Eleanor Hovda (1940-2009)
Eleanor Hovda was a full professor and composer-in-residence at Princeton, Yale, and Bard College who suffered a debilitating illness that led to her eventual death in Arkansas in 2009. She was a minimalist not in the systems-based sense of a Steve Reich or holy minimalist tradition of a Gorecki but in the sense that her arrangements are generally spare, with often an instrument or two prominently featured and only rarely a dense ensemble sound in play.- textura
COMPOSITIONS Hovda Links ~ ~ ~ Works by Genre
Spring Music With Wind, piano [inside] (1973)
Breathing, 8 flutes (1983)
Centerflow/Trail II, bowed cymbals and audience humming (1983)
Ariadne Music, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, double bass, piano and percussion (1984) ["Ariadnemusic"]
Ikima, shakuhachi (1986)
Song In High Grasses, voice, flute, cello and piano (1986)
Fields 87, orchestra (1987)
Borealis Music, flute, oboe, bassoon and piano (1987)
Lemniscates, string quartet (1988) [for Nancy Meehan Dance Company]
Coastings, oboe and electric bass (1988?; N.Y. premiere, 9 May 1988)
Boundaries, 4 flutes and 4 double basses (1989)
No Snow, violin, cello, guitar and bowed piano (1989)
Jo Ha Kyu, oboe (1990?) [written for Libby Van Cleve during residency at Yellow Springs Institute, Chester, PA]
Multicelli, reeds and 4 channel tape (1990?)
Beginnings, shenai, oboe and electric bass (1991)
Glosses/Glacier, electric bass with superball mallet (1991)
Onyx, flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, trumpet, violin, viola, cello and double bass (1991)
Shenai Sky, shenai (1991)
Armonia, guitar quartet (1992)
Regions, chamber ensemble (1992)
Cheetah, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, viola, electric bass and percussion (1992)
If Tigers Were Clouds ... Then Reverberating, They Would Create All Songs, clarinets (1 player), piano and 2 perc (1993)
Snapdragon, flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinet, 2 horns and 2 bassoons (1993) [for Nancy Meehan Dance Company]
Leaning Into and Away, flute, oboe, clarinet, violins, viola, cello and 2 percussionists (1994)
Record of an Ocean Cliff, oboe and electric guitar (1994)
Mountain Goat File, [piano?] (1994?)
Crossings In a Mountain Dream, oboe and electric guitar (1995)
Glacier Track, oboe d'amore and electric bass (1996)
Coastal Traces Tidepools 1, piano [innards] and waterphone (1997) [for Nancy Meehan Dance Company]
Coastal Traces Tidepools 2, piano [bowed innards] (1997)
Dancing in Place, harp (1997)
Freeze But Don't Freeze, string quartet (c. 1997?) [choreography by Meg Stuart]
Ratman, dance piece (1997) [choreographed by Brian Kloppenberg; sets by Patrick Webb]
Ground Rounds, 100 elementary school students playing recorders and orchestra (2000)
40 Millions Gallons of Music, voice and instrument sounds [water gongs, flutes, percussion instruments, harmonicas,
melodica, zither] reverberating within a empty 40-million-gallon circular water tank (2001)
Beautiful Arkasas: A Fanfare of Songs, orchestra (2003) [based on old Arkansas state songs, fiddle music, and oral traditions]
WORKS BY GENRE Hovda Links ~ top of page ~
Dance
Lemniscates, string quartet (1988) [for Nancy Meehan Dance Company]
Snapdragon, flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinet, 2 horns and 2 bassoons (1993) [for Nancy Meehan Dance Company]
Coastal Traces Tidepools 1, piano [innards] and waterphone (1997) [for Nancy Meehan Dance Company]
Freeze But Don't Freeze, string quartet (c. 1997?) [choreography by Meg Stuart]
Ratman, dance piece (1997) [choreographed by Brian Kloppenberg; sets by Patrick Webb]
Orchestra
Fields 87, orchestra (1987)
Ground Rounds, 100 elementary school students playing recorders and orchestra (2000)
Beautiful Arkasas: A Fanfare of Songs, orchestra (2003) [based on old Arkansas state songs, fiddle music, and oral traditions]
Chamber
Breathing, 8 flutes (1983)
Ariadne Music, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, double bass, piano and percussion (1984) ["Ariadnemusic"]
Borealis Music, flute, oboe, bassoon and piano (1987)
Lemniscates, string quartet (1988) [for Nancy Meehan Dance Company]
Coastings, oboe and electric bass (1988?; N.Y. premiere, 9 May 1988)
Boundaries, 4 flutes and 4 double basses (1989)
No Snow, violin, cello, guitar and bowed piano (1989)
Multicelli, reeds and 4 channel tape (1990?)
