Nancy Van de Vate (1930- )
Born
in the United States and now living permanently in Vienna, Austria,
Nancy Van de Vate is known worldwide for her music in the large forms.
She currently teaches music composition at the Institute for European
Studies in Vienna. Van de Vate has also been a faculty member at
eleven colleges and universities in the United States and at the
Jakarta Conservatory (Yayasan Pendidikan Musik) in Indonesia. Her
full-length opera, All Quiet on the Western Front (Im Western Nichts Neues)
premiered in Osnabrück, Germany in 2003 and was performed there ten
times to great critical acclaim. In January 2005 her new chamber
opera, Where the Cross is Made, based on the play by Eugene O'Neill,
was selected by the National Opera Association (USA) as the winner of
its international biennial competition for new chamber
operas. Her orchestral works include the well-known Chernobyl (1987),
which has been performed in Vienna, Hamburg, the Czech Republic,
Bulgaria, and in the United States at the Chautauqua Festival and by
the Portland (Maine) Symphony Orchestra. The composer has also
created a large body of solo and chamber music for a wide variety of
instruments and ensembles. A much sought-after speaker, she
participated in the World Music Council meeting in Los Angeles in
October 2005. Also widely respected as a juror, she has been a
Nominator for the Kyoto Prize in Music since its inception twenty years
ago. She serves as President and Artistic Director of the international
recording company, Vienna Modern Masters, which she founded in 1990
with her late husband, Clyde Smith. Founder of the International League
of Women Composers in 1975, she steadfastly continues her advocacy of
women composers with the Nancy Van de Vate International Composition
Prize for Opera and through the inclusion of many works by women
composers on the Vienna Modern Masters label.COMPOSITIONS Van de Vate Links ~ ~ ~ Works by Genre
Adagio, orchestra (1957)
The Death of the Hired Man (Der Tod des Tagelöhners), chamber opera (1958; rev. 1998) [libretto: after Robert Frost]
Variations, chamber orchestra (1958)
Psalm 121, chorus (1958)
How Fares the Night?, female chorus and piano (1959) [text: anon. Chinese 5th century]
In the Shadow of the Glen, chamber opera in 1 act (1960/1994) [libretto: after the play by J. M. Synge]
Short Suite, brass quartet (1960)
Youthful Age, high voice (1960) [text: Greek 6th century B.C.]
Loneliness, voice and piano (1960) [text: Rilke]
Lento, piano (1961)
Death Is the Chilly Night, voice and piano (1962) [text: Heine]
The Earth Is So Lovely, voice and piano (1962) [text: Heine]
Lo-Yang, voice and piano (1962) [text: Emperor Ch'ien Wenti]
Cradlesong, voice and piano (1962) [text: Brentano]
Make a Joyful Noise to the Lord, chorus and piano (or organ) (1963) [written under pseudonym William Huntley]
Twilight, piano (1963) [music for youth piano]
Diversion, 2 trumpets, horn and trombone (or euphonium) (1964)
Woodwind Quartet, flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon (1964)
Sonata for Viola and Piano (1964)
Topsy Turvy, piano (1964) [published under pseudonyum: Helen Huntley] [music for youth piano]
Syncopated Soldier, piano (1964) [published under pseudonyum: Helen Huntley] [music for youth piano]
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1968; rev. 1994)
String Quartet No. 1 (1969)
Six Etudes for Solo Violin (1969)
Sonata for Oboe and Piano (1969)
Elegy, oboe and piano (1969; fp. 2001)
Six Etudes for Solo Viola (1969)
Mississippi Twilight, piano (1969) [published under pseudonyum: Helen Huntley]. [music for youth piano]
Bicycle Ride, piano (1969) [published under pseudonyum: Helen Huntley] [music for youth piano]
The Pond, chorus (1970) [text: Annette von Droste-Hulsoff]
Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (1970)
Hoe-Down, piano (1970) [published under pseudonyum: Helen Huntley] [music for youth piano]
Four Somber Songs, voice and piano (1970; arr. w/orch, 1992) [text: Trakl, Poe, Blake, Verlaine]
An American Essay, chorus, piano and percussion (1972) [text: Whitman]
To the East and to the West, voice and piano (1972) [text: Whitman]
Satellite Music, electronic (1972)
Wind Chimes, electronic (1972)
Invention No. 1, electronic (1972)
Three Sound Pieces, brass and percussion (1973)
Sarabande, flute (or oboe) and piano (1973)
String Trio, violin, viola and cello (1974)
Brass Quintet (1974; rev. 1979)
Quintet, flute, violin, clarinet, cello and piano (1975)
Suite for Solo Viola (1975)
Suite for Solo Violin (1975)
Music for Viola, Percussion and Piano (1976)
Incidental Piece for Three Saxes (1976)
Concertpiece, cello and piano (1976; arr. w/orchestra, 1978)
Letters to a Friend's Loneliness, voice and string quartet (1976) [text: Unterecker]
Music for Student String Quartet (1977)
Nine Preludes, piano (1978)
Sonata for Piano, No. 1, piano (1978)
Cantata for Women's Voices, female chorus (1979) [texts: James Joyce, Walt Whitman, Charles Baudelaire, anon.]
