Music Lectures

A founder and director of the Yale Baroque Opera Project talks about the program, integrated into the undergraduate curriculum, in which students produce and perform in early Italian operas from the 17th & 18th centuries

Virgil Thomson (1896-1989), important 20th Century composer and influential critic, was interviewed by Vivian Perlis for Yale’s Oral History of American Music archive (OHAM) between 1977 and 1980. Additional material held at OHAM includes tape recordings of his Yale College course, “Words and Music”, a video-taped interview in his apartment at the historic Chelsea Hotel, New York City, and numerous acquired interviews. Excerpts appear in Composers’ Voices from Ives to Ellington, CD and book publication by Vivian Perlis and Libby Van Cleve, (Yale University Press, 2005.) Included are comments on: opera, teaching composition, Nadia Boulanger, Gertrude Stein, and music criticism. For more Yale music netcasts, visit music.yale.edu. For information about music samples and interview transcript, see OHAM website: www.yale.edu/oham/. This podcast was derived from the publication’s second CD, Track 9.

Boris Berman, Professor of Piano, Chair of the Piano department at the Yale School of Music, and one of the world’s leading authorities on the life and music of Sergei Prokofiev talks with Yale piano student David Kaplan about Prokofiev and upcoming performances at Yale and New York of his music.

Yale Opera's Managing Director Grant Meachum talks about the 2008 production of Johann Strauss's Die Fledermaus with Artistic Director Doris Yarick-Cross, stage director Marc Verzatt and conductor Jeremy Silver about the opera, with musical examples provided by Samantha Talmadge as Rosalinde and Zach Borichevsky as Eisenstein, accompanied by faculty pianist Mikhail Hallak.

The builders of the new organ in Marquand Chapel, George Taylor, John Boody, and Martin Jean discuss their inspiring creation.

Anne Walters Robertson, the Claire Dux Swift Distinguished Service Professor in Music at the University of Chicago, speaking on the occasion of being awarded the Wilbur Cross Medal by the Yale Graduate School. Ms. Walters received her PHD in Music from Yale in 1984.

Perlis & Van Cleve’s Oral History American Music project, Ives interview excerpts, (1968-1974) From 1968 to 1974, Vivian Perlis interviewed friends, family and colleagues of Ives for Yale’s Oral History American Music Project. Excerpts appear in Composers’ Voices from Ives to Ellington, CD and book publication by Vivian Perlis and Libby Van Cleve, (Yale University Press, 2005.) Included are comments on: Ives’ character and personality, working methods, innovative techniques, work as an insurance executive, his unusually talented father, and the influence of Emerson and American Transcendentalism. For information about music samples and interview transcript, see OHAM website: www.yale.edu/oham/. This podcast was derived from the publication’s first CD, Tracks 2- 11.

Aaron Copland, (1900-1990) major figure in American composition and leader in the promotion and establishment of American music, was interviewed by Vivian Perlis for Yale’s Oral History American Music Project (OHAM) between 1975 and 1978. Excerpts appear in Composers’ Voices from Ives to Ellington, CD and book publication by Vivian Perlis and Libby Van Cleve, Yale University Press, 2005. (See: http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=0300106734) Included are comments on: Nadia Boulanger, jazz influence, Koussevitzsky, Stravinsky, twelve-tone methods, film music, Martha Graham, Appalachian Spring, and artistic inspiration, with short musical excerpts mostly recorded at the Yale School of Music. For information about music samples and interview transcript, see OHAM website: www.yale.edu/oham/. This podcast was derived from the publication’s second CD, Track 11. For additional Music at Yale podcasts, visit www.yale.edu/music/ysm.