Robert Moevs for the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble papers
Dates
- 1965 - 1969
Scope and Contents
This collection covers preparation, programs and correspondence regarding the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble (CCE) from 1965-1969. This collection is particularly related to the CCE workshop program, which was headed by Robert Moevs, an American composer and faculty member of Rutgers University from 1965-1991. There is one manuscript box in this collection.
Extent
0.4 Linear Feet (1 manuscript box)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The papers of Robert Moevs, spanning from 1965-1969, in regards to the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble at Rutgers University. This collection includes the introduction of the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, as well as correspondence with various members of the music community regarding workshop programs and concerts.
Biographical / Historical
Robert Walter Moevs was a composer who served on the Rutgers University faculty from 1964-1991. He was born in La Crosse, WI in 1920 and lived until December 10, 2007. In addition to Rutgers, he was also a faculty member of Harvard University from 1955-1963, a composer-in-residence at the American Academy in Rome from 1960-1961, and was a Guggenheim Fellow. He created orchestral, chamber, vocal, and instrumental music, and his compositions were showcased by the Cleveland Symphony, the Boston Symphony, and Leonard Bernstein and the Symphony of the Air. In addition to his musical career, Moevs was a World War II veteran, serving in the US Air Corps.
Moevs was the conductor of the Chamber Contemporary Ensemble from 1966-1968, which took residence at Rutgers University in 1965. The relationship between Rutgers and the CCE began with the Committee for International Composers, Ltd., and responsibility for the chamber was shared between the Rutgers University Administration and the Music Department. The ensemble consisted of 13 players and was also conducted by Arthur Weisberg. CCE participated in workshops, open rehearsals, performances, and seminars at Rutgers; commissioned new works by the Committee for International Composers; the establishment of an archive of contemporary work in the form of recorded tapes, manuscripts scores, and publications; and the dissemination of performances across the country. The Contemporary Chamber Ensemble is no longer in existence and appears to only have lasted until 1969.
Arrangement
This collection is housed in one half-size legal manuscript box and arranged in 13 folders. Three large folders (Workshop Correspondence, Past Workshop Correspondence) were broken down into six folders, dividing by the letter receiver’s last name. Past Workshop Correspondence is in two different sets, true to what Moevs had left in his own organization. Original folders were inserted at the back of the new folders, as some of them had notes written on them.
Folder List
Subject Files, 1965-1969
Box 1, Folder 1: Repertoires for workshops, concert programs, notes on the workshops by Moevs, handwritten introduction to program by Moevs, invitations to the musical performances. (1966-68)
Box 1, Folder 2: List of CCE members and their addresses, notes on returned scores, correspondence regarding returned scores, announcement sent to NYU for Contemporary Music Newsletter, copy of Contemporary Music Newsletter, Memo announcing the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble will officially be called the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble of Rutgers University. (1967-1969)
Box 1, Folder 3: Notes and correspondence on financial issues of the CCE notes on Rockefeller Grant, map of Rutgers University with notes, list of Rutgers cheers, review of CCE’s first year at Rutgers by Moevs, correspondences of Martin Picker, acting chairman of the Department of Music and Charles G. Morrow, administrative assistant of the CCE, blank personnel record sheets. All administrative notes of the CCE. (1967)
Box 1, Folder 4: Letters regarding returned scores to composers from Moevs. All letters are rejecting the playing of the scores for workshops. Letters addressed to those with last names from A-J. (1965-1968)
Box 1, Folder 5: Letters regarding returned scores to composers from Moevs, K-Z. (1965-1968)
Box 1, Folder 6: Concert programs, workshop and concert schedules, mailers with workshop schedules, formal written account of the first year of CCE. (1966-1968)
Box 1, Folder 7: Correspondence with composers on past workshops, discussion of scores to be returned. Letters addressed to composers from Moevs, A-K, Set 1. (1966-1967)
Box 1, Folder 8: Correspondence with composers on past workshops, L-Z, Set 1. (1966-1967)
Box 1, Folder 9: Correspondence with composers on past workshops, A-K, Set 2. (1966-1969)
Box 1, Folder 10: Correspondence with composers on past workshops, L-Z, Set 2. (1966-1969)
Box 1, Folder 11: Correspondence and resume of John C. Cooper. (1967)
Box 1, Folder 12: Correspondence with Mary Jane Corry of the International Society of Contemporary Music (ISCM), program on International Music Festival, Correspondence with Felix Greissle of E.B. Marks Music Group regarding the Board for the ISCM. (1967)
Box 1, Folder 13: Resume, newspaper clipping and headshot for Stephanie Turash, composer. (n.d.)
Bibliography
- Jenson, Christine. “The Robert Moevs Collection.” Rutgers University Libraries, last modified September 4, 2013. http://libguides.rutgers.edu/moevs
- Moevs, Robert. “The Contemporary Chamber Ensemble in Residence at Rutgers University.” College Music Symposium 6 (1966). http://symposium.music.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=1605:the-contemporary-chamber-ensemble-in-residence-at-rutgers-university&Itemid=124
- Author
- Sara Keegan, Stephen Bacchetta
- Date
- May 2014
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Part of the Rutgers University Archives Repository
Rutgers University Libraries
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