Peter G. Davis Papers, 1912-2021, bulk 1948-2021
Collection context
- Creator:
- Davis, Peter G.
- Abstract:
- This collection contains the papers of Peter G. Davis (1936-2021), who worked as a classical music critic at various national and specialist publications from 1962-2018. It includes the vast majority of Davis's writings on music (published or draft), along with print material relating to these writings, Davis's compositions (1957-1964), material relating to Davis's early education (1948-1959), and correspondence and interviews with a number of major classical musicians.
- Extent:
- 13 Linear Feet (2 record storage cartons, 21 manuscript boxes, and 2 flat boxes) and 78 Megabytes (13 floppy disks (5.25-inch) and 43 floppy disks (3.5-inch).)
- Language:
- Most of the materials are in English. However, there is some correspondence in German, and some print material in Italian.
- Scope and content:
-
This collection consists primarily of material relating to Davis's career as a writer and a music critic (circa 1962-2018), which spanned a number of national and specialist publications, including The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Times of London, High Fidelity, Musical America, and Opera News. A significant portion of the collection is devoted to notated music—mostly relating to Davis's early work as a composer—including sketches, fragments, manuscript vocal and full scores, and performing scores/parts. The collection also contains material relating to Davis's education and early compositions.
The collection contains both and draft copies of Davis's writings on music, including clippings/tearouts, printouts, and full published editions of the publications that Davis wrote for. Various other items - such as correspondence from editors, theater tickets, and clippings - are tucked within full publications. These materials are complemented by correspondence that Davis exchanged with his editors and his readers - among whom a number of major musical figures are represented. Davis also collected a number of photographs of prominent opera singers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries - for publication in his book and as personal memorabilia. Notably, the collection holds an array of material relating to the publication of Davis's 1997 monograph, The American Opera Singer: The Lives and Adventures of America's Great Singers in Opera and Concert from 1825 to the Present, including a large amount of draft and editorial material stored on floppy disks. Other textual materials held in this collection include notebooks, diaries, souvenir programs and ticket stubs, and related print materials. Many textual items have been printed on the back of reused paper, which also may contain material with research value (such as drafts, annotated radio schedules, etc.).
The Peter G. Davis papers contain a significant audio component, which includes recordings of: Davis's interviews with a number of prominent opera singers, conductors, impresarios, and instrumentalists; Davis's compositions; Davis's radio appearances; and Davis's early performances.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Peter Graffam Davis (1936-2021) was a music critic for various national and specialist publications. Based in New York City, he wrote primarily about opera, reviewing recordings and performances from a range of artists and institutions from 1962 to 2018, including (among others) the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, and the Bard Festival.
Davis was born in 1936 in Concord, Massachusetts. He attended Belmont Hill School from 1948-1954, before graduating from Harvard College with a Bachelor of Arts in 1958. After a one-year exchange at the Stuttgart Hochschule für Musik, Davis completed a Master of Arts in composition at Columbia University in 1961. During this period, he composed a number of pieces, including a song cycle for soprano and tenor, two string quartets, a cabaret-style revue, an operetta to a text by W.S. Gilbert, and the opera Zoe (a reworking of Davis's earlier opera The Catalyst), which was recorded in Milan by the musicians of La Scala.
Davis began his career as a music critic by writing reviews of recordings for the journal Musical Letters in the early 1960s. During the 1960s and early 1970s, Davis served as a music editor for both High Fidelity and Musical America, while also writing freelance about opera for the Times of London, the New York Times, Playbill, and Opera News. In 1974, he was hired as the full-time music critic and classical music editor for the New York Times. Davis left the Times in 1981 to serve as the full-time classical music critic for New York magazine: he remained at the magazine for over 25 years, publishing a regular review column, along with various feature stories about the opera industry. Davis was laid off from New York magazine in 2007 as part of a sector-wide trimming of full-time classical music critics. In the last fourteen years of his life, Davis returned to Musical America, the New York Times, and Opera News as a freelance writer, penning regular reviews and profiles for these publications.
As a critic, Davis penned a number of influential commentaries on the development of operatic aesthetics in the late twentieth century: his controversial writings on the career of Beverly Sills and "Three Tenors" phenomenon questioned the relationship between mass media, vocal performance, and operatic celebrity; similarly, his blunt appraisal of the musical biopics of Ken Russell brought a new critical lens to the representation of music history in cinema. In 1992, he coined the term "CNN opera" to describe a fashion for "ripped-from-the-headlines" plots in American operas of the 1980s and 1990s. Indeed, Davis was a prolific commentator on the relationship between opera and American national identity: his 1997 monograph, The American Opera Singer: The Lives and Adventures of America's Great Singers in Opera and Concert from 1825 to the Present, charted the role of American singers in shaping global operatic aesthetics, seeking out a distinctly American vocal identity on both sides of the Atlantic and questioning the role of "Americanness" within an artform that was once viewed as a distinctly European export.
Peter Davis passed away in New York in 2021. He is survived by his husband and long-time partner Scott Parris. A couple since 1979, they married in 2009 in South Kent, Connecticut.
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
All original copies of audio / moving image media are closed until reformatting. Please email rbml@columbia.edu for more information.
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
- Terms of access:
-
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
- Preferred citation:
-
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Peter G. Davis Papers; Box and Folder (if known); Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
- Location of this collection:
- Before you visit:
- Researchers interested in viewing materials in the RBML reading room must must book an appointment at least 7 days in advance. To make the most of your visit, be sure to request your desired materials before booking your appointment, as researchers are limited to 5 items per day.
- Contact:
- rbml@library.columbia.edu