Trio for Bassoon, Percussion and Piano (1980)
Dark Nebulae, orchestra (1981)
Sonata for Harpsichord (1982)
Fantasy, harpsichord (1982)
A Night in the Royal Ontario Museum, soprano and tape (1983) [text: Margaret Atwood]
Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano (1983)
Sonata for Piano, No. 2, piano (1983)
Songs for the Four Parts of the Night, voice and piano (1983) [texts: Owl Woman (Papago Indian)]
Gema Jawa, string orchestra (1984)
Journeys, orchestra (1984)
Contrasts, 2 pianos-6 hands (1984)
Distant Worlds, violin and orchestra (1985)
Music for MW2, flute, cello, piano 4-hands and 1percussionist (1985)
Cocaine Lil, mezzo-soprano (or soprano) and 4-8 jazz singers w/small percussion (1986)
- The Saga of Cocaine LiZ, vocal ensemble (1986)
Concerto No. 1 for Violin and Orchestra (1986)
Twelve Pieces on One to Twelve Notes, Volume 1, piano (1986)
Pura Besakih, orchestra (1987) [Besakih Temple, Bali]
Chernobyl, orchestra (1987)
Krakow Concerto, percussion and orchestra (1988)
Teufelstanz, 6 percussionists (1988)
Katyn, chorus and orchestra (1989)
Seven Fantasy Pieces, violin and piano (1989)
Viola Concerto (1990)
A Quiet Exchange, piano (1991) [published in "Piano Lab", 1991] [music for youth piano]
Up or Out, piano (1991) [published in "Piano Lab", 1991] [music for youth piano]
Shifting Shadows, piano (1991) [published in "Piano Lab", 1991] [music for youth piano]
Clusterphobia, piano (1991) [published in "Piano Lab", 1991] [music for youth piano]
How Fares the Night?, female chorus, solo violin and string orch (1993) [text: anon. Chinese, 5th Cent. B.C., trans. Mimi Tsoi]
Voices of Women, soprano, mezzo-soprano, female chorus & chmbr orch (1993) [texts: Joyce, Whitman, Baudelaire, anon.]
