whiteside 1942 Daughter Margaret born 1943 Studied orchestration with George Szell 1945-1948 Faculty member, piano department, New York University, New York, N.Y. 1948 Adjunct faculty member, literature and materials, Juilliard School, New York, N.Y. Moved to New Paltz, New York Daughter Nina born 1953-1960 Artistic director, Rothschild Foundation 1964-1987 Teacher, composition, Bennington College, Bennington, Vt. 1980 Elected to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters 2000, Mar. 20 Died, Bennington, Vermont
Scope and Content Note The Vivian Fine Music Manuscripts chiefly consist of holograph scores, sketches, and parts for works written between 1929 and 1993. Fine's compositions spanned a variety of musical genres: solo instrumental, chamber, orchestral, as well as accompanied vocal and choral pieces. Notable compositions include Capriccio for Oboe and String Trio (1946), The Great Wall of China (1946), Fine's collaboration with Martha Graham, Alcestis (1960), and chamber operas The Women in the Garden (1978) and Memoirs of Uliana Rooney (1994). A small quantity of correspondence, programs, and clippings supplement the music manuscripts. The correspondence captures Fine's years of compositional growth while studying with Ruth Crawford (Seeger) and making acquaintances with figures such as Henry Cowell, George Antheil, Dane Rudhyar, and Aaron Copland.
series
Music, 1929-1993
file
Aegean suite (piano) 1985
After the tradition (orchestra) 1987
Alcestis (orchestra) 1960
Asphodel (soprano, flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, percussion, piano) 1988
Birthday waltz (viola, piano) 1989
Canciones y danzas (guitar, flute cello) 1991 see also Oda a las ranas
Cantata for solo voice and six instruments (tenor, oboe, strings, piano) 1961
Canticles for Jerusalem (mezzo-soprano, piano) 1983
Canticles from the other side of the river (violin, cello, flute, clarinet, percussion, piano) 1993
Capriccio for oboe and strings 1946
Chaconne (piano) 1947
Chamber concerto for cello and six instruments (cello, oboe, strings, piano) 1966
Concertante for piano and orchestra 1944-1943
Concertino for piano and percussion ensemble 1965
Concerto for piano, strings, and percussion (one performer) 1972
The confession: from Phédre (voice, flute, piano, string trio) 1963
Dance suite for orchestra 1938 see also Opus 51. March
Dancing winds (wind quartet) 1987 see also Emily's images
Discourse of goatheads (bass trombone) 1988
Divertimento (woodwinds, trumpet, percussion, piano) 1933
Divertimento for cello and percussion 1951
Dollars and cents 1942
Double variations for piano solo 1982
Drama for orchestra (after paintings by Edvard Munch) 1982
Dreamscape (flutes, cello, percussion, piano) 1964
Duo for 3 timpani and piano 1965
Eclogue (horn) 1978 see also Quartet for brass
L'ecole des hautes études (The school of higher studies) (clarinet, piano, bass, percussion) 1988
Eleven transformations for four cellos and tape 1970
Elizabeth's aria for projected opera 1980
Emily's images (flute, piano) 1987
Epitaph upon the death of Sir Albert Morton's wife (voice, piano) 1941
Fanfare (2 trumpets, 2 trombones, timpani) 1971
Fantasy for cello and piano 1962
Five preludes (piano) 1939-1941
Five Victorian songs (soprano, flute, clarinet, viola, cello) 1988
The flicker (flute or piano) 1973
A flower given to my daughter (low voice, violin, viola, cello) 1935
For a bust of Eric Satie - a short mass 1979
For Aaron, an offering (4 cellos) 1972
Four Elizabethan songs (voice, piano) 1938-1941 see also Songs and arias
Four lyric pieces for voice and piano 1933-1939
Four piano pieces 1966
Four pieces for two flutes 1930
Four polyphonic piano pieces 1931-1932
Four songs (voice, strings) 1933
The garden of live flowers (soprano, tenor, baritone, piano) 1988
Gertrude and Virginia: a dialogue between Gertrude Stein and Virginia Woolf, using their own words (soprano, mezzo-soprano, clarinet, percussion, double bass, piano) 1981
The Great Wall of China (soprano, flute, cello, piano) 1947
A guide to the life expectancy of a rose (soprano, tenor, flute, violin, clarinet, cello, harp) 1956
The human mind: Gertrude Stein's aria from the chamber opera "The women in the garden" 1977 (voice, piano) 1987) see also The women in the garden
Hymns (2 pianos, horn, cello) 1991
I have not told my garden yet (voice, piano) 1933
In memoriam: George Finckel (4 or more cellos) 1987
Inscriptions (2 voices, piano) 1986 see also Emily's images
Lacrymosa (2 trumpets, 2 trombones) 1972
Lieder for viola and piano 1979
Light in spring poplars (chorus, viola, piano) 1987
