The Library of Congress, home to the Irving Fine Collection, is proud to commemorate the hundredth birthday of this important figure in American music history, described by Aaron Copland as “the greatest of us all.” A leading voice in the American Neoclassical School, Fine was a member of the Boston Group of composers–Arthur Berger, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Lukas Foss and Harold Shapero–who were hot on the music scene during the mid twentieth century. This landmark festival is the largest commemoration of Fine’s centennial in the world, and includes lectures, panel discussions, two new works, and concerts by the Chiara String Quartet, pianist Simone Dinnerstein, the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, U.K. and more!
For the Irving Fine Centennial Festival the Library launched a special project to capture oral histories about Fine from those who knew him best. Nicholas A. Brown of the Music Division recently conducted interviews with Fine’s sister Barbara Kates, his former student Martin Boykan and his life-long friend Esther Geller, wife of composer Harold Shapero.
Irving Fine Centennial Oral History: Martin Boykan
Speakers:
Martin Boykan, Irving G. Fine Professor Emeritus of Music, Brandeis University
Nicholas A. Brown, Music Specialist, Music Division
Date: July 14, 2013
Location: Boykan Residence, Watertown, Massachusetts
Description: Martin Boykan previously held the Irving G. Fine professorship of music at Brandeis University, and was a student at Harvard while Fine was on the faculty there.
Transcript
Irving Fine Centennial Oral History: Barbara Kates
Speakers:
Barbara Kates (Irving Fine’s youngest sister)
Nicholas A. Brown, Music Specialist, Music Division
Date: July 15, 2013
Location: Kates Residence, Providence, Rhode Island
Description: Irving Fine’s youngest sister Barbara Kates discusses her brother’s life, music and career, in commemoration of the Library of Congress Irving Fine Centennial Festival.
Transcript
Irving Fine Centennial Oral History: Esther Geller
Speakers:
Esther Geller
Nicholas A. Brown, Music Specialist, Music Division
Date: July 15, 2013
Location: Geller-Shapero Residence, Natick, Massachusetts
Description: Artist Esther Geller, wife of the late composer and Brandeis faculty member Harold Shapero, was a close friend of Irving and Verna Fine, and was in the inner circle of the musical leaders that founded the School of Creative Arts at Brandeis University.
Transcript
For more about the Library of Congress Irving Fine Centennial Festival, click here.
The Irving Fine Centennial Festival is made possible by the Irving and Verna Fine Fund in the Library of Congress.