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John Ashbery

John Ashbery

Performing Everyman at Christ Church Parish House, Cambridge, MA, February 26, 1951.

  • Everyman (13:23): MP3
  • Reading at The Living Theatre, New York City, September 16, 1963

    • complete reading (52:51): MP3
    1. Introduction by Kenneth Koch (2:35): MP3
    2. From Rivers and Mountains (1966) (except for those marked with *)

    3. Rivers and Mountains (3:57): MP3
    4. The Ecclesiast (2:32): MP3
    5. The Adirondacks* (3:26): MP3
    6. These Lacustrine Cities (1:40): MP3
    7. Balance of Payments (3:02): MP3
    8. To a Waterfowl* (3:07): MP3
    9. Into the Dusk-Charged Air (3:55): MP3
    10. from Some Trees (1956)

    11. Two Scenes (1:07): MP3
    12. Popular Songs (1:39): MP3
    13. The Instruction Manual (5:28): MP3
    14. Sonnet ("Each servant stamps the reader with a look") (0:44): MP3
    15. The Young Son (1:26): MP3
    16. And You Know (3:44): MP3
    17. from The Tennis Court Oath (1962)

    18. "They Dream Only of America" (1:09): MP3
    19. The Suspended Life (4:15): MP3
    20. A Life Drama (3:02): MP3
    21. Our Youth (1:58): MP3
    22. Landscape (1:25): MP3
    23. A Last World (cuts off abruptly) (0:56): MP3

    Reading at the Washington Square Art Gallery, NYC, August 23, 1964

    1. The Tennis Court Oath (2:08): MP3
    2. They Dream Only of America (0:56): MP3
    3. Thoughts of a Young Girl (0:33): MP3
    4. Rain (3:50): MP3
    5. The Suspended Life (3:16): MP3
    6. The Skaters (47:53): MP3
    Complete reading (1:00:14): MP3

    Note: Bill Berkson gave the introduction at this event. The gallery reading was organized by Ruth Kligman, and the reading of "The Skaters" was the first ever. It is Berkson's recollection that the standing-room-only audience included Edwin Denby, Frank O'Hara, and "many of the younger New York poets (Padgett, Berrigan, Towle, Shapiro) and also Andy Warhol."

    Interview with Bruce Kawin on WKCR Radio, May 5, 1966

    Complete Reading (27:38): MP3

    Reading at YM-YWHA, with an introduction by Richard Howard. Episode #23157: "The Poetry of John Ashbery," March 27, 1967

    Complete Reading (20:22): MP3

    Appearing at Poetry's 19th Annual Poetry Day, WFMT Chicago, November 17, 1973

    Note: Ashbery read with John Hollander at this reading, as is alluded to in the introduction

    Complete recording (41:25): MP3

    From Some Trees (1956)

    1. Introduction (3:03): MP3
    2. Two Scenes (1:30): MP3
    3. Popular Songs (1:40): MP3
    4. The Grapevine (0:35): MP3
    5. Glazunoviana (0:32): MP3
    6. Sonnet ("Each servant stamps the reader with a look.") (0:45): MP3
    7. And You Know (3:52): MP3
    8. from The Tennis Court Oath (1962)

    9. They Dream Only of America (1:25): MP3
    10. Thoughts of a Young Girl (0:39): MP3
    11. Faust (2:28): MP3
    12. From The Double Dream of Spring (1970)

    13. Soonest Mended (5:07): MP3
    14. Variations, Calypso and Fugue on a Theme of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (9:28): MP3
    15. from Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror (1975)

