Ruth Anderson (composer)

Ruth Anderson (March 21, 1928 – November 29, 2019)[1] was an American composer, orchestrator, teacher, and flutist.

Not to be confused with the editor E. Ruth Anderson.
Ruth Anderson
Portrait of Ruth Anderson by Manny Albam
Born(1928-03-21)March 21, 1928
Kalispell, Montana, United States
DiedNovember 29, 2019(2019-11-29) (aged 91)
Bronx, New York
OccupationOrchestrator, composer, teacher
Known forElectronic music

Biography

Ruth Anderson was born March 21, 1928, in Kalispell, Montana. She was a composer of orchestral and electronic music. Her extensive education spanned two decades, and was spent at eight different institutions. Throughout this time, Anderson was the recipient of a multitude of awards and grants, including two Fulbright awards (1958–60) to study composition with Darius Milhaud and Nadia Boulanger in Paris. After completing her education, Anderson spent time as a freelance composer, orchestrator, and choral arranger for NBC-TV, and later for Lincoln Center Theater.

Post-secondary education

She was a "respected electronic composer"[4] whose works have been released on the Opus One label, Charles Amirkhanian's "pioneering"[5] LP anthology New Music for Electronic and Recorded Media (1977), New World/CRI, Arch Records, and Experimental Intermedia (XI). Further work was released on Arc Light in 2020.

Compositions

Anderson composed for a wealth of instruments and ensembles, including orchestra and electronic music. Her sound poem I Come Out of Your Sleep (revised and recorded on Sinopah 1997 XI) is constructed from whispered phonemes extracted from Louise Bogan's poem "Little Lobelia." According to the composer "a very soft dynamic level is an integral component of this piece. It is important to listen to it in the way it was composed, near the threshold of hearing."[6] Her collage piece SUM (State of the Union Message) is included on the Lesbian American Composers collection (1973 Opus One, reissued 1998 CRI: 780). SUM and DUMP [7] (1970), also a sonic collage, are her best known pieces.[8] She calls her study of Zen, begun in 1990, "a natural extension of my music," and cites as influential, especially on her interest in music and healing, composers Pauline Oliveros and Annea Lockwood.[8]

Anderson received degrees in flute and composition at the University of Washington and later studied with Darius Milhaud and Nadia Boulanger in the 1950s and with Vladimir Ussachevsky and Pril Smiley in the 1960s at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. She wrote that after her exposure to tape manipulation she became open to the potential of, "all sounds...as material for music". She joined the staff at Hunter College (CUNY) in 1966 and created the Electronic Music Studio there, retiring in 1988.[8]

Just before her death in November 2019, Anderson approved the test pressings for an LP of her work, entitled Here and released by Arc Light Editions in February 2020.[9] Included are: ‘I Come Out Of Your Sleep’; ‘SUM’ (which uses TV advertisement samples to mimic a speech by President Richard Nixon); 'Pregnant Dream' (a collaboration with poet May Swenson); ‘Points’ (constructed entirely from sine-waves); and the electro-acoustic 'So What'.[10]

Anderson composed dozens of pieces for a variety of groups; below are some selections of her works.[11]

TitleComposition DateInstrumentation
Impression IV1950Soprano, flute, and string quartet
Sonata1951Flute and piano
Sonatina1951Flute and piano
Motet, Psalm XIII1952Mixed choir
Prelude and Allegro1952Woodwind quintet
Symphony for Small Orchestra1952Orchestra
Three Children's Songs1952Soprano and piano
Prelude and Rondo (dance score)1956Flute and strings
Song to My Father1959Women's voices and piano
Richard Cory1960Women's voices and piano
Wheel on the Chimney1965Slide film score and orchestra
The Pregnant Dream1968Tape
DUMP1970Tape
So What1971Tape
SUM (State of the Union Message)1973Tape
Conversations1974Tape
Points1974Tape
Sappho1975Tape
Tunable Hopscotch1975Installation/Game
I Come Out of Your Sleep1979, revised 1997Tape
Centering1979Interactive biofeedback: four "observers" with galvanic skin resistance oscillators, and dancer
Time and Tempo1984Biofeedback installation
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References
  1. Steve, Smith (December 18, 2019). "Ruth Anderson, Pioneering Electronic Composer, Dies at 91". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 20, 2019. Retrieved December 20, 2019.
  2. Encyclopedia of Lesbian Histories and Cultures, Bonnie Zimmerman (ed.), Routledge (2012); OCLC 877845385
  3. "Couple Weds in Outdoor Ceremony," The Daily Inter Lake (Kalispell, Montana), August 24, 1958, pg. 5 (accessible via www.newspapers.com/image/22369115/; fee required)
  4. "America's Women Composers: Up from the Footnotes". Author(s): Jeannie G. Pool. Source: Music Educators Journal, Vol. 65, No. 5 (Jan. 1979), pp. 28-41. Published by: MENC: The National Association for Music Education. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3395571. Accessed: 27 June 2008 16:44.
  5. Zurbrugg, Nicholas, ed (2004). Art, Performance, Media: 31 Interviews. Introduction to "Charles Amirkhanian", p.17. ISBN 0-8166-3832-2.
  6. Anderson, Ruth (1997). Sinopah. Compact disc. Notes to the track “I Come Out of Your Sleep.”
  7. Leidecker, Jon (2009). Variations #3: The Approach . An online radio series on the history of sampling. Barcelona, Ràdio Web MACBA.
  8. Elizabeth Hinkle-Turner. Women Composers and Music Technology in the United States, p.29. Published 2006. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. 301 pages. ISBN 0-7546-0461-6.
  9. Rugoff, Lazlo. 'Pioneering electronic composer and flautist Ruth Anderson’s solo work collected on new LP', in The Vinyl Factory, 13 February 2020
  10. DeLaurenti, Christopher. 'Ruth Anderson: Uncaged Music' in The Wire, December 2019
  11. I., Cohen, Aaron (1987). International encyclopedia of women composers (2nd edition, revised and enlarged ed.). New York: Books & Music (USA), Inc. ISBN 0961748524. OCLC 16714846.
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