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Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000) was a composer, researcher, and organist from Somerville, Massachusetts. He composed his first composition, an Italian style cantata inspired by Franz Schubet, at age four. During high school, he composed two operas and caught the attention of contemporary composers. In 1929, he attended the New England Conservatory of Music and studied under Leo Rich Lewis and Fredrick Converse. From 1959 to 1963, he traveled around the world to research ancient traditional music and get inspiration for later compositions. Hovhaness published 67 symphonies and 434 opus numbers during his lifetime. His music was described as a mix of Armenian traditions--which came from his Armenian father--as well as a blend of musical traditions from around the world.
Contents: includes collections from 8 areas within Asia and Africa.
NOTES: For information related to the Hovhaness recordings, see notes filed under specific HRAF numbers; photo-copies of tape boxes are filed together under W1 World. For information about the Ethnomusicology Archives' collection of documents relating to Hovhaness' life and career, contact archivist.
80-15.1-11/AF1 China - includes dubs of commercial recordings -
80-15.1 - Ch'in (Qin) music, Taiwan Oct. 9, 1960 (Introductory & welcome remarks; Evening Conversations of Travellers; Mooring for the Night on an Autumn River; Wild Geese Alighting on a Sandy Shore; Moon Over the Mountain Pass; Quitting Office)
80-15.2 - Ch'in (Qin) music (Rain and Clouds Over the Xiao and Xiang Rivers; Seagulls and the Beauty of Nature; Dialogue Between Fisherman and Woodcutter; Plum Blossoms Three Variations)
80-15.3 - Varieties of Chinese Classical Music - dubs of old 78 rpm records (La Ma (Mongolian Temple) music; Orchestra music in Peiping; General's March; "Tung Hwei Fong," music orchestra, Lake boat; Miss Yun Shia: Nine Circles (Gamelan); Swatow (Chazhou) music: "Long Tao Shia"; Lee, Wen-Hsing: Sen Sien (San Xian solo) (3-stringed guitar), Song of Monk; Amoy Music: beautiful steps)
80-15.4 - Excerpts of Chinese Classical Music (Ch'in music – sections of: Plum Blossoms, 3 variations; Chant of the monk Pu'an; Drunken Fishermen Singing at Dusk; Pipa solo; Ambush from All Sides; Zheng music; Zheng and Sheng; Shandong music; Chinese music in Japan – Gagaku; Koto music; Gagaku; Chinese music in Korea; Pakistan music)
80-15.5 - Chinese operatic music excerpts (In the Deep of the Night; The West Chamber – Peking drum singing; Beloved Consort – Cantonese opera)
80-15.6 - Five folks songs of Shantung (Shandong) province, "Prepared by David Chén, Police Broadcasting Network, Taipei, Taiwan"; Note on tape box: "No. 2 – Five folks songs of Shantung province in China")
80-15.7 - Drum songs/musi (Big Drum Song from Peiping (Peking folk song); Duet Sword Dance with drum (from traditional boxing); Heroine Liang's Drum Music (Peiping opera); Flower Drum Dance (from folk dance); Drum music in New Year's Festival (traditional dance))
80-15.8 - Shantung (Shandong) music, (Side one: Lamentation of Lo River – Sheng, Po, Tang, kuan (instrumental ensemble); Standing in front of the make-up stand – sheng duet; Shansi opera excerpt – Song of Blue Sea (Praise to East Wind and West Wind) – pan-hu, nan-hu, small titzn, sheng, po; Green Willow – small sona, pan-hu, sheng, tang, po (instrumental ensemble); Four Seasons (suona duet); Side two: Peiping opera excerpt – Returning General – sona, nan hu, sheng)
80-15.9 - Amoy music 1 (Nanguan) (Side one: Feather-like Snow; Eight Beautiful Horses; Side two: Lonely for Her; A Lonely Man; Under a Trellis of Beautiful Flowers)
80-15.10 - Amoy music 2 (Nanguan) (Traveling over Five Lakes; In the Front Chamber; Story from the Book)
80-15.11 - Amoy music 3 (5 items) (7:21:00 total duration) (copied to 11 WDs)
80-15.12/AD6 Taiwan - songs of the Tayalo (Love Song; Forsaken Lover; Terror Song; Happy Song) and Ami (Harvest Dance with leaf accomp.; Harvest Dance with leaf acomp.; Love Song; Serenade) tribes; recorded in Taipei, 1962 (20:47) (copied to 1 WD)
80-15.13-40/AA1 Korea - court and folk music recorded mainly in Seoul in 1960's (14:05:29 total duration); performers include some from the Korean Classical Music Institute (notes in doc file) (copied to 28 WDs)
80-15.41-45/AB1 Japan - includes Noh; Shishi (Lion Dance); Katsumasa Takasago presents Shomyo chant (WBAI radio program) (2:32:34 total duration) (notes in doc file) (copied to 5 WDs)
80-15.46-66/AW1 India - includes music from North and South India; some dubs of commercial recordings, some live (25:43:04 total duration) (copied to 32 WDs)
80-15.67-77/RJ1 Armenia - notes on tape boxes, no original archive sheet (5:40:27 total duration) (copied to 11 WDs)
80-15.78/A1 Asia - music from Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand, Pakistan (30:08) (copied to 1 WD)
80-15.79/F1 Africa - lectures from radio broadcasts (29:22) (copied to 1 WD)
Transmission Data: Digitization of tapes completed 2/2010 - 90 files (48 kHz, 24-bit).
Compact disc (Work Disc) copies of 80-15.1-12 produced 8/2006; CD copies of 80-15.13-22 produced 1/2007; CD copies of 80-15.23-40 produced 11/2007; production of remaining CDs (80-15.41-79) completed 2/2010 (90 CDs total).
Logsheets: Handwritten logsheets are included in Archives notebooks for Tapes 1-11 (China), 12 (Taiwan), and 13-40 (Korea); handwritten and online logsheets available for Tapes 41-45 (Japan), 67-77 (Armenia), 78 (Asia), and 79 (Africa); online logsheets available for Tapes 46-66 (India)
Work Tape copies produced in the 1980s (90 reels) discarded following digitization and production of Work Discs (2010)
Documentation: For information about the archive's collection of documents relating to Hovhaness, contact archivist
Contents list taken from tape box; no other information available.
Contents list taken from tape box; no other information available.
Copy of WBAI-New York radio presentation on Shomyo chant, with commentary by Katsumasa Takasago and Will Ogden.
Copy of WBAI-New York radio presentation on Shomyo chant, with commentary by Katsumasa Takasago and Will Ogden.
Copy of WBAI-New York radio presentation on Shomyo chant, with commentary by Katsumasa Takasago and Will Ogden.
D.K. Pattammal, South Indian vocalist, with murchang, mridangam and violin (copies of records produced by Columbia, Calcutta)Contents list transcribed from collector's notes on tape box.
Various artists, including Ravi Shankar and "Master Ibrahim" (see logsheet for contents listing).
Various artists, including Govindrao Tembe, Inayat Khan, and Eknath Kulkarni (see logsheet for contents listing).
Various artists, including Fayyaz Khan and Kesarbai Kerkar (see logsheet for contents listing).
Dwaram Naidu, violin (radio concert 1/1/60); see logsheet for complete contents listing.Contents list transcribed from collector's notes on tape box.