Four Fantasy Pieces, flute and piano (1993)
Adagio and Rondo for Violin and String Orchestra (1994)
An American Essay, soprano, chorus and chamber orchestra (1994) [texts: Walt Whitman]
Der Herrscher und das Mädchen, children's opera in 1 act (1995) [libretto: Allen Cortes and Nancy Van de Vate]
Nemo: Jenseits von Vulkania (Beyond Vulkania), opera in 4 acts (1995) [libretto: Allen Cortes and Nancy Van de Vate]
- Suite from Nemo, orchestra (1995; arr. 1996)
- Choral Suite from "Nemo", chorus, boy soprano and orchestra (1995; arr. 1997) [text: Allen Cortes and Nancy Van de Vate]
Fantasy Pieces for Piano (1995)
Concerto No. 2 for Violin and Orchestra (1996)
Concerto for Harp and String Orchestra (1996)
Divertimento for Harp and String Quintet (1996)
Night Journey, piano (1996)
Western Front, orchestra (1997)
A Peacock Southeast Flew: Concerto for Pipa and Orchestra (1997)
All Quiet on the Western Front, opera in 3 acts (1999) [libretto after the novel by Erich Maria Remarque]
Venal Vera: Ode to a Gezira Lovely, soprano (or mezzo-sopr), bass clarinet and and 1 perc; or voice and tape (2000)
Suite for String Orchestra after Mechthild from Magdeburg (2000)
Musik in 5, 3 and 7, saxophone quartet (2001)
A Quiet Piece, English horn (or alto saxophone) and opt. piano (or guitar) (2001)
Twelve Pieces on One to Twelve Notes, Volume 2, piano (2001)
Listening to the Night, soprano and seven instruments (fl, vib, 2 vln, va, vc, db) (2001) [text: John Unterecker]
Suite for Marimba (2002)
Prelude for Organ (2002)
Where the Cross Is Made, opera in 3 acts (2003) [libretto: based on the play by Eugene O'Neill]
Balinese Diptych, piano (2003)
String Quartet No. 2 (2005)
Brass Quintet No. 2: Variations on the "Streets of Laredo" (2005)
Trio for Clarinet Bassoon and Piano (2005)
Twelve Pieces for Piano on One to Twelve Notes, Volume 3 (2005)
Three Bagatelles, 4 horns (2006)
Three Bagatelles, 4 trumpets (2006)
Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano (2006)
A Long Road Travelled: Suite for Solo Viola and String Quartet (2007)
Hamlet, opera in 5 acts (2009) [libretto: after Shakespeare]
Two for Two, 2 marimbas (2009)
Lyric Suite for Marimba and Orchestra (2010) ???
Six Etudes for Solo Cello (2010) ???
Suite for Alto Saxophone (2010) ???
WORKS BY GENRE Van de Vate Links ~ top of page ~
Dramatic/Theater
The Death of the Hired Man (Der Tod des Tagelöhners), chamber opera (1958; rev. 1998) [libretto: after Robert Frost]
In the Shadow of the Glen, chamber opera in 1 act (1960/1994) [libretto: after the play by J. M. Synge]
A Night in the Royal Ontario Museum, soprano and tape (1983) [text: Margaret Atwood]
Cocaine Lil, mezzo-soprano (or soprano) and 4-8 jazz singers w/small percussion (1986)
Der Herrscher und das Mädchen, children's opera in 1 act (1995) [libretto: Allen Cortes and Nancy Van de Vate]
Nemo: Jenseits von Vulkania (Beyond Vulkania), opera in 4 acts (1995) [libretto: Allen Cortes and Nancy Van de Vate]
All Quiet on the Western Front, opera in 3 acts (1999) [libretto after the novel by Erich Maria Remarque]
Venal Vera: Ode to a Gezira Lovely, soprano (or mezzo-sopr), bass clarinet and and 1 perc; or voice and tape (2000)
Where the Cross Is Made, opera in 3 acts (2003) [libretto: based on the play by Eugene O'Neill]
Hamlet, opera in 5 acts (2009) [libretto: after Shakespeare]
Orchestra
Adagio, orchestra (1957)
Variations, chamber orchestra (1958)
Dark Nebulae, orchestra (1981)
Gema Jawa, string orchestra (1984)
Journeys, orchestra (1984)
Pura Besakih, orchestra (1987) [Besakih Temple, Bali]
Chernobyl, orchestra (1987)
Suite from Nemo, orchestra (1995; arr. 1996)
Western Front, orchestra (1997)
Suite for String Orchestra after Mechthild from Magdeburg (2000)
Soloist(s) w/Orchestra
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1968; rev. 1994)
Concertpiece, cello and piano (1976; arr. w/orchestra, 1978)
Distant Worlds, violin and orchestra (1985)
Concerto No. 1 for Violin and Orchestra (1986)
Krakow Concerto, percussion and orchestra (1988)
Viola Concerto (1990)
Adagio and Rondo for Violin and String Orchestra (1994)
Concerto No. 2 for Violin and Orchestra (1996)
Concerto for Harp and String Orchestra (1996)
A Peacock Southeast Flew: Concerto for Pipa and Orchestra (1997)
Lyric Suite for Marimba and Orchestra (2010) ???
