Conversations with Sondheim

The Library of Congress has released more than six hours of previously unseen interviews with Stephen Sondheim, conducted in his New York City townhouse over three days in 1997 by library senior music specialist Mark Eden Horowitz. With music manuscripts at hand, the conversations are a deep dive into Sondheim’s compositional process, though the content is wide-ranging, touching on many aspects of his career and craft. These interviews focus particularly on his shows Passion, Assassins, Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park with George, Sweeney Todd, and Pacific Overtures, though nearly all of his work to that date comes up in conversation. Edited transcripts of the interviews were published as Sondheim on Music: Minor Details and Major Decisions, which includes illustrations of most of the music examples discussed. Below is first of four parts from the November 19 session. For a full transcript and more information, visit the Library of Congress website.