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Louis Calabro Papers

 Collection
Identifier: mss-229

Scope and Contents

The Louis Calabro Papers contain records from a composer at Bennington College from 1955-1991. The series are audio materials, awards, grants, and fellowships, Bennington College/teaching files, clippings, compositions, correspondence, performances, and personal papers. The audio materials include vinyl records and magnetic tape reels of recordings of performances of Calabro’s pieces and others' works. The awards, grants, and fellowships series contains correspondence, applications, and contracts relating to various accolades and grants Calabro applied for and/or received. The Bennington College/teaching files series contains papers from the music division at Bennington College and interactions Calabro had with students and fellow faculty members. Clippings include various articles and magazines, including reviews, publicity, and pieces that quote Calabro. The compositions series comprises the bulk of the collection; it contains sheet music of Calabro’s musical compositions. There are onionskins, which are handwritten transparents from which copies were made; there are also pencil scores and printed, copied, or computer generated scores. Correspondence includes communications with publishers, performers, other composers, and people interested in buying music. The performances series contains programs and publicity from performances of Calabro’s music at Bennington College, by the Sage City Symphony and Vermont Symphony Orchestra, and various others. The personal papers series includes various materials from Calabro’s personal life, unrelated to his professional pursuits, including correspondence, writings, performances of other people’s works, and clippings.

Dates

  • Other: 1941-1991

Creator

Access

Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Curator of Manuscripts.

Biographical / Historical

Louis Calabro was born on November 1, 1926 in Brooklyn, NY. He got his start as a musician playing professionally in jazz bands as a percussionist. He served as a US Paratrooper in Japan 1944-1946 and played in the army band. When he returned he received his first formal musical training at Juilliard 1948-1953 where he completed undergraduate and post-graduate work in composition under the direction of Vincent Persichetti. He later studied in Italy on a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 1955 he got a position at Bennington College, where he taught for the rest of his life. While there, he helped found the MFA program in music. He also founded the Sage City Symphony in Bennington in 1972. Calabro worked with publisher Elkan-Vogel, part of the Theodore Presser Company. Awards Calabro received throughout his life include the Richard Rodgers Scholarship for Composition at Juilliard, the Elizabeth A. Coolidge Award for Chamber Music in 1952 and 1953, two Guggenheim fellowships, and the Alice Ditson Award. In 1951 Louis married Leontina Castagneri, a Juilliard trained singer; together they had four children: Stephanie (b.1952 December 7), Thomas (b.1955 August 20), Peter (b.1960 February 17), and Nicolai (b.1962 December 16). He later married Christine Graham and they had two children: Finnegan (b.1980 May 16) and Max (b.1984). Louis Calabro died on October 21, 1991.

Extent

24.84 Linear Feet (24.84 linear feet; 9 cartons, 7 oversize boxes, 1 tube, 1 oversize item)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Louis Calabro was an American composer who taught at Bennington College in Bennington, VT 1955-1991. He was trained in composition at Juilliard. The collection contains papers from Calabro's professional life, including musical compositions, audio recordings, correspondence, performances, clippings, grants, teaching files, and a small amount of personal papers.

Location

Library Research Annex; contact uvmsc@uvm.edu for access.

Title
Guide to the Louis Calabro Papers
Status
Completed
Date
2013.01.22
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the University of Vermont Libraries, Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Silver Special Collections Library
48 University Place, Room B201
Burlington Vermont 05405 U.S.A. US
(802) 656-2138
(802) 656-4038 (Fax)