Chorus w/Orchestra
Katyn, chorus and orchestra (1989)
How Fares the Night?, female chorus, solo violin and string orch (1993) [text: anon. Chinese, 5th Cent. B.C., trans. Mimi Tsoi]
Voices of Women, soprano, mezzo-soprano, female chorus & chmbr orch (1993) [texts: Joyce, Whitman, Baudelaire, anon.]
An American Essay, soprano, chorus and chamber orchestra (1994) [texts: Walt Whitman]
Choral Suite from "Nemo", chorus, boy soprano and orchestra (1995; arr. 1997) [text: Allen Cortes and Nancy Van de Vate]
Choral
Psalm 121, chorus (1958)
How Fares the Night?, female chorus and piano (1959) [text: anon. Chinese 5th century]
Make a Joyful Noise to the Lord, chorus and piano (or organ) (1963) [written under pseudonym William Huntley]
The Pond, chorus (1970) [text: Annette von Droste-Hulsoff]
An American Essay, chorus, piano and percussion (1972) [text: Whitman]
Cantata for Women's Voices, female chorus (1979) [texts: James Joyce, Walt Whitman, Charles Baudelaire, anon.]
The Saga of Cocaine LiZ, vocal ensemble (1986)
Chamber
Short Suite, brass quartet (1960)
Diversion, 2 trumpets, horn and trombone (or euphonium) (1964)
Woodwind Quartet, flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon (1964)
String Quartet No. 1 (1969)
Three Sound Pieces, brass and percussion (1973)
String Trio, violin, viola and cello (1974)
Brass Quintet (1974; rev. 1979)
Quintet, flute, violin, clarinet, cello and piano (1975)
Music for Viola, Percussion and Piano (1976)
Incidental Piece for Three Saxes (1976)
Music for Student String Quartet (1977)
Trio for Bassoon, Percussion and Piano (1980)
Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano (1983)
Music for MW2, flute, cello, piano 4-hands and 1percussionist (1985)
Teufelstanz, 6 percussionists (1988)
Divertimento for Harp and String Quintet (1996)
Musik in 5, 3 and 7, saxophone quartet (2001)
String Quartet No. 2 (2005)
Brass Quintet No. 2: Variations on the "Streets of Laredo" (2005)
Trio for Clarinet Bassoon and Piano (2005)
Three Bagatelles, 4 horns (2006)
Three Bagatelles, 4 trumpets (2006)
Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano (2006)
A Long Road Travelled: Suite for Solo Viola and String Quartet (2007)
Two for Two, 2 marimbas (2009)
Percussion
Teufelstanz, 6 percussionists (1988)
Suite for Marimba (2002)
Two for Two, 2 marimbas (2009)
Solo Instrument
Sonata for Viola and Piano (1964)
Six Etudes for Solo Violin (1969)
Sonata for Oboe and Piano (1969)
Elegy, oboe and piano (1969; fp. 2001)
Six Etudes for Solo Viola (1969)
Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (1970)
Sarabande, flute (or oboe) and piano (1973)
Suite for Solo Viola (1975)
Suite for Solo Violin (1975)
Concertpiece for Cello and Piano (1976)
Seven Fantasy Pieces, violin and piano (1989)
Four Fantasy Pieces, flute and piano (1993)
A Quiet Piece, English horn (or alto saxophone) and opt. piano (or guitar) (2001)
Suite for Marimba (2002)
Six Etudes for Solo Cello (2010) ???
Suite for Alto Saxophone (2010) ???
Piano/Harpsichord/Organ
Lento, piano (1961)
Nine Preludes, piano (1978)
Sonata for Piano, No. 1, piano (1978)
Sonata for Harpsichord (1982)
Fantasy, harpsichord (1982)
Sonata for Piano, No. 2, piano (1983)
Contrasts, 2 pianos-6 hands (1984)
Twelve Pieces on One to Twelve Notes, Volume 1, piano (1986)
Fantasy Pieces for Piano (1995)
Night Journey, piano (1996)
Twelve Pieces on One to Twelve Notes, Volume 2, piano (2001)
Prelude for Organ (2002)
Balinese Diptych, piano (2003)
Twelve Pieces for Piano on One to Twelve Notes, Volume 3 (2005)
Music for Youth Piano
Twilight, piano (1963)
Topsy Turvy, piano (1964) [published under pseudonyum: Helen Huntley]
Syncopated Soldier, piano (1964) [published under pseudonyum: Helen Huntley]
Mississippi Twilight, piano (1969) [published under pseudonyum: Helen Huntley].
