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La Monte Young papers, 1959-2006
PASC-M 100  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Restrictions on Access
  • Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
  • Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
  • Preferred Citation
  • Biography
  • Scope and Content
  • Organization and Arrangement

  • Title: La Monte Young papers
    Collection number: PASC-M 100
    Contributing Institution: UCLA Library Special Collections
    Language of Material: English
    Physical Description: 0.5 linear ft. (1 box)
    Date (inclusive): 1959-2006
    Abstract: Selected compositions, writings, correspondence, and publicity related to musical programs and other performance events of composer La Monte Young and his wife and collaborator, the artist Marian Zazeela. Many items autographed by Young and Zazeela to Robert Stevenson or John Vincent, former music professors at UCLA.
    Language of Materials: Materials are in English.
    Physical Location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
    Creator: Young, La Monte

    Restrictions on Access

    COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Library Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.

    Restrictions on Use and Reproduction

    Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

    Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

    RESTRICTED ACCESS: Use of audio material requires production of listening copies.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], La Monte Young Papers (Collection PASC-M 100). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

    Biography

    La Monte Young is a composer and artist known for his works in minimalism and Western drone music, including The Second Dream of the High-Tension Line Stepdown Transformer and The Well-Tuned Piano. Born on Oct. 14, 1935 in a Bern, Idaho log cabin, he was fascinated at a young age by hearing the wind blow around his home and other continuous, droning sounds. Young grew up primarily in Los Angeles and Utah, and attended Los Angeles City College before finishing undergraduate studies at UCLA in 1958. As a high school student, he played saxophone and was active in the Los Angeles jazz community. While at Los Angeles City College, Young studied with Leonard Stein, a former assistant to Arnold Schoenberg, and learned Schoenberg's influential twelve-tone technique. Young was also exposed to Indian music, gamelan, and other Eastern sounds while a student at UCLA. In the summer of 1959, Young studied with Karlheinz Stockhausen in Darmstadt, Germany, where he encountered the music of John Cage, and also met Cage's friend and collaborator David Tudor. Young returned to California for graduate school at UC Berkeley, where he was a pupil of Seymore Shifrin, and then relocated to New York City to study electronic music with Richard Maxfield at the New School for Social Research.
    Young remained in New York to work as a freelance composer, performer, lecturer, and teacher. In 1962 he conceptualized Dream House, a light and sound installation he intended as a "living organism with a life and tradition of its own." Young founded the Theatre of Eternal Music with a group of artists and musicians to realize Dream House and other pieces. Among his collaborators was Marian Zazeela, a painter and light artist he married in 1963, as well as Tony Conrad, John Cale, and Terry Riley. Since 1970, Young and Zazeela have presented a series of semi permanent Dream House installations at various locations in the United States and Europe, including at their loft in New York City. The New York installation is now supported by the MELA Foundation, a multidisciplinary arts organization established in 1985. Young and Zazeela founded the Just Alap Raga Ensemble, a Hindustani classical music ensemble, with Korean artist and musician Jung Hee Choi in 2002.

    Scope and Content

    Selected compositions, writings, correspondence, and publicity related to musical programs and other performance events of composer La Monte Young and his wife and collaborator, the artist Marian Zazeela. Many items are autographed by Young and Zazeela to Robert Stevenson or John Vincent, former music professors at UCLA.

    Organization and Arrangement

    The collection is organized into the following series:
    • Series 1. Compositions
    • Series 2. Writings of Young and Zazeela
    • Series 3. Publicity
    • Series 4. Correspondence
    • Series 5. Writings about Young and Zazeela
    • Series 6. Audiovisual material

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Composers -- United States -- Archival resources