Salvatore Martirano Music, Personal Papers, and Sal-Mar Construction

Overview

Scope and Contents

Biographical Note

Subject Terms

Administrative Information

Detailed Description

Music

Correspondence

Sal-Mar Construction and YahaSALmaMac

Publicity, Lectures, and Performances

Photographs

Family and Personal Papers

Sound Recordings

L's GA Props



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Finding Aid for Salvatore Martirano Music, Personal Papers, and Sal-Mar Construction, 1927-1999 | The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music

By Elizabeth Surles and Hannah Jellen

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Collection Overview

Title: Salvatore Martirano Music, Personal Papers, and Sal-Mar Construction, 1927-1999Add to your cart.View associated digital content.

ID: 12/5/42

Primary Creator: Martirano, Salvatore (1927-1995)

Extent: 55.0 cubic feet

Arrangement:

The collection is organized into eight series and seven sub-series. Series 1: Music, ca. 1947-1995, is organized alphabetically by title. Whenever possible an identification of the format of the music for each title (i.e., full score, condensed score, piano score, and parts) has been noted with the corresponding abbreviations, FS, CS, PS, P. Series 2: Correspondence, ca. 1932-1999, is organized into two sub-series. Sub-series 1: Contracts, Publishing, and Royalties, 1959-1995, is arranged chronogically. Sub-series 2: Personal and Professional, 1932-1999, is arranged alphabetically and then chronologically. Correspondence from 1990-1999 is organized chronologically. Business correspondence is arranged alphabetically according to institution name, while correspondence from colleagues, family, and friends is ordered alphabetically according to the letter writer's last name. Series 3: Instruments and Technology, ca. 1967-2000, is arranged in two subseries. Sub-series 1: Sal-Mar Construction, 1967-1984, is arranged according to document type. Sub-series 2: YahaSALmaMac, 1986-1993, is arranged according to document type. Series 4: Publicity and Performance, ca. 1950-1995, is arranged into three sub-series. Sub-Series 1: Publicity, Marketing, Media Coverage, and Interviews, is arranged according to document type and then chronologically. Sub-series 2: Performances, Lectures, and Panels, is arranged according to document type and then chronologically. Sub-series 3: Published and Unpublished Research, is arranged alphabetically by author. Series 5: Photographs, ca. 1927-2004, is organized by type of image, subject matter, and then chronologically. Series 6: Family and Personal Papers, ca. 1927-1952, is organized by document type and then chronologically. Series 7, Sound Recordings, 1956-1993, is organized by recording number. Series 8, L's GA Props, 1960-1999, is organized by item type.

The collection was received in annotated and numbered envelopes and folders. To retain the original order and annotation, the numbering system and information on the folders and envelopes have either been photocopied and retained with the original records or transcribed on the folders in which the collection has been rehoused. Additional documentation of the original order and annotation is located in the collection's control file.

Date Acquired: 06/06/2008. More info below under Accruals.

Subjects: Electronic Music, Music, School of, Music Composition, Photographs

Formats/Genres: Architectural drawings, Financial Records, Newspaper Clippings, Papers, Photocopies, Sheet music

Languages: English, French, Korean, Italian, Japanese, German, Romanian, Dutch;Flemish

Scope and Contents of the Materials

Consists of correspondence between Martirano and colleagues, friends, and family, including Milton Babbit, John Cage, Elliot Carter, Gilbert Chase, Aaron Copland, Luigi Dallapicolla, Paul Fromm, Loren Maazel, Morton Subotnik, and Igor Stravinsky; recording and publishing contracts; royalty statements; published and unpublished music scores, drafts, manuscripts, and studies; grant proposals, applications, and reports; address book and lists; Sal-Mar Construction and YahaSALmaMac circuit diagrams, transparencies, and negatives; Sal-Mar Construction wiring lists; circuit boards; books; news clippings; photographs; negatives; slides; posters; concert programs and program notes; mailers; brochures; fliers; articles; theses; concert ticket; scrapbooks; invitations; birth certificate; autograph book; military records; poems by MC Halloway; architectural drawings; technical riders; lecture notes and transparencies; interviews; awards; and degrees. In addition, the Sal-Mar Construction, publicly unveiled in 1970 as the first musical instrument to generate dynamic improvisatory electronic music using analog and digital circuits designed with help from engineers who worked on the University's of Illinois' early Illiac supercomputer, was also included as part of this donation to the University. The papers, music, and Sal-Mar Construction document Martirano's activities as an award-winning composer, performer, and leader in the field of computer generated music.

