Descriptive Summary
Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Sponsor
Biography
Scope and Contents
Related Collections
Descriptive Summary
Title: William Ames Collection
Dates: 1947-1966
Collection number: ARS.0072
Creator:
Ames, William T.
Collection size:
1 box:
22 open reel tapes
Contributing Institution:
Archive of Recorded Sound
Abstract: Tape recordings of works by composer William Ames.
Language of Material: English
Access
Open for research; material must be requested at least two business days in advance of intended use. Contact the Archive for
assistance.
Publication Rights
Property rights reside with repository. Publication and reproduction rights reside with the creators or their heirs. To obtain
permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Head Librarian of the Archive of Recorded Sound.
Preferred Citation
William Ames Collection, ARS-0072. Courtesy of the Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford,
Calif.
Sponsor
This finding aid was produced with generous financial support from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
Biography
American composer William Thayer Ames (1901-1987) was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts and wrote his first compositions while
attending Harvard in the early 1920s. After graduating with a degree in music, Ames studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris,
and returned to the United States to teach at the Eastman School of Music. In 1940 Harvard awarded Ames a masters degree,
and he lived for a time in New York. It was during this period that a program of his works was performed at Carnegie Hall.
In 1954 Ames was appointed to the faculty at Cornell's dance department (pieces for dance and theater were almost as important
to him as his chamber music, orchestral works and operas). Following spells in New Hampshire and New York, Ames retired to
the peaceful setting of Mendocino, California in 1965, where he spent the rest of his life writing music.
Scope and Contents
The William Ames Collection consists of twenty-two tape reels of performances of Ames compositions, some with Ames' own involvement.
Documentation of these performances is limited; all information from the tape boxes has been transcribed. Some performers
are identified, including sopranos Barbara Troxell and Antonia Lavanne, tenor Earl Rogers, violinist Max Pollikoff and 'cellist
George Finckl. Nine of the reels are professional transfers from instantaneous discs by Stone Sound Studio in Woodstock, New
York. It is likely, however, that all reels are copies and that the originals exist elsewhere.
Related Collections
Special Collections at the Eastman School of Music holds the William Ames Collection, which contains the composer's papers,
music and recordings.