Little suite for voice and piano 1930
Lyric piece for cello and piano 1937
Lyric piece for cello and string quartet, undated
Ma's in orbit (violin, percussion, double bass, piano) 1987
Madrigali spirituali (trumpet, string quartet) 1989
Meeting for equal rights 1866 (cantata for chorus, orchestra, mezzo-soprano, baritone, narrator) 1976
Melos (double bass) 1964
Memoirs of Uliana Rooney (soprano, 2 baritones, 2 female voices as chorus, chamber ensemble) 1993
Missa brevis (4 cellos, taped voice) 1972
Momenti (piano) 1979
Morning (chorus, organ, narrator) 1987
Music for flute (alto flute), oboe (English horn), and cello 1980
Music for study (piano) 1935-1941
My sledge and hammer ly reclined (chorus, brass, strings, two pianos, percussion) 1967
My son, my enemy (percussion, string quartet, piano) 1965
New ways of seeing - music for film (string orchestra) 1954
The nightingale (mezzo-soprano, percussion - played by the singer) 1976
Nightingales (motet for six instruments) 1979
Oda a las ranas (Ode to frogs) (women's chorus, flute, oboe, cello, percussion) 1989 see also Canciones y danzas
Ode to Henry Purcell (soprano, string quartet) 1984
Opus 51 (piano, percussion) 1938 see also Dance suite for orchestra
Paean (baritone or tenor narrator-singer, women's chorus, brass ensemble) 1969
The passionate shepherd to his love and her reply (women's chorus) 1938
Piece for flute and muted strings 1937
Piece for muted strings 1937
Poetic fires (piano, orchestra) 1984
Prelude for string quartet 1937
Prelude for string orchestra 1937
Psalm 13 (2 sopranos, alto, baritone, piano or organ) 1953
Quartet for brass 1978 see also Eclogue
Quintet (clarinet, viola, cello, bassoon, percussion)
Quintet for trumpet, string trio, and harp 1967
The race of life (piano, percussion, or, orchestra) 1937
Rhapsody on a Russian follk song (piano) 1944
Romantic ode (violin, viola, cello, string orchestra) 1976
Second solo for oboe 1947
Sinfonia and fugato (piano) 1952
Solo for oboe 1929
Sonata for violin and piano 1952
Sonata for violoncello and piano (in homage to Claude Debussy) 1986
Sonatina for oboe and piano 1939
A song for St. Cecilia's Day (soprano, baritone, chorus, orchestra) 1987
The song of Persephone (violin) 1964
Songs and arias (horn, violin, cello) 1990 see also Four Elizabethan songs
Songs of love and war (soprano, chamber ensemble) 1991
Songs of our time (2 voices, piano) 1943
Sonnet to a cat - to Nikki (soprano, alto, tenor, bass, piano) 1939
Sounds of the nightingale (soprano, women's chorus, chamber orchestra) 1971
String quartet 1957
Suite for orchestra, undated
Suite in E-flat (piano) 1940
Tango with the Frog Prince (piano) 1984
Teishō (eight solo singers or small chorus, string quartet) 1975
There is a garden in her face (soprano, flute, violin, cello, piano) 1947
They too are exiles (2 pianos) 1939
Three "ings" (flute, bassoon, harp) 1961
Three October pieces for piano and cello 1962
Three pieces for violin and piano 1940
Three sonnets for baritone and orchestra 1976
Toccata on the Soviet anthem (piano) 1944
Toccatas and arias for harpsichord 1986
Toccatas and arias for piano 1986
Toccatina for piano 1981
Tomorrow and tomorrow (soprano, piano) 1986
Tragic exodus (baritone, piano) 1939
Trio concertante on aspects of nature (string trio, string quintet) 1976
Trio for violin, cello and piano 1980
Trio in three movements: for violin, viola and cello 1930
The Triple Goddess (concert band) 1988
Two Neruda poems: The turtle; Ode to the piano (mezzo-soprano, piano) 1971
Two sonnets (voice, xylophone, violin, bassoon) 1939
Valedictions (chorus, soprano, tenor, instrumental ensemble) 1959
Valedictory songs (voice, strings, bells)1939-1941
Variations (piano) 1952
Variations for harp: remembrance of things in the past of Erik Satie 1953
When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd (voice, string quartet) 1941
The women in the garden (chamber opera) 1977 see also The human mind
Unidentified parts (violins, viola, cello) 1945
Unidentified sketch (piano, orchestra) 1945
Correspondence, 1929-1933
Antheil, George, 1932
Copland, Aaron, undated
Cowell, Henry, 1930
Crawford, Ruth, 1929-1931 and undated
Fine, Vivian to Dmitri Shostakovich, 1930
Fine, Vivian to Norman [?], 1931
Rudhyar, Dane, 1930
Seeger, Ruth Crawford see Crawford, Ruth
Wallingford, Riegger, 1932
Weidman, Charles to Nini Theilade, 1933
Weidman recommending Fine as an accompanist
Miscellany, 1927-2004
Concert programs documenting premieres and other performances, clippings regarding Alcestis, and one personal writing.
Clippings, 1960, 1988
Programs, 1932-2004 and undated
Writing, 1927