    16. Forties Flick (1:45): MP3
    17. On Autumn Lake (2:04): MP3
    18. Scheherazade (4:31): MP3

    Reading for WBAI-FM, Produced by Susan Howe, New York, May 14 and June 7, 1975

    Complete reading, May 14 (32:41): MP3

    1. Business Personals (5:09): MP3
    2. Syringa (5:28): MP3
    3. Worsening Situation (2:21): MP3
    4. Forties Flick (1:33): MP3
    5. As You Came from the Holy Land (2:05): MP3
    6. Scheherazade (3:57): MP3
    7. The Tomb of Stuart Merrill (2:56): MP3
    8. The One Thing that Can Save America (2:20): MP3
    9. As One Put Drunk into the Packet Boat (2:22): MP3
    10. Oleum Misericordiae (2:19): MP3

    Complete reading, June 7 (20:04): MP3

    1. Daffy Duck in Hollywood (7:55): MP3
    2. And Ut Pictura Poesis Is Her Name (1:53): MP3
    3. Unctuous Platitudes (1:11): MP3
    4. Explaination (2:09): MP3
    5. On the Towpath (2:30): MP3
    6. Mixed Feelings (2:05): MP3

    Potpourri of Poetry Reading at the Naropa Institute, Summer 1975

    John Ashbery's segment (reading "Wet Casements") (3:19): MP3

    Reading in Buffalo, October 15, 1975

    Complete reading (46:15): MP3

    1. Farm Implements and Rutabagas in a Landscape (2:52): MP3
    2. Summer (1:34): MP3
    3. It Was Raining in the Capitol (2:40): MP3
    4. Variations, Calypso and Fugue on a Theme of Ella Wheeler WIlcox (10:22): MP3
    5. The Chateau Hardware (0:38): MP3
    6. The Task (1:19): MP3
    7. Parergon (2:31): MP3
    8. Soonest Mended (4:47): MP3
    9. The New Spirit (excerpt) (6:45): MP3
    10. Worsening Situation (1:55): MP3
    11. Scheherazade (4:20): MP3
    12. Mixed Feelings (2:41): MP3

    Reading at Sanders Theater, Harvard University, sponsored by the Woodberry Poetry Room, May 16, 1976

    complete reading (1:07:10): MP3

    1. introduction (1:14): MP3
    2. Street Musicians (1:36): MP3
    3. Pyrography (6:19): MP3
    4. Bird's Eye View of the Tool and Die Co. (1:10): MP3
    5. Collective Dawns (2:40): MP3
    6. The Couple in the Next Room (0:42): MP3
    7. Variant (1:08): MP3
    8. Daffy Duck in Hollywood (9:19): MP3
    9. Melodic Trains (3:32): MP3
    10. Wet Casements (1:44): MP3
    11. The Wrong Kind of Insurance (2:45): MP3
    12. Business Personals (4:35): MP3
    13. Unctuous Platitudes (1:07): MP3
    14. Friends (2:06): MP3
    15. The Lament Upon the Waters (2:45): MP3
    16. Worsening Situation (2:32): MP3
    17. Poem in Three Parts: Love, Courage, I Love the Sea (3:22): MP3
    18. Mixed Feelings (2:05): MP3
    19. Oleum Misericordiae (3:01): MP3
    20. Variations, Calypso and Fugue on a Theme of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (9:13): MP3
    21. Farm Implements and Rutabagas in a Landscape (3:04): MP3
    Courtesy of the Woodberry Poetry Room, Harvard University.

    Reading at Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, May 17, 1977

    part one (42:25): MP3

    1. introduction (4:20): MP3
    2. passage from The New Spirit (20:52): MP3
    3. Street Musicians (1:37): MP3
    4. The Other Traditions (2:17): MP3
    5. Collective Dawns (2:57): MP3
    6. Wooden Buildings (1:13): MP3
    7. Pyrogaphy (ends prematurely) (7:38): MP3

    part two (16:36): MP3

    1. Daffy Duck in Hollywood (beginning cut off) (7:09): MP3
    2. Blue Sonata (8:46): MP3

    Appearing with Barbara Guest on P.E.N. Portraits, hosted by Anne Fremantle, WNYC, May 22, 1977

    Complete program (28:52): MP3

    Poems from the program:

