August 5, Birthday of Betsy Jolas (b. 1928)

Born in Paris between WWI and WWII, Betsy Jolas grew up in an enviable milieu. Her mother was a well-known translator and her father founded the literary magazine, “transition,” which published James Joyce’ Finnegan’s Wake as a “Work in Progress.” Her studies at the Paris Conservatory were interrupted by WWII and she and her family decamped to the US, where she completed her studies at Bennington. After the War, in 1946, her family returned to Paris, where Jolas continued her studies at the conservatoire with Darius Milhaud, Simone Plé-Caussade and Olivier Messiaen. She replaced Olivier Messiaen at the conservatory and has been on the faculty there since 1975. She has won many prizes and is both a Chevalier in the French Légion d’Honneurand and is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Points d’aube


String Quartet No. 3



D’un opéra de voyage (1967)


Quatuor II for soprano, violin, viola & cello


Enfantillages


POINTS D`OR concerto for saxophone(s) & 15 instruments

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July 9-15. Female Composers born this week: Catherine Emingerová, Anna Cramer, and Hedwige (Gennaro)-Chrétien

Liza Lehmann (11 July 1862 – 19 September 1918) was an English operatic soprano and composer, known for her vocal compositions.

Bird Songs

July 3, birthday of Ruth Crawford Seeger (1901-1953)

Ruth Crawford Seeger is a surprise and delight. Originally a pianist, she began studying composing after moving to Chicago from Jacksonville, Florida. In the windy city, she came under the influence of Alexander Scriabin’s music and Theosophy. After marrying Charles Seeger (a musicologist and father of Pete), she moved with him to Washington, DC, where she worked closely with John and Alan Lomax at the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress to preserve and teach American folk music. Her later life saw her arranging folk songs. Her work is breathtakingly varied and is a real find.

Sonata for Violin and Piano

June 30, birthday of Adriana Hölszky (b. 1953)

Adriana Hölszky is Romanian-born and lives in Berlin. She’s received a number of awards in Italy, France, and Netherlands for her compositions. Her biographical info in English is scant save for what other sites have copied from Wikipedia. Very modern and experimental. I hope my friend Marie Marshall likes these.

Stefan Hussong plays: Adriana Hölszky “High Way For One”

June 25, birthday of Katherine Kennicott Davis (1892-1980)

Katherine Kennicott Davis composed mostly vocal music, and is perhaps best known for “The Carol of the Drums,” popularly known as “The Little Drummer Boy.” Youtube has over 100 different recordings of this piece recorded in nearly every country and by every singer including a very cringeworthy version by Bing Crosby and David Bowie. Pity. She received a classical education, studying at Wellesley
and in Paris under Nadia Boulanger. There are scant recordings of her other works on Youtube, but here’s the ones I could find, followed by (I had to include one) a version of Little Drummer Boy.

June 16, birthday of Jeanne Beijerman-Walraven (1878-1969)

The Wikipedia page on Jeanne Beijerman-Walraven gives precious little information about this composer. She was a Dutch national born in Indonesia. Another page says she studied piano with her mother and then returned to Holland. Her teacher there was Frits Koeberg. Her early compositions were in the romantic tradition, but then she turned expressionist coming under the influence of Schoenberg’s music. I could only find one work on youtube dating from 1910. This website in Dutch has a longer entry about her under the name Jeanne Walraven translated badly to English here.

Concert-Overture

June 14, birthday of Olga Gorelli (1920-2006)

My apologies for the earlier version of this page. Please see the Wikipedia page on Olga Gorelli. I regret I couldn’t find more works by her on line. She was prolific and from this one piece, I’m sure there’s a fascinating body of work.

I Carry Your Heart With Me