John Watts Papers: NYU Special Collections Finding Aids (original) (raw)

90 Linear Feet in 88 boxes

Materials are in English.

John Everett Watts, Jr. (1930-1982) was a composer, teacher and advocate of "new" and electronic music. He also enjoyed forays into literary composition and journalism, and worked closely with his third wife, Laura Foreman, on dance and performance art pieces. The collection includes his correspondence, sheet music, film, audio and video recordings.

Founder and Director of the Composers Cooperative Society in 1964, and later, the Composers and Choreographers Theater, John Everett Watts, Jr. (1930-1982) was a member of the faculty at the New School for Social Research in New York City from 1969 until 1982. He directed the Electronic Music Program at the New School and coordinated numerous music workshops, festivals, and concerts there.

Watts was born in Maryville, Tennessee, and began studying music (clarinet) in his early teens. He received his B.A. in Music Composition from the University of Tennessee in 1949, and subsequently entered graduate school there, where he was a student of David Van Vactor and John Krueger in composition, and Alfred Schmied in piano. He won the Thomas Berry Prize for Composition in 1950, but was soon drafted into the army, where he served briefly in the Korean War. He was granted an honorable discharge in 1951 for medical reasons.

Watts entered the University of Colorado with a music scholarship in 1951 and graduated with a Masters Degree in Music in 1953. He was a student of Cecil Effinger in composition, and Paul Parmelee and Howard Waltz in piano. It was there he met the painter Charles Bunnell, and began studies in painting and drawing. He was admitted to the doctoral program in composition at the University of Illinois, where he studied with Burrill Phillips, Robert Kelly, and Robert Palmer. Following Palmer, Watts left Illinois in 1956 for Cornell University, where he continued to study composition, but he became increasingly interested in painting and literature, and lost focus on the degree program. He left Cornell and was hired by the North Dakota State College in Fargo during the 1956-57 academic year, where he taught Music Appreciation and assisted the Director of Bands.

At a summer music festival in 1950, Watts met the composer Roy Harris, who had encouraged him to continue composition studies. After the year of teaching in Fargo, Watts wanted to return to composition, and sought private studies with Harris, then at Indiana University. There, under Harris, Watts began to write Sonata for Piano in 1958, which eventually became his professional debut "break-out" piece when it was premiered at Carnegie Recital Hall in 1966 by the young gifted pianist David Del Tredici.

Invited by his mentor Harris, Watts attended the Inter-American University in San German, Puerto Rico during the fall/winter of 1960-61, continuing to work on the sonata, and there made the acquaintance of many performers, including pianist Johanna Harris, and trumpet player Robert Levy. After studies in San German, Watts moved to New York City in 1962 where he worked as a teacher at the Waltann School of Creative Arts in Brooklyn, and as a dance accompanist at the North Shore Community Arts Center on Long Island. It was during this time that he met dancer-choreographer Laura Foreman. Watts married Foreman in 1963 (his third and her first), in a Unitarian ceremony near Foreman's mother's home in Los Angeles.

Watts worked as a music teacher at the Eron Preparatory School in Manhattan from 1963 to 1965, and continued to study with Harris informally. He won a residency to the prestigious Yaddo Arts Colony in 1964. With this boost, letters of recommendation from Harris and Robert Palmer, and the strong support of Foreman, Watts attempted readmission to the doctoral program in composition at Cornell in 1964, but his application was rejected. He rekindled his interest in literary composition and journalism, and found additional employment as an editor for the weekly newspaper Manhattan East News from 1965 to 1967, and the Journal of Prayer, a monthly, non-denominational, inspirational publication from 1967-70.

In 1967, Watts established an organization for the purpose of presenting concerts of new music. Initially called the Composer's Cooperative Society, it soon merged with the Laura Foreman Dance Company to become the Composers and Choreographers Theatre-an entity that quickly grew into a nationally-recognized venue for contemporary music and dance in New York City.