    Complete reading (46:15): MP3

    1. And Ut Pictura Poesis Is Her Name (1:49): MP3
    2. What Is Poetry (0:43): MP3
    3. From Three Poems (1:02): MP3

    Segue Series Reading at the Ear Inn with Michael Lally, September 16, 1978

    1. A Box and Its Contents (8:22): MP3
    2. The Cathedral Is (0:12) MP3
    3. Silhouette (7:15) MP3
    4. from Litany (20:05) MP3
    Complete reading (1:23:44): MP3

    Reading at the Science Center, Harvard University, November 9, 1978

    1. introduction (0:48): MP3
    2. Worsening Situation (2:53): MP3
    3. Oleum Misericordia (3:44): MP3
    4. The Other Tradition (2:43): MP3
    5. The Ice-Cream Wars (2:39): MP3
    6. Blue Sonata (3:01): MP3
    7. Fantasia on a Nut Brown Maid (7:29): MP3
    8. The Sun (2:18): MP3
    9. Five Pedantic Pieces (3:03): MP3
    10. The Haunted Landscape (5:19): MP3
    11. My Erotic Double (1:10): MP3
    12. Seeing is Believing (0:36): MP3
    13. Knocking Around (3:05): MP3
    14. Train Rising Out of the Sea (3:27): MP3
    15. The Cathedral Is (2:09): MP3
    16. A Sparkler (2:13): MP3
    17. The Wine (1:56): MP3
    18. Sleeping in the Corners of Our Lives (1:28): MP3
    19. The Other Cindy (2:24): MP3
    20. Landscape People (1:25): MP3
    21. The Plural of Jack-in-the-Box (0:55): MP3
    22. Litany (16:24): MP3
    This recording is made available courtesy of the Woodberry Poetry Room at Harvard University.

    Lecture on Giorgio de Chirico at the Poetry Project, NYC, March 22, 1979

    part one (38:17): MP3
    part two (30:28): MP3

    The Songs We Know Best, 1973 and 1988

    Complete reading (61:40): MP3

    Side One

    1. Two Scenes (1:08): MP3
    2. The Instruction Manual (7:05): MP3
    3. And You Know (4:26): MP3
    4. Thoughts of a Young Girl (0:46): MP3
    5. It was Raining in the Capital (3:21): MP3
    6. Far Implements and Rutabagas in a Landscape (4:07): MP3
    7. And Ut Pictura Poesis Is Her Name (3:15): MP3
    8. Landscape (After Baudelaire) (2:06): MP3
    9. The Songs We Know Best (4:09):MP3

    All selections on side one were recordered at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington D.C., on Febrauary 29, 1988. Special thanks to Gigi Bradford.

    Side Two

    1. Sonnet ("Each servant stamps the reader...") (0:46): MP3
    2. "How Much Longer Will I Be Able to Inhabit the Divine Sepulcher..." (4:29): MP3
    3. Rivers and Mountains (3:47): MP3
    4. The Task (1:23): MP3
    5. Song (1:27): MP3
    6. The New Spirit (excerpt) (17:59): MP3

    All selections on side two were recorded at the Library of Congress Recording Lab, Washington D.C., January 16, 1973.

    • STAFF:
    • Producer: Anne Becker
    • Recording Engineer: Alan D. Austin (Side One)
    • Post Production Engineer: Anne Becker
    • Cover Design:Lynn Springer

    Production of this tape was made possible in part by a grant from the Literature Program of the National Endowment for the Arts

    "Litany," recorded with Ann Lauterbach, 1980

    "Litany" originally appeared in As We Know (1979). A brief excerpt of this session previously appeared on the Giorno Poetry Systems album, Sugar, Alcohol and Meat in 1980.

