TitleEntretien avec David Vaughan: Festival d'Automne à Paris, 1991-09
Additional title: Meeting with David Vaughan
NamesMerce Cunningham Dance Company (Associated name)Vaughan, David, 1924- (Interviewee)
CollectionMerce Cunningham Dance Foundation Collection. Audio materials
Dates / OriginDate Created: 1991-09 (Questionable)
Library locationsRodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded SoundShelf locator: *LTC-A 1470
TopicsCage, JohnCage, John. Music of changesCunningham, MerceVaughan, David, 1924-Judson Dance TheaterMerce Cunningham Dance CompanyAleatory musicChoreographyMusic and dance
GenresInterviews
NotesContent: David Vaughan is interviewed by an unidentified French speaking interviewer and translator on the occasion of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company performances at the Festival d'Automne à Paris.Content: Title, date and location provided by cataloger based on audition and handwritten note on original cassette and container.Content: Handwritten notes on original cassette and container: "Entretien avec David Vaughan (Merce Cunningham) ; Sept. 91 ; Festival d'Automne".Venue: Recorded in, Paris, France, 1991 September [?].Acquisition: Gift; Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation, 2011-2012.Language: The interviewer asks questions in French which are translated into English and responded to in English and French by the interviewee.
Physical DescriptionAudiocassetteExtent: 1 audiocassette (54 minutes) : analogSound quality is fair; there is significant background noise and the recording volume is low throughout.
DescriptionStreaming file 1, side a: Begins abruptly; unidentified interviewer explains, through her translator, her studies and reasons for the interview, especially her interest in chance operations as well as the influences of Marcel Duchamp and the I-Ching [Yi jing] on John Cage's compositions; David Vaughan tells the story about how Christian Wolff gave Cage a copy of the I-Ching while Cage was working on his Music of changes (1951); Vaughan speaks briefly about the ways Zen Buddhism, D.T. Suzuki, and Marcel Duchamp influenced Cage; briefly, the exchange of ideas between Cage and Merce Cunningham, including Cunningham's use of chance methods in choreography; ways that Cage's composition process differs from Cunningham's choreographic process and how these differences translate in performance of the respective material; Vaughan mentions how Cage is tired from his travels in the recent year; he responds to a question about how the [Merce Cunningham Dance Company] dancers memorize the choreography, including a mention of Cunningham's choreographic notes and a description of the computer program [LifeForms software] that Cunningham uses for choreography; Vaughan speaks about how the dancers' performances are not improvised as Cunningham uses chance methods primarily in the choreographic process; he speaks briefly about Duchamp's idea that the work of art is completed by the spectator as this relates to Cage's and Cunningham's works; Cunningham as a performer and the virtuosity of his dancers; the practical decisions that Cunningham makes when choreographing, especially in relation to his group of dancers; the interviewer speaks about the influence of Cunningham on French choreographers; Vaughan responds and mentions early criticisms of Cunningham; he speaks about the Judson Dance Theater's use of Cage's compositional ideas, especially improvisation; ends abruptly.
Streaming file 2, side b: Begins abruptly; they speak about French choreographers; the interviewer asks about a quote from Merce Cunningham about dance technique; Vaughan speaks briefly about the videos on the Cunningham technique; they speak about several unnamed articles [which they are presumably viewing]; interview concludes.
Type of ResourceSound recording
LanguagesEnglishFrench
IdentifiersRLIN/OCLC: 933596330NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b20868100Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): dea660b0-b950-0133-fcb0-3c07547a230f
Rights StatementThis 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).
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