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wi2006-45
Guide to the Beatrice Witkin Papers,
1949 - 1988
Processed by: Jason Villani; machine-readable finding aid created by: Valerie Gillispie
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© 2007 Wesleyan University. All Rights Reserved.
Machine-readable finding aid derived from XML authoring program.
Date of source: February 2007
Description is in
English
Finding aid was prepared using DACS
Guide to the Beatrice Witkin Papers, 1949 - 1988
Special Collections & Archives
Wesleyan University
Middletown, CT, USA
© 2007 Wesleyan University. All Rights Reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Special Collections & Archives, Wesleyan University
Witkin, Beatrice.
Beatrice Witkin Papers, 1949 - 1988
2006-45
Material in English
5
8
For current information on the location of
these materials, please consult Special Collections & Archives staff.
Beatrice Witkin (1917-1990) was an accomplished composer and one of the first women to produce electronic music compositions.
The materials in the Beatrice Witkin Papers range from her earliest musical compositions to her major works. Notes and secondary literature accompany many of the compositions, and all major works have complete scores.
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
No restrictions.
Copyright Notice
Copyright for Official University records is held by Wesleyan University; all other copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Beatrice Witkin Papers, Collection #2006-45, Special Collections & Archives, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, USA.
Acquisitions Information
Given by Steve Witkin of Belgrade, Maine, in July 2006.
Processing Information
Processed by Jason Villani, December 2006
Encoded by Valerie Gillispie, February 2007
Biographical Note
Composer Beatrice Witkin (1917-1990) was born in New York City. She attended Hunter College in New York and did her graduate work at New York University. She studied composition with Mark Brunswick, Roger Sessions, and Stefan Wolpe, and piano with Edward Steuerman. She was also the recipient of the ASCAP Standard Award, and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ford Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation.
Witkin was one of the first women to work in the electronic music idiom. In 1968, she was invited to work at the Electronic Music Studio at the New York University School of the Arts. Two years later, her electronic composition Glissines was a winner in High Fidelity Magazine's Electronic Music Contest.
In 1963, she helped establish the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, a performing group that commissioned new works. She was a guest composer of the McDowell Colony as well as a longtime member of the Women's Composers Forum and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.
Chronology of Major Works
Works with an asterisk (*) have corresponding recordings in Scores and Recordings, Wesleyan University.
1960
Duo for Violin and Piano*
1960
Interludes for Solo Flute and Piccolo*
1963
Prose Poem
1964
Contour for Piano*
1964
Parameter for Eight Instruments
1965
Combinations for Thirteen Instruments
1967
Twelve-tone Variations on Quotes by the Beatles for Young People's Orchestra
1968
Fanfare in B and E Flat
1968
Chiaroscuro for Cello and Piano
1968-1969
Triads and Things for Brass Quintet*
1970
Breath and Sounds for Tuba and Stereophonic Tape*
1972-1973
Echologie for Flute and Tape
1977-1978
Report from the Planet Mars
1981
Stephen Foster Revisited Variations for Concert Band
1985
Cantillations of the Bible for String Quartet
Collection Overview
The materials in the Beatrice Witkin Papers range from her earliest musical compositions to her major works. Notes and secondary literature accompany many of the compositions, and all major works have complete scores.
Collection Arrangement
The works follow a chronological order in each box.
Online Catalog Headings
These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.
Witkin, Beatrice.
Electronic music--Scores.
Electronic music.
Music--United States--20th century.
Composers--United States.
Music--scores.
Detailed Description of the Collection
11
Notebook, undated
2
Biographical clippings and concert notes for Jakie Veron Memorial, undated
3
Notebook with musical composition, undated
4
Composition, undated
5-7
Compositional notes, undated
8
Assorted compositional notes and charts, undated
9
Nocturne for Solo Cello, Serenade, and Sonata Op. 2, undated
10
Outline for musical play for children, The Scrolls of David
11
Composition notebook with college compositions, undated
12
Music notebook, undated
Note: Featuring
Poppy Mitrls and Oh let me sleep and so forget the spring, sonnet by Robert Nathan.