    • "Litany" part 1 (15:49): MP3
    • "Litany" part 2 (54:40): MP3
    • "Litany" part 3 (14:08): MP3

    Reading at the University of Arizona, November 4, 1980

    1. Complete Reading, part one (44:56): MP3
    2. Complete Reading, part two (12:15): MP3

    Appearing with Robert Creeley in "Attitudes Towards the Flame," part of "The Territory of Art" radio series, produced and (c) by Museum of Comtemporary Art, Los Angeles, 1983

    written by Julia Brown, produced by Ara Guzelimian

    • Complete Program (28:40): MP3

    John Ashbery reads along with Abish, Mirsky, Paley, Ziegler, and others at "Graz Nordamerika," Austria, 1982

    Appearing on NPR's Morning Edition for the Academy of American Poets' 50th Anniversary, September 22, 1983

    Reading at Harvard University as part of the Morris Gray Lecture Series, October 16, 1985

    Provided by: The Poets' Theater and Woodberry Poetry Room, Harvard Univeristy Library

    1. introductionn (4:08): MP3
    2. The Task (5:05): MP3
    3. Variations, Calypso and Fugue on a Theme of Ella Wheeler Wilcox (12:07): MP3
    4. For John Clare (4:26): MP3
    5. The Chateau Hardware (0:49): MP3
    6. The Other Tradition (2:45): MP3
    7. The Couple in the Next Room (0:55): MP3
    8. And Ut Pictura Poesis is Her Name (0:49): MP3
    9. At North Farm (1:59): MP3
    10. The Songs We Know Best (4:24): MP3
    11. Landscape (After Baudelaire) (1:57): MP3
    12. A Wave (excerpt): (5:59): MP3
    13. A Mood of Quiet Beauty (1:13): MP3
    14. October at the Window (2:41): MP3
    15. Disguised Zenith (1:49): MP3
    16. Forgotten Song (2:28): MP3
    17. Vetiver (2:36): MP3
    18. Vaucanson (3:05): MP3
    19. Someone You Have Seen Before (5:45): MP3

    Reading at the Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, NM, November 20, 1985

    Complete Recording (1:17:41): MP3

    1. Introduction (1:27): MP3
    2. Two Scenes (2:33): MP3
    3. Popular Letters (2:16): MP3
    4. Thoughts of a Young Girl (1:21): MP3
    5. The New Realism (2:13): MP3
    6. Plainness and Diversity (1:56): MP3
    7. Variations, Calypso and Feud (11:55): MP3
    8. Chateau Hardware (0:46): MP3
    9. Worsening Situation (2:48): MP3
    10. The Other Tradition (2:33): MP3
    11. The Gazing Grain (1:26): MP3
    12. And Ut Pictura Poesis Is Her Name (3:26): MP3
    13. At North Farm (2:26): MP3
    14. The Songs We Know Best (4:18): MP3
    15. Tableaux Parisiens (2:07): MP3
    16. More Pleasant Adventures (1:30): MP3
    17. A Wave (6:41): MP3
    18. Finished Rapsody (7:19): MP3
    19. Vettiver (2:11): MP3
    20. A Mood of Quiet (1:03): MP3
    21. October at the Window (2:53): MP3
    22. Forgotten Song (2:56): MP3
    23. Someone You Have Seen Before (4:49): MP3

    WQXR Radio Program, New York, April 8, 1986

    Academy of American Poets Discussion with John Ashbery, Ned Rorem and June LeBell

    Part One (31:56): MP3
    1. setting poetry to music (4:46): MP3
    2. appropriate poems and appropriate music (6:05): MP3
    3. the singer's experience (2:05): MP3
    4. on phrasing "Thoughts of a Young Girl" (3:15): MP3
    5. reading and discussing "Fear of Death;" on composers in poetry (5:19): MP3
    6. on having poetry set to music by Elliot Carter (7:12): MP3
    7. on poets reading their own poetry, and the human voice (3:11): MP3
    Part Two (7:25): MP3
    on the history and mission of the Academy of American Poets

    Complete Conversation, recorded April 30, (52:53): MP3

    New Letters on the Air: a production of New Letters Magazine, University of Missouri, Kansas City, August 1986