Dominick Argento papers
Collection Scope and Contents
Collection includes scores, manuscripts, recordings, correspondence, and other materials created and collected by composer Dominick Argento.
Dates
- circa 1950-2018
Language of Materials
English
Italian
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is unprocessed with limited descriptive information available at this time. For more information, or to access the collection, please contact the Performing Arts Archives.
Conditions Governing Use
This collection may be protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S. Code). It is the user's responsibility to verify copyright ownership and to obtain all necessary permissions prior to the reproduction, publication, or other use of any portion of these materials. Researchers may quote from the collection under the fair use provision of the copyright law.
Biographical Note
Dominick Argento (1927-2019) was born in York, Pennsylvania. He obtained degrees from the Peabody Institute and the Eastman School of Music, and spent a year in Florence on a Guggenheim Fellowship, before settling in Minneapolis in 1958. Once in Minnesota, he began teaching at the University of Minnesota School of Music and quickly developed relationships with performance groups local to the Twin Cities.
Notably, Argento helped shepherd the Minnesota Opera’s (then Center Opera) inaugural performance in 1964. His one-act opera, The Masque of Angels, was commissioned to mark the occasion. Argento completed commissions from numerous other performing ensembles both locally and nationally throughout his career, composing five commissioned works for the Minnesota Opera alone. His song cycle, From the Diary of Virginia Woolf, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1975.
The materials in the collection illustrate the composer’s impressive creative output as well as his collaborative relationships with other musicians and musical groups, including Philip Brunelle and VocalEssence, Dale Warland and the Dale Warland Singers, the Minnesota Opera, Dallas Opera, and the New York City Opera.
Extent
45 Linear Feet (28 record cartons, 21 flat boxes, 2 book trays)
Abstract
The collection includes correspondence, scores, manuscripts, signed photographs, audio recordings (open reel and audio cassette) and other ephemera created and collected by composer Dominick Argento.
Physical Location
MLAC Cavern
Acquisition
Collection donated to the Performing Arts Archives by Dominick Argento in 2018.
Processing Information
The collection is unprocessed with limited descriptive information available at this time. For more information, or to access the collection, please contact the Performing Arts Archives.
- Audio-visual materials Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
- Correspondence Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Ephemera Subject Source: Local sources
- Manuscripts Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Music Scores Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Opera -- Minnesota Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Opera companies -- Minnesota Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Photographs Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Title
- Dominick Argento papers
- Author
- Kathryn J Hujda
- Date
- February 2019
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Collecting Area Details
Contact The Performing Arts Archives Collecting Area
