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About this Item

Title

  • Irving Fine collection,

Summary

  • The bulk of the materials in the collection are musical scores and sketches. In addition, there are photographs, clippings, programs, scrapbooks, as well as correspondence from 20th century musicians such as Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Lukas Foss, Alberto Ginastera, Ned Rorem, and William Schuman.
  • The Music series primarily consists of holograph scores and sketches that represent virtually Fine's entire musical output. Among these materials are manuscripts for "Alice in Wonderland" (1942); "The Hour Glass" (1949), a song cycle for unaccompanied chorus set to texts by Ben Jonson; "Mutability," a song cycle for contralto and piano originally commissioned by the Creative Concerts Guild in 1952; "Serious Song" (1955), for string orchestra; and "Symphony" (1962), which was performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra shortly before Fine's death in 1962.

Names

  • Fine, Irving, 1914-1962.

Headings

  • -  Fine, Irving,--1914-1962
  • -  Fine, Irving,--1914-1962--Correspondence
  • -  Fine, Irving,--1914-1962--Autographs
  • -  Bernstein, Leonard,--1918-1990--Correspondence
  • -  Copland, Aaron,--1900-1990--Correspondence
  • -  Foss, Lukas,--1922-2009--Correspondence
  • -  Ginastera, Alberto,--1916-1983--Correspondence
  • -  Rorem, Ned,--1923-2022--Correspondence
  • -  Schuman, William,--1910-1992--Correspondence
  • -  Composers--United States--Correspondence
  • -  Musicians--Portraits
  • -  Orchestral music--Scores
  • -  Chamber music--Scores
  • -  Vocal music
  • -  Instrumental music

Genre

  • Scores
  • Art music
  • Chamber music
  • Incidental music
  • Musical sketches
  • Songs
  • Symphonies
  • Albums (Books)
  • Business correspondence
  • Concert programs
  • Personal correspondence
  • Photographs
  • Autographs (Manuscripts)
  • Clippings (Information artifacts)

Notes

  • -  Organized in following series: I. Music (1930s-1960s), subdivided: Original Compositions (1930s-1960s), Sketchbooks, undated, Music by Others (1943-1963), II. Writings (1940s-1963), subdivided: Writings by Irving Fine (1940s-1957), Writings by Others, III. Correspondence (1941-1992), subdivided: General Correspondence (1934-1992), Business Correspondence (1962-1989), IV. Photographs (1937-1974), V. Programs (1930-1992), VI. Clippings (1940-1993), VII. Scrapbooks (1936-1962), VIII. Printed Matter (1949-1987).
  • -  Irving Fine, American composer, teacher, and conductor, was born in Boston, Mass., on Dec. 3, 1914. He started learning music from studying piano. Fine went to Harvard University, attending the composition and theory classes of Edward Burlingame Hill and Walter Piston; he received his BA in 1937 and his MA a year later; at Harvard he also studied choral conducting with Archibald T. Davidson and, at Tanglewood, orchestral conducting with Serge Koussevitzky. In 1938-1939 he attended Nadia Boulanger's composition classes at Fontainebleau, outside Paris, and at Radcliffe College, Cambridge (Mass.). Fine's connection with Harvard continued in 1939, when he became a member of the Music Department. He was appointed Assistant Professor in 1945 and stayed there until 1950. From 1939-1945 he was also Assistant Conductor of the Harvard Glee Club. At Harvard Fine became closely associated with Aaron Copland, Igor Stravinsky, Serge Koussevitzky, and Leonard Bernstein. From 1950, he taught at Brandeis University, where he was Walter S. Naumburg Professor of Music and founded the School of Creative Arts. Between 1946 and 1957, he also taught composition at the Tanglewood Music Festival in the Berkshires. He received two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Fulbright Research Fellowship for France, and many other awards. In addition to his composing, Fine wrote articles and reviews. Irving Fine died in Boston on Aug. 23, 1962.
  • -  Collection material in English.
  • -  Gifts; Verna Fine; 1964-1991.
  • -  Digitized photographs, a sketchbook, a manuscript score, and a recording, along with identifying information and a narrative introduction, are also available through the Library of Congress Web site: The Irving Fine collection, ca. 1914-1962 www.loc.gov/collections/irving-fine/about-this-collection/
  • -  Sound recordings Irving Fine Collection ((MAVIS collection number 3291); Also located at; Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division; 19053 Mt. Pony Rd., Culpeper, VA 22701 USA; An inventory of forty unpublished tapes transferred to MBRS is available in the Music Division's collection file.
  • -  Some musical scores and sketches have been cataloged individually at ML96.F47, ML96.5.F47, ML30.3C.F55, and ML29c.F527, and can be requested in the Performing Arts Reading Room.
  • -  Finding aid available in the Library of Congress Performing Arts Reading Room and at https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/eadmus.mu001001
  • -  Irving Fine Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress.

Medium

  • approximately 4,350 items (21 boxes, 7 linear feet)

Call Number/Physical Location

  • ML31 .F5

Repository

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2003561019

Rights Advisory

  • Certain restrictions to use or copying of materials may apply.

Access Advisory

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Finding Aid

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Fine, Irving. Irving Fine collection. 1930. Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://lccn.loc.gov/2003561019.

APA citation style:

Fine, I. (1930) Irving Fine collection. [Manuscript/Mixed Material] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://lccn.loc.gov/2003561019.

MLA citation style:

Fine, Irving. Irving Fine collection. 1930. Manuscript/Mixed Material. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <lccn.loc.gov/2003561019>.