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Paul Cooper papers

 Collection
Identifier: MS 463
Finding aid note: Stored off-site at the Library Service Center. Please request this material via woodson@rice.edu or call 713-348-2586.

Scope and Contents

Paul Cooper’s papers document his professional career as a composer, music critic, author and teacher, at Rice University, University of Michigan, and University of Cincinnati. Formats include correspondence, compositions, course notes and outlines, photographs, notes, performance, programs, and sound recordings; dates range from 1943-1995.

Dates

  • Majority of material found within 1943-1995

Conditions Governing Access

Stored off-site at the Library Service Center. Please request this material via woodson@rice.edu or call 713-348-2586.

Access Restrictions

No access restrictions; this material is open for research.

Use Restrictions

Permission to publish from the Paul Cooper papers must be obtained from the Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University.

Biographical / Historical

Paul Cooper (1926-96), composer-in-residence and Lynette Autrey Professor of Music at Rice University, was internationally known as a composer, music critic, author and teacher. He earned degrees from the University of Southern California and studied at the Conservatoire Nationale and the Sorbonne in Paris, and made his professional debut in 1953 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He was a music critic in Los Angeles and Ann Arbor, MI and taught at the University of Michigan (1955-68) and the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati before joining the Rice faculty in 1974. Cooper held guest professorships in Stockholm and Copenhagen. He received Fulbright and Guggenheim Fellowships, grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Ford, Rockefeller and Rackham Foundations and the National Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and 25 consecutive ASCAP awards beginning in 1966. He served as cultural representative to Yugoslavia for the US State Department in 1965, and in 1976 began his involvement with the Music Teachers National Association. He served on the boards of Meet-the-Composer [Texas], Houston Composers Alliance, Voices of Change, Texas Composers Forum, and Phi Beta Kappa Alumni of Houston. Cooper was married to the former Christiane Ebert, a noted poet with whom he collaborated on oratorios, song cycles, instrumentals and chamber works. They have two children.

Extent

14 Linear Feet (33 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Overview

Paul Cooper’s papers document his professional career as a composer, music critic, author and teacher, at Rice University, University of Michigan, and University of Cincinnati. Formats include correspondence, compositions (scores), course notes and outlines, photographs, notes, performance, programs, and sound recordings; dates range from 1943-1995.

Related Materials

The Joseph Lomax papers (MS ) contains a score written by Cooper, a solo organ piece called In Nomine, which was commissioned by Joseph Lomax.
Title
Guide to the Paul Cooper papers, 1943-1995
Status
Completed
Author
Anthony Potocniak
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the Woodson Research Center, Rice University, Houston, Texas Repository

Contact:
Fondren Library MS-44, Rice University
6100 Main St.
Houston Texas 77005 USA