Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1968-1975 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
35 cm of textual records
Context area
Name of creator
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
File consists of manuscript scores, annotated scores, score masters, notes on the production, costume designs by Michael Colgrass, and various versions of the script.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Uploaded finding aid
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Note from Michael Colgrass: "I wrote this work for TV on a commission from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting during 1972-1975. The theatrical style of the piece was inspired by my Rockefeller Foundation studies in Europe on a Composer-in-the-Theatre-at-large program (which I created) to study avant garde theater. I staged my own version of the opera at the University of Illinois after PBS told me the work was too expensive for television. The result was a theatrical success, mixing dance, mime, acrobatics, etc., but an operatic failure, since I put all my attention on writing the script and producing and directing the production and little on the music. But the effect of this work on my subsequent instrumental music was enormous, since from this point on I wrote for instrumentalists as if they were characters in a play."