Richard Candida Smith, principal editor, Oral History Program, UCLA. B.A. Theater Arts, UCLA.
Gilbert's apartment in Westwood Village, except for last session, which was recorded in her room at the Brentwood Inn.
February 15, 22, March 1, 8, 12, 15, 17, 19, 22, 24, 26, 1986; March 9, 1987.
All but two sessions began at nine in the morning and ended around noon. The March 15, 1986, session began at six in the evening; the March 9, 1987, session began at two in the afternoon. A total of twenty-four hours and eighteen minutes was recorded.
Smith and Gilbert.
Plans for the interview were finalized in January 1986. Interview sessions had to be completed by the end of March 1986, when Gilbert was to conclude her Winter Quarter residence at UCLA and return to her home in New York.
Smith prepared for the interview by examining the Pia Gilbert Archives at the Music Library, UCLA. He audited several sessions of her classes, Dance 132 and 232 (Philosophical Bases and Trends in Dance), and Dance 120 and 221 (Music Analysis for Dance). He discussed Gilbert's career with associates and colleagues at UCLA.
The interview generally follows a chronological format. However, when a composition by Gilbert logically related to an earlier period of her life, then the composition was introduced and discussed. For example, Gilbert's score for The Deputy was discussed in the context of her childhood in Nazi Germany.
The main subject areas of the interview are her childhood in Germany; immigration to the United States; the dance community in New York in the 1940s; the evolution of dance education at UCLA; the Committee on Fine Arts Productions at UCLA; her compositions for dance, theater, and concert hall; her associations with composers, performers, and impresarios; and her reactions to avant-garde developments in the fine arts.
The concluding session was recorded after Gilbert had reviewed the transcript for the first eighteen tapes. This final session was conducted while Gilbert was on a brief vacation/working trip to Los Angeles.
Jacqueline Wester, assistant editor, edited the interview. She checked the verbatim transcript of the interview against the original tape recordings and edited for punctuation, paragraphing, and spelling, and verified proper names. Words and phrases inserted by the editor have been bracketed.
Gilbert reviewed and approved the edited transcript. She made only minor changes for clarity of meaning or for accuracy.
The interviewer prepared the front matter. Gary White, editor, prepared the index.
The original tape recordings of the interview are in the university archives and are available under the regulations governing the use of permanent noncurrent records of the university. Records relating to the interview are located in the office of the UCLA Oral History Program.
The Pia Gilbert Archives are a special collection in the UCLA Music Library.