The collection contains works which display a wide variety of Finney's compositional styles, as well as works by other composers such as Grant Beglarian, Alban Berg, Lee Eitzen, Arthur Honneger, Peter Mennin, Robert Oboussier, Francis Poulenc, Arnold Schoenberg, Wayne Slawson, and George Wilson. Prominent performers and conductors represented in the collection are: Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Cleveland Orchestra; Howard Hanson; Gregg Smith Singers; Karel Husa; Karen Keys; John McCollum; Yehudi Menuhin; Philadelphia Orchestra; Gunther Schuller ; Harvey Sollberger ; Robert Willoughby and the Yaddo Orchestra. Because of Finney's close association with the University of Michigan, many of the university's performing groups are also represented in the collection.
Many recordings represented in this collection have never been commercially released.
Acquisition: RHA *L(Special) 98-16
Acquisition: Gift Ross Lee Finney 135 Items
Biographical/historical: Ross Lee Finney (1906-1997) was an American composer and teacher. Born in Wells, MN, he studied at the University of Minnesota with Donald Ferguson, in Paris with Nadia Boulanger,and at Harvard with Edward Burlingame Hill. He also studied with Roger Sessions (1935), Alban Berg (1931-1932), and Gian Francesco Malipiero (1937). Finney taught at Smith College (1929-49) ; Mt. Holyoke College (1938-40) ; Hartt School of Music (1941-42), and Amherst College (1946-1947). He was a visiting lecturer at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (1948-1949), and later became a professor there (1949-73). During his time at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Finney served as chairman of the composition department, and established an electronic music laboratory.
Action: Cataloged 03/21/2000
Finding aid available in repository: *L(Special) 98-16.
