Zone d'identification
Cote
Titre
Date(s)
- c 1840s-2000s (Création/Production)
Niveau de description
Étendue matérielle et support
28 boxes
Zone du contexte
Histoire archivistique
Lindsay Cooper (3 March 1951 - 18 September 2013) a bassoon and oboe player, composer and political activist, was born in Hornsey, London. Renowned as a talented improviser and respected composer she played in bands such as Comus, Henry Cow and co-founded the Feminist Improvising Group (FIG).
Cooper began her musical training at the age of 11 with the piano moving onto the bassoon a few years later. Described by a tutor as ‘a true musician, with a vital personality’ she studied classical music and the bassoon at the Dartington College of Arts and the Royal College of Music between 1965 and 1968. Succeeding this, Cooper spent a year in New York during which time she became involved in projects outside the realm of classical music. On her return to England, Cooper realigned herself from classical pursuits to traverse the worlds of popular music, experimental jazz and progressive rock earning a name as an influential improviser and a multifaceted musician. A written statement outlines her views, ‘Women have always had to think on our feet, make things up as we go along, work outside of the established way of doing things and, whenever we’ve decided to take the chance, stick our necks right out’ as a vocal activist for women's rights. Well known for her part in bands such as Comus, Henry Cow and News from Babel, Cooper also co-founded the Feminist Improvising Group (FIG) with Sally Potter, Maggie Nichols, Georgie Born and Irène Schweizer in 1977.
Cooper wrote and performed TV scores including Sally Potter’s feature film The Gold Diggers which she released as a solo album in 1983 followed by Music for Other Occasions in 1986. She regularly played with the Marx Brothers, News from Babel and the Mike Westbrook Big Band and her song cycle Oh Moscow, inspired by the Cold War was performed live around the world from 1987 and recorded live at the 1989 Victoriaville festival in Canada.
The late 1990s saw Cooper’s retirement from performing and composing, having lived with multiple sclerosis since the late 1970s she was no longer able to work or play. Concealing her illness until 1998 from friends, colleagues and the wider community, she went public with her diagnosis with a piece in the Guardian named ‘Don't Cry for Me’ later that year. Lindsay Cooper died from the illness in 2013 at the age of 62.
Source immédiate d'acquisition ou de transfert
Donated to UAL ASCC by Jessica Palmarozza of Adventure Pictures Ltd.
Zone du contenu et de la structure
Portée et contenu
The collection contains Lindsay Cooper’s personal papers, works and associated materials. This includes autobiographical writing, including diaries (1950s - 1994) which detail her daily life, living with multiple sclerosis and her relationships with women. Alongside this are material relating to her early life and family history. It also includes musical scores, notebooks, photographs, correspondence, ephemera directly and indirectly related to her music career and life within the jazz and progressive rock scene. The collection also contains a diverse variety of audio visual material, both commercial studio and live recordings, both written by Cooper or featuring her, which have been digitised.
Évaluation, élimination et calendrier de conservation
Accroissements
Mode de classement
The collection is arranged to series level, ordered into 'personal papers', 'works', 'press', 'photographs' and 'notes and research'.
Zone des conditions d'accès et d'utilisation
Conditions d'accès
Conditions de reproduction
Langue des documents
- anglais
Écriture des documents
- latin
Notes de langue et graphie
Caractéristiques matérielle et contraintes techniques
Instruments de recherche
View the UAL online archive catalogue here: https://archives.arts.ac.uk/Calmview/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=LCA&pos=1
View selected items from the collection digitised here: https://digitalcollections.arts.ac.uk/collection/?code=LCA
Zone des sources complémentaires
Existence et lieu de conservation des originaux
Existence et lieu de conservation des copies
Unités de description associées
Zone des notes
Identifiant(s) alternatif(s)
Mots-clés
Mots-clés - Sujets
Mots-clés - Lieux
Mots-clés - Noms
Mots-clés - Genre
Zone du contrôle de la description
Identifiant de la description
Identifiant du service d'archives
Règles et/ou conventions utilisées
Statut
Niveau de détail
Dates de production, de révision, de suppression
Created 2018
Langue(s)
- anglais
Écriture(s)
- latin
Sources
Note de l'archiviste
Arrangement has been attempted by Mae Moss on a two week archival placement. Due to the short time period the physical collection is yet to be adjusted to reflect the online catalogue and exists in its original arrangement when donated.