The Composers and Choreographers Theatre (CCT) was registered as a non-profit corporation and began an artists-in-residence affiliation with the New School for Social Research in 1969. It was established as a cultural and educational organization specifically to help create a better performance environment for contemporary music and dance, with Watts and Foreman as Co-Directors. At the New School, it developed one of the first university electronic music/synthesizer programs in the country, created the annual May Festival concert series, and pioneered workshop formats involving composers, musicians, and music and modern dance specialists at work and in concert. Through selective programming, the CCT defined an active creative spectrum ranging from the traditional-based to the avant-garde.

It was a fertile time for discovering compositional uses of electronics, theatrics and performance art in live concert, and for the mingling of contemporary music performance with modern dance, photography, film, and early videotape. Watts was introduced to the Moog synthesizer while working with composer Gershon Kingsley at Kingsley's mid-town studio in the late 1960s. Watts acquired his own synthesizer in 1970, an ARP, and began performing with it publicly in 1972 with his piece Elegy to Chimney: In Memoriam, for trumpet, tape, and live synthesizer.

Throughout the 1970s, Watts was a composer, an ARP synthesizer soloist, Director of the Composers Theatre, and the Director of the Electronic Music Program at the New School. To the detriment of his composing and performing career, he worked very hard to maintain funding sources for the CCT. Overall, the CCT presented the works of more than 200 composers, including 150 premieres and 50 commissions, founded the Composers Festival Orchestra, and produced three LP recordings. Composers whose works were premiered and performed under the auspices of Composers Theatre include:

William Albright, David Amram, Robert Baksa, Warren Benson, Leonard Bernstein, Allan Blank, Alvin Brehm, Earle Brown, Louis Calabro, Robert Clark, David Cope, Mario Davidovsky, David Del Tredici, Brian Fennelly, Roger Hannay, William Hellerman, Gershon Kingsley, Barbara Kolb, Karl Korte, Leo Kraft, Meyer Kupferman, William Mayer, Vincent Persichetti, Quincy Porter, Ned Rorem, Peter Schickele, Elliott Schwartz, Robert Starer, Francis Thorne, Gilbert Trythall, Gerald Warfield, John Watts, Stephan Wolpe, Yehuda Yannay, Ramon Zupko, and many others. The concerts generally took place at the Studio 58 Playhouse, a salon-theatre on 58th street, seating 125 persons - intimate, informal or formal, and acoustically appropriate for chamber ensemble dimensions emphasized at the CCT concerts.

Watts and Foreman were constantly seeking publicity, which could help them generate funds from government, corporate, and private organizations. The most striking publicity they ever received was for a dance concert performance that never actually took place. Jack Anderson's article in the New York Times (July 1981) shows a poster of the Watts/Foreman presentation Wallwork with a "Sold Out" sign printed across the center. Not happening was the point of the concert, which was advertised-with ticket prices, date, time, and reservation telephone number- on posters all over New York City. When people called the number, they were told that no further names were being added to the waiting list. It was a hoax, though nobody was cheated out of any money. Anderson called it "nutty and annoying," but he admitted that "it does raise questions about the relationship between art and publicity."

John's last performed work, Time Coded Woman, was written for Lukas Foss and the Brooklyn Philharmonic's "Meet the Moderns" series. It featured video footage by Laura Foreman, with electronic music tracks and orchestra. The pre-flight test premiere took place at Cooper Union on April 2, 1982, and was well-received. The actual premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music the following night did not fare well with reviewers. Foreman believed that the poor reception of this work-combined with his recent termination from his teaching job at the New School-ultimately contributed to his premature death. Three months after the premiere of Time Coded Woman, he was found dead in his apartment, from what appeared to be complications from chronic alcoholism. As of October, 2002, Watts is survived by many family members, including daughter Elizabeth Watts of Manhasset, New York, and nephew David Thompson, a professor at Agnes Scott College in Atlanta, Georgia.

(Biography written by 2002 Gina Genova)

Folders are generally arranged alphabetically by subject/author heading.

The files are grouped into 12 series.