Beginnings, shenai, oboe and electric bass (1991)
Onyx, flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, trumpet, violin, viola, cello and double bass (1991)
Armonia, guitar quartet (1992)
Regions, chamber ensemble (1992)
Cheetah, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, viola, electric bass and percussion (1992)
If Tigers Were Clouds ... Then Reverberating, They Would Create All Songs, clarinets (1 player), piano and 2 perc (1993)
Snapdragon, flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinet, 2 horns and 2 bassoons (1993) [for Nancy Meehan Dance Company]
Leaning Into and Away, flute, oboe, clarinet, violins, viola, cello and 2 percussionists (1994)
Record of an Ocean Cliff, oboe and electric guitar (1994)
Crossings In a Mountain Dream, oboe and electric guitar (1995)
Glacier Track, oboe d'amore and electric bass (1996)
Freeze But Don't Freeze, string quartet (c. 1997?) [choreography by Meg Stuart]
Ratman, dance piece (1997) [choreographed by Brian Kloppenberg; sets by Patrick Webb]
Solo Instrument
Centerflow/Trail II, bowed cymbals and audience humming (1983)
Ikima, shakuhachi (1986)
Jo Ha Kyu, oboe (1990?) [written for Libby Van Cleve during residency at Yellow Springs Institute, Chester, PA]
Glosses/Glacier, electric bass with superball mallet (1991)
Shenai Sky, shenai (1991)
Dancing in Place, harp (1997)
Piano
Spring Music With Wind, piano [inside] (1973)
Mountain Goat File, [piano?] (1994?)
Coastal Traces Tidepools 1, piano [innards] and waterphone (1997) [for Nancy Meehan Dance Company]
Coastal Traces Tidepools 2, piano [bowed innards] (1997)
Vocal
Song In High Grasses, voice, flute, cello and piano (1986)
40 Millions Gallons of Music, voice and instrument sounds [water gongs, flutes, percussion instruments, harmonicas,
melodica, zither] reverberating within a empty 40-million-gallon circular water tank (2001)
HOVDA LINKS Works by Genre ~ top of page ~
The Death of Eleanor Hovda (My Big Gay Ears)
Remembering Eleanor Hovda (Jack Vees, NewMusicBox)
Sounds Heard—Eleanor Hovda: The Eleanor Hovda Collection (Alexandra Gardner, NewMusicBox)
Composer website . . . inquire about Eleanor Hovda: here
Hovda @ Wikipedia
Hovda @ Arcane Candy
Hovda @ Art of the States
Hovda @ Bog Life
Hovda @ Facebook
Hovda @ Gapplegate Classical-Modern Music Review
Hovda @ textura
Publisher
Hovda @ ???
Streaming Audio
Hovda @ American Mavericks
Hovda @ Art of the States
Hovda @ last.fm
Hovda @ Rhapsody.com
Hovda @ SoundCloud
Recordings
Hovda @ Amazon.com
Hovda @ ArkivMusic
Hovda @ CD Universe
Hovda @ ClassicsOnline
Hovda @ Discogs
Hovda @ Innova Records
Hovda @ itunes
Video
Hovda @ YouTube
Hovda @ Google Video
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