See also record series number 35/3/68.

Biographical Note

Born in Yonkers, Salvatore Martirano (1927-1995) grew up in New Rochelle, New York where he graduated from high school in 1945.  While there he was the leader of "The Sonny Martin Band," the name of which came from Martirano's childhood nickname "Sonny."  After graduating, Martirano served as a Marine for fourteen months in 1945 and 1946, during which time he performed with the Parris Island Marine Band and a touring USO show.

Martirano received his undergraduate degree in 1951 from Oberlin College, where he studied composition with Herbert Elwell.  A year later he completed his master's degree in composition at the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Bernard Rogers.  During the same year, Martirano received a Fulbright to study composition in Italy with Luigi Dallapiccola from 1952 to 1954.  Martirano continued to work in Italy from 1956 to 1959, when he was a resident fellow at the American Academy.  Between 1959 and 1964, Martirano received commissions, awards, and fellowships from the Guggenheim, Ford, Koussevitzky, and Fromm Foundations, as well as from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and Brandeis University.  In 1963, Martirano joined the Theory and Composition Department at the University of Illinois, where he remained on the faculty until his retirement and death in 1995.  He was also a resident composer at the NSW Conservatorium of Music in Sydney (1979), IRCAM in Paris (1982) and the California Institute of the Arts (1993).  Composers including Phil Winsor, Mark Zanter, Thorsteinn Hauksson, Stuart Saunders Smith, Maggi Payne, and Yehuda Yannay studied with Martirano while students at the University of Illinois.

Many of Martirano's early works incorporate twelve-tone compositional techniques as well as jazz, vernacular, and multimedia idioms.  His best-known composition, "L's GA" (Lincoln's Gettysburg Address), was widely performed in the late 1960s and early 1970s and became associated with the anti-war movement.  In the early 1960s, Martirano became interested in electronic music, and this interest guided much of his work from the 1960s on.  Martirano was among the very first composers in the United States to utilize and invent new computer technology for composition.  Martirano created a series of electronic music systems, including the Sal-Mar Construction and YahaSALmaMac, which enabled him to write and perform music that mixed human and computer-generated sounds and composition.

Subject/Index Terms

Electronic Music
Music, School of
Music Composition
Photographs

Administrative Information

Repository: The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music

Accruals: June 6, 2008, September 20, 2008, April 11, 2011, and December 7, 2017.

Access Restrictions: Box 17, Folder 16 restricted until November 17, 2034.

Acquisition Method: The music, papers, and Sal-Mar Construction were donated to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by the Martirano family on June 6, 2008. The Sal-Mar Construction was received by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from the Martirano family on September 20, 2008. Audio-visual materials were received by the Martirano family on April 11, 2011. An addition of two sound recordings and oversized notebooks with music parts were acquired on December 7, 2017 by way of the University of Illinois' Music and Performing Arts Library, which received them from the Martirano family through Stephen Taylor in the School of Music.

Processing Information: Papers, Music, and Sal-Mar Construction processed in 2008-2009.


Box and Folder Listing


Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Music, ca. 1945-1995],
[Series 2: Correspondence, ca. 1932-1999],
[Series 3: Sal-Mar Construction and YahaSALmaMac, ca. 1967-2000],
[Series 4: Publicity, Lectures, and Performances, ca. 1950-1995],
[Series 5: Photographs, ca. 1927-2004],
[Series 6: Family and Personal Papers, ca. 1927-1952],
[Series 7: Sound Recordings, 1956-1995],
[Series 8: L's GA Props],
[All]