Series I: Music Scores
Series II: Correspondence
Series III: Manuscripts and Writings
Series IV: Biography - John Watts
Series V: Business
Series VI: Publicity
Series VII: Printed Materials
Series VIII: Photographs
Series IX: Audio Recordings
Series X: Video Recordings
Series XI: Film
Series XII: Props and Personal Items
Oversize - Series I: Music Scores
Oversize - Series VI: Publicity Materials
Oversize - Series VII: Printed Materials
Oversize - Series XII: Personal Items

The John Watts Papers are part of the Downtown Collection at the Fales Library, New York University. The Fales Library is the primary special collections division of the NYU Libraries, housing nearly 200,000 volumes of English and American literature from 1700 to present. Strengths of the collection include the development of the English and American novel, with an emphasis on the Gothic and the Victorian novel. The Downtown Collection, of which the John Watts Papers are a part, is a comprehensive collection of printed materials, archives, and other items related to the Downtown New York cultural scene from ca. 1975 to the present.

The bulk of the John Watts Papers is comprised of over 500 audio recordings on 1/4" and 1/2" open reels. Other recordings on audiocassette and LP records offer insight into the sounds of Watts' ARP synthesizers, and orchestral, choral, and chamber music of the Composers Theatre. A substantial portion of Watts's musical output exists only on these recordings, as he did not notate his electronic works. His scores comprise chamber and orchestral works, many of which contain tape parts, notated only as time cue lengths.

Researchers should note that preservation work has yet to be completed on all media portions of the collection. Until research copies are created, some material may be unavailable for consultation. Please consult a Fales Archivist.

Watts's collection includes his own writings, and the writings of his friends and colleagues, including poetry, play scripts, project proposals, unpublished articles and school music papers. There are materials from each of the institutions at which John either taught or attended school, including transcripts and correspondence. There were a number of costumes and props left from CCT performances, including stuffed dummies (human size), 'pregnant ballerina' costumes, shoes, dance leotards, toy pistols, noisemakers and bubble blowers, but due to the mildew which had developed on these items, many of them had to be discarded.

There are over 100 videotapes of Foreman/Watts collaborations (most in 3/4" U-matic format), as well as a small collection of films, photographs, publicity flyers, notices, press releases, posters, and programs. Currently, there is limited access. The videotapes and films, like the audiorecordings will have to have preservation masters and viewing copies made before researchers will be able to view the material. There are 8 boxes containing CCT business records for operating expenses, the board of directors and staff, fundraising and grant applications, and financial records and receipts.

There is a weighty collection of correspondence between Watts, a skillful grammarian and postal communicator, and some of the most notable composers and performers in the United States and in New York's new music concert scene. These letters confirm the recent claim by soprano Catherine Rowe that "not a single musician in New York would have turned down the opportunity to work with John in the 1970s." Watts also engaged in active correspondence with many celebrities, writers, directors, editors, friends, Tennessee relatives, and raconteurs of every sort.

Organizations

Genres

People

Clark, Robert Keys; Doolittle, Joyce, 1928-; Cope, David, 1941-; Effinger, Cecil, 1914-1990; Levy, Robert, 1943-; Korte, Karl; Bunnell, Charles Ragland, 1897-1968; Albright, William; Foreman, Laura; Reilly, Jack, 1932-; Rorem, Ned, 1923-; Nin, Anaïs, 1903-1977; Palmer, Robert, 1915-; Watts, John, 1930-1982; Rose, Griffith, 1936-

Topics

Places

Materials are open to researchers. Please contact the Fales Library and Special Collections, fales.library@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.

Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for materials in this collection was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder. Please contact the Fales Library and Special Collections, fales.library@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.

Published citations should take the following form:

Identification of item, date (if known); The John Watts Papers; MSS 093; box number; folder number; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University Libraries.

The John Watts Papers were the gift of Kathryn Laura Joy Foreman Watts (1936-2001) to the Fales Library.

Access copies for some audio/visual materials in the collection are available by appointment for reading room viewing and listening only.

There is no information about materials that are associated by provenance to the described materials that have been physically separated or removed.

Gina Genova, August 2000-August 2002. Media updated by Luke Martin and Brent Phillips, 2008; YZ Chin, 2010.

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-20 17:09:14 -0400.

Language: Description is in English

Paper materials were housed in archival folders and boxes. Audiovisual material was placed in archival boxes and labeled with unique identifiers.

October 2019: Updated by Kelly Haydon to meet ACM requirements for archival description

This version was derived from John Watts Papers INTRO.doc

Fales Library and Special Collections