13-16
Music notebooks, undated
17
Music notebook, Wind Band Chart, undated
18
Jig Jog and Swingaroo, a tone poem in swing, 1938
21
Kitchen Music Songs, 1949-1950: photocopies and handwritten
I Broke the Plate, 1949
If Laughter Were a Broom, 1949
Song Discordant, 1949
A Needle, a Potato, and a Willow Tree, 1950
Does Poppy Live Here?, 1958, 1978
2
Loose scripts, 1958
3
Loose scripts and complete script, 1958
4
Scripts with cast head shot photos, 1958
5
Script with notes on dialogue, 1958
6
Clippings about production, 1958
7
Scripts, notes, ephemera, and clippings about 1978 production
8
Unfair to the Bear and Fig for Mother Goose, circa 1957-1958
31
Duo for Violin and Piano, 1960-1961
Note: Complete scores.
2
Interludes for Solo Flute and Piccolo, 1960
Note: Complete scores.
3
The Crisis: a Play, by Gloria Goldsmith with music by Bea Witkin, 1961
Note: Notes, music scores, scripts.
4
Treble Trio, 1962
Note: Music scores.
5-6
Prose Poem, 1963
Note: Music scores.
7
Prose Poem, 1963
Note: Text, music notes, concert program.
8
Contour for Piano, 1964
Note: Complete scores.
9
Parameter for Eight Instruments, 1964
Note: Complete scores and notes.
4
Combinations for Thirteen, 1965
1
Complete scores
2-4
Individual parts
5
Fanfare in B and E flat, 1968
Note: Complete score.
6
Fanfare in B and E flat, 1968
Note: Parts.
7
Triads and Things for Brass Quintet, 1968-1969
8
Chiaroscuro for Cello and Piano, 1968
Note: Complete scores.
81
For Solo Cello, 13 May 1969
Twelve-tone Variations on Quotes by the Beatles, for Young People's Orchestra, 1967, 1976
51
2 complete scores.
Note: One score from 1967 version, one from 1976 revision.
2
Musical notebook and article
3
Score
4-7
Individual parts
8
Electronic music compositions
Note:
Time Machine (1971), Electronic (1971), Pendulum (no date), Beethoven Piano Sonata (no date), Oboe Trio (no date), and notes.
9
Breath and Sounds for Tuba and Stereophonic Tape, 1970-1972
Note: Complete scores and concert program.
10
Echologie for Flute and Tape, 1972-1973
Note: Complete score, miniature score, and concert program.
11
Report from the Planet Mars, 1977-1978
Note: Four copies.
12
Article clippings used for research for Report from the Planet Mars
82-8
Report from the Planet Mars, 1977-1978
Note: Individual parts.
61
The Iliad of Indian Creek: an Opera Buffa in One Act, music by Beatrice Witkin, 1979
Note: Text, musical notes, and
Buffalo Bill Ballad.
Stephen Foster Revisited: Variations for Concert Band, 1981
2
Complete score
3
Condensed score
4
Instrument parts
5-6
Draft scores
7
2 complete scores and 1 condensed
8-10
Draft instrument parts
11
Individual parts
71
Cantillations for Two Clarinets and Piano, 1983
Note: Program notes.
2
Cantillations: Tropes for Zechariah, 1984
Note: Charts.
3
Cantillations of the Bible for String Quartet, 1985
Note: Lamentations I; Sephardic and Babylonian Lamentations III; V Ashkenazic-Portugese-Bach notes and working charts.
4
Cantillations of the bible for String Quartet, 1985
Note: Individual parts for Lamentations I: I Sephardic and Babylonian.
5
Cantillations Psalm 93, 1986
Note: Notes, program guide, charts.
89-14
Emerson songs, 1987-1988