Series 2: Correspondence, ca. 1932-1999Add to your cart.
Sub-Series 1: Contracts, Publishing, and Royalties, 1959-1995Add to your cart.
Box 17Add to your cart.
Folder 1: Associated Music Publishers, Inc., 1959-1960Add to your cart.
Folder 2: Schott and Co., Ltd., 1959-1972Add to your cart.
Folder 3: MCA, McGoey and Martirano, Belwin Mills Publishing Co., 1967-1980Add to your cart.
Folder 4: MCA and MGM, 1967-1968Add to your cart.
Folder 5: Polydor, McGoey and Martirano, MCA, MGM, and Salvatore Martirano, 1969-1972Add to your cart.
Folder 6: Polydor, MCA, AFM Union, McGoey and Martirano, 1969-1972Add to your cart.
Folder 7: Lingua Press, McGoey and Martirano, Salvatore Martirano, 1980-1992Add to your cart.
Folder 8: Lingua Press Contracts and Royalty Statement, 1980-1985Add to your cart.
Folder 9: G. Schirmer and McGoey and Martirano, 1982-1991Add to your cart.
Folder 10: G. Schirmer and McGoey and Martirano, 1982-1991Add to your cart.
Folder 11: Smith Publications, 1987-1995Add to your cart.
Folder 12: Smith Publications, 1987-1995Add to your cart.
Folder 13: GM Recordings, Truemedia Records, 1992Add to your cart.
Folder 14: University of Illinois and Consortium to Distribute Computer Music (CDCM), 1989-1995Add to your cart.
Folder 15: University of Illinois Research Board and Consortium to Distribute Computer Music (CDCM), 1994Add to your cart.
Sub-Series 2: Personal and Professional, 1932-1999Add to your cart.
Box 17Add to your cart.
Folder 16: Recommendations, Correspondence, and Resumes for Recommendees [RESTRICTED], 1969-1980Add to your cart.
Access to this folder requires the written permission of the head of the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music, University of Illinois Library
Folder 17: Correspondence, 1990-1999 and UndatedAdd to your cart.
Folder 18: A Correspondence, 1955-1982Add to your cart.
Folder 19: B Correspondence, 1957-1981Add to your cart.
Folder 20: C Correspondence, 1957-1986Add to your cart.
Box 18Add to your cart.
Folder 1: Dallapiccola Correspondence, 1953-1972Add to your cart.
Folder 2: D Correspondence, 1968-1976Add to your cart.
Folder 3: E-F Correspondence, 1952-1984Add to your cart.
Folder 4: European Tour Correspondence, 1970-1971Add to your cart.
Folder 5: Fulbright Grant Correspondence, 1952-1954Add to your cart.
Folder 6: G-H Correspondence, 1960-1988Add to your cart.
Folder 7: I-J Correspondence, 1958-1985Add to your cart.
Folder 8: K Correspondence, 1957-1986Add to your cart.
Folder 9: L Correspondence, 1959-1987Add to your cart.
Box 19Add to your cart.
Folder 1: Martirano, Salvatore Correspondence, 1964-1985Add to your cart.
Folder 2: N-O Correspondence, 1958-1981Add to your cart.
Folder 3: P-Q Correspondence, 1955-1987Add to your cart.
Folder 4: R Correspondence, 1952-1981Add to your cart.
Folder 5: Romania Trip Correspondence and Budget, 1992-1993Add to your cart.
Folder 6: S Correspondence, 1956-1990Add to your cart.
Folder 7: Seoul, Korea Trip Correspondence, 1991Add to your cart.
Folder 8: Summer Workshop in Contemporary Music Correspondence and Programs, 1965-1969Add to your cart.
Folder 9: T Correspondence, 1951-1970Add to your cart.
Folder 10: Town Hall Performance Correspondence, 1965Add to your cart.
Folder 11: U-V Correspondence, 1963-1985Add to your cart.
Folder 12: W, X, Y, Z Correspondence, 1955-1981Add to your cart.
Folder 13: World Music Institute Correspondence, 1994Add to your cart.
Folder 14: Unidentified Correspondence, 1957-1988Add to your cart.
Folder 15: AddressesAdd to your cart.
Box 20Add to your cart.
Folder 1: Martirano, Salvatore Correspondence, ca. 1945-1946Add to your cart.
Folder 2: Martirano, Salvatore Correspondence, 1947-1953Add to your cart.
Folder 3: Martirano Family Correspondence, 1932-1976Add to your cart.
Folder 4: Early Correspondence, 1941-1945Add to your cart.

Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Music, ca. 1945-1995],
[Series 2: Correspondence, ca. 1932-1999],
[Series 3: Sal-Mar Construction and YahaSALmaMac, ca. 1967-2000],
[Series 4: Publicity, Lectures, and Performances, ca. 1950-1995],
[Series 5: Photographs, ca. 1927-2004],
[Series 6: Family and Personal Papers, ca. 1927-1952],
[Series 7: Sound Recordings, 1956-1995],
[Series 8: L's GA Props],
[All]

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