Papers of Jon Phetteplace, composer and performer of contemporary music. The papers include drafts, transparencies, and Ozalid prints of his own scores, as well as materials for the performance of works by others; correspondence with composers and friends in English and Italian; programs from Phetteplace's activity with orchestras and small ensembles; miscellaneous appointment books, calendars, and journals; photographs; subject files; notebooks; and audio recordings of his work and the work of others. One of the strengths of the collection is the extensive documentation of his time in Italy, both in terms of his own work and that of others.
Jon Phetteplace Papers, 1885 - 1991 (bulk 1965 - 1991) (MSS 135)
Extent: 15 Linear feet (6 archives boxes, 6 records cartons, 2 card file boxes and 52 oversize folders)
Jon Dale Phetteplace was born February 4, 1940, in Fullerton, California. He studied cello with Frieda Belinfante before graduating from Fullerton High School in 1958, and after a year in Vienna, Austria (1959-1960), he moved to Siena, Italy, where he took masterclasses at the Accademia Chigiana. He then studied with Mario Bianchi and Pietro Grossi at the Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini in Florence, where, with Grossi, he began to study electronic music and composition. After returning briefly to the United States, Phetteplace moved back to Italy, where in 1965 he again studied cello and electronic music in Florence and worked in the Studio Fiorentino di Fonologica Musicale (S2FM). He also worked with Sylvano Bussotti, creating photographic projections for Bussotti's opera Passion selon Sade. By 1966, he was active as a performer in Italy, and moved to Rome in 1967, where, until 1968, he was associated with Musica Elettronica Viva (MEV), a group known for performing live electronic music. MEV is also known for not having any fixed set of members, although, according to Phetteplace, the original ensemble was constituted by Allan Bryant, Alvin Curran, Carol Plantamura, Frederic Rzewski, Ivan Vandor, and himself. Phetteplace participated in many of the concerts that MEV gave throughout Europe, and these concerts sometimes featured his music. He also participated in The Contraband, an offshoot of MEV, which also featured a rotating set of members, including Steve Lacy and Richard Teitelbaum, both of whom also collaborated with MEV.
Phetteplace left Italy in 1969, returning to Southern California, where he continued to be active as a composer, although there is a shift in emphasis away from composition after 1972. In the early 1970s, he was active as a cellist in a number of Southern California orchestras and was associated with UC San Diego as a student and employee, working with the tape archives in the Music Library. From 1972 to 1985, he lived in Harry Partch's former home in Encinitas. He was also active as a photographer, having a one-person show at the Unicorn Gallery in La Jolla in 1973, and producing five books of his own "photo-prints" from 1976-1980.
Phetteplace moved from California to Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1985, and in 1988, he moved to Tucson, Arizona. In Tucson, he returned to photography, printing many of the images that he had taken in Europe in the 1960s.
The Jon Phetteplace Papers contain the scores of Phetteplace's musical compositions, in manuscript and printed versions, in addition to notes and sketches which document his major activities from 1965 to 1991. There are also materials for the performance of works by others, including printed scores and annotations. Sometimes, the performances involved composing a score for the performance itself, and these are also included. There is a slight amount of correspondence, the content of which occasionally, as in the case of John Cage's Rozart Mix, directly relate to questions of performance. There are also photographs that document various activities, including photo-projections, and a large number of audiotapes, which document performances of both Phetteplace's work and that of his contemporaries. From 1968 to 1972, Phetteplace was very active as a composer and performer of new music, which is well-documented in the collection. The papers also include later materials, such as journals and notebooks.
Arranged in eight series: 1) CORRESPONDENCE, 2) MUSICAL WORKS BY PHETTEPLACE, 3) MUSICAL WORKS BY OTHERS, 4) EPHEMERA, 5) PHOTOGRAPHS, 6) WRITINGS, 7) MISCELLANEOUS, and 8) AUDIO RECORDINGS.
Container List
- Special Collections & Archives
- UC San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla CA 92093
- ©2016 Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
- Contact Us
