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Items Merce Cunningham's acceptance speech for the Wexner Prize of the Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State University, 1993

Merce Cunningham's acceptance speech for the Wexner Prize of the Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State University, 1993

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LIBRARY DIVISION
Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound

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COLLECTION
Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection. Audio materials

This Item

Merce Cunningham's acceptance speech for the Wexner Prize of the Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State University, 1993

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Title
Merce Cunningham's acceptance speech for the Wexner Prize of the Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State University, 1993
Names
Merce Cunningham Dance Company (Associated name)
Cunningham, Merce (Speaker)
Gee, E. Gordon (Elwood Gordon), 1944- (Speaker)
Wexner Center for the Arts (Host)
Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation (Donor)
Collection

Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection. Audio materials

Dates / Origin
Date Created: 1993
Library locations
Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound
Shelf locator: *LTC-A 1408
Topics
Cage, John
Cage, John. Circus on
Cornish College of the Arts (Seattle, Wash.)
Merce Cunningham Dance Company
Inlets 2 (Choreographic work : Cunningham)
Roaratorio (Choreographic work : Cunningham)
Root of an unfocus (Choreographic work : Cunningham)
Choreography
Music and dance
Award presentations (Sound recordings)
Genres
Speeches
spoken word
Notes
Content: Title, date and location provided by cataloger based on handwritten note on original cassette, audition, and information provided by the Merce Cunningham Trust.
Content: Handwritten note on original cassette: "Merce's acceptance speech".
Venue: Recorded at the Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, 1993.
Acquisition: Gift; Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation, 2011-2012.
Physical Description
Audiocassette
Extent: 1 audiocassette (28 minutes) : analog
Sound quality is good.
Description
Merce Cunningham's acceptance speech for the Wexner Prize [awarded to Cunningham and John Cage (posthumously)]; Cunningham speaks about meeting John Cage at Cornish College [of the Arts] in 1938 while a student there; he speaks about being a member of Cage's percussion group at Cornish; more on Cage's artistic philosophy; he introduces Carolyn Brown in the audience, briefly describes her as a dancer and tells an anecdote about her and Cage while on a [Merce Cunningham Dance Company] tour in a Volkswagon bus; another anecdote about driving the VW bus in a snow storm with the Company while on tour; Cunningham briefly describes his first performance program with Cage in 1944; Cage's prepared piano works for that evening, including the compositional structure of Root of an unfocus (1944); independence and interdependence between the music and the dance in their work together; he describes a lecture-demonstration given with Cage in the late 1940's; he tells a brief anecdote about dancer, Marianne Preger[-Simon]; an anecdote about an experience he had while being a dance student at Cornish; the artistic ideas that he shared with Cage, including the way these translated into aspects of the performances; Cage's regular "uniform" and reasons why he selected those particular clothes; more on Cage's interests, especially in mycology; Cunningham's interest in exploring the wide range of human movement; briefly, on continuing to create works after Cage's death; an anecdote about travel difficulties while on a performance tour in the late 1940's; several anecdotes about Cage, including one on rehearsing for his Circus on, the eventual music for Cunningham's Roaratorio (1983); more on the composition of Circus on, and briefly, the first performance of Roaratorio; an anecdote on the creation of Inlets 2 (1983); briefly, his thoughts on setting his works on other dance companies and student groups; preparations for the 1964 world tour, including anecdotes on David Vaughan and his search for international presenters; he introduces Harvey Lichtenstein in the audience and describes a set of performances given by his Company at the Brooklyn Academy of Music; an anecdote on a conflict between the Company musicians and the electricians union at BAM, and the resulting performance done in silence; the satisfaction he receives from creating movement phrases; concluding remarks and the end of the speech, ca. 23:11; recording silence ca. 23:12-24:37; awards ceremony continues with [E. Gordon] Gee, Ohio State University president, giving a brief speech, including his announcement of the purchase of Changing steps (1973) to be performed by Ohio State University dance students.
Type of Resource
Sound recording
Identifiers
RLIN/OCLC: 913885988
NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b20732246
Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): 3e2d62d0-b8ef-0133-f599-60f81dd2b63c
Rights Statement
This item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Item timeline of events

  • 1993: Created
  • 2024: Found by you!
  • 2025

MLA Format

Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound, The New York Public Library. "Merce Cunningham's acceptance speech for the Wexner Prize of the Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State University, 1993" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1993. https://qa-digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/42bf80c0-b8ef-0133-31dc-60f81dd2b63c

Chicago/Turabian Format

Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound, The New York Public Library. "Merce Cunningham's acceptance speech for the Wexner Prize of the Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State University, 1993" New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed November 22, 2024. https://qa-digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/42bf80c0-b8ef-0133-31dc-60f81dd2b63c

APA Format

Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound, The New York Public Library. (1993). Merce Cunningham's acceptance speech for the Wexner Prize of the Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State University, 1993 Retrieved from https://qa-digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/42bf80c0-b8ef-0133-31dc-60f81dd2b63c

Wikipedia Citation

<ref name=NYPL>{{cite web | url=https://qa-digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/42bf80c0-b8ef-0133-31dc-60f81dd2b63c | title= (sound recording) Merce Cunningham's acceptance speech for the Wexner Prize of the Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State University, 1993, (1993)|author=Digital Collections, The New York Public Library |accessdate=November 22, 2024 |publisher=The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations}}</ref>

Merce Cunningham's acceptance speech for the Wexner Prize of the Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State University, 1993