Bicycle Ride, piano (1969) [published under pseudonyum: Helen Huntley]
Hoe-Down, piano (1970) [published under pseudonyum: Helen Huntley]
A Quiet Exchange, piano (1991) [published in "Piano Lab", 1991]
Up or Out, piano (1991) [published in "Piano Lab", 1991]
Shifting Shadows, piano (1991) [published in "Piano Lab", 1991]
Clusterphobia, piano (1991) [published in "Piano Lab", 1991]
Vocal
Youthful Age, high voice (1960) [text: Greek 6th century B.C.]
Death Is the Chilly Night, voice and piano (1962) [text: Heine]
Loneliness, voice and piano (1960) [text: Rilke]
The Earth Is So Lovely, voice and piano (1962) [text: Heine]
Lo-Yang, voice and piano (1962) [text: Emperor Ch'ien Wenti]
Cradlesong, voice and piano (1962) [text: Brentano]
Four Somber Songs, voice and piano (1970; arr. w/orch, 1992) [text: Trakl, Poe, Blake, Verlaine]
To the East and to the West, voice and piano (1972) [text: Whitman]
Letters to a Friend's Loneliness, voice and string quartet (1976) [text: Unterecker]
Songs for the Four Parts of the Night, voice and piano (1983) [texts: Owl Woman (Papago Indian)]
A Night in the Royal Ontario Museum, soprano and tape (1983) [text: Margaret Atwood]
Cocaine Lil, mezzo-soprano (or soprano) and 4-8 jazz singers w/small percussion (1986)
Venal Vera: Ode to a Gezira Lovely, soprano (or mezzo-sopr), bass clarinet and and 1 perc; or voice and tape (2000)
Listening to the Night, soprano and seven instruments (fl, vib, 2 vln, va, vc, db) (2001) [text: John Unterecker]
Electronic
Satellite Music, electronic (1972)
Wind Chimes, electronic (1972)
Invention No. 1, electronic (1972)
VAN DE VATE LINKS Works by Genre ~ top of page ~
Boulanger - Gubaidulina - Van de Vate: Three Lionesses (Pinuccia Carrer, Amadeus.com)
The International League of Women Composers (Betty Beath, IAWM)
Nancy Van de Vate Named as Composer-in-Residence (Opera Music Broadcasting.com)
Composer's website . . . contact Nancy Van de Vate: here (and click Kontakt)
Van de Vate @ Wikipedia
Van de Vate @ American Music Center
Van de Vate @ CDeMusic
Van de Vate @ Classic CD Review
Van de Vate @ Classical Composers Database
Van de Vate @ Contemporary Anthology of Music By Women (James R. Briscoe, Indiana Univ Pr)
Van de Vate @ Facebook
Van de Vate @ Leonarda Records
Van de Vate @ LinkedIn also here
Van de Vate @ Music Austria/Music Information Center Austria
Van de Vate @ MusicWeb International
Van de Vate @ mymusicbase.ru
Van de Vate @ Naxos
Van de Vate @ The New York Times
Van de Vate @ The Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers (Julie Anne Sadie, Rhian Samuel, W.W. Norton)
Van de Vate @ REC Music Foundation /The Lied and Art Song Texts Page
Van de Vate @ Sigma Alpha Iota
Van de Vate @ Women in Music Festival/Eastman School of Music
Publisher
Van de Vate @ Composer website/publisher listings
Van de Vate @ N. Van de Vate
Van de Vate @ American Composers Alliance
Van de Vate @ American Society of University Composers
Van de Vate @ Arsis Press
Van de Vate @ Manuscript Publications
Van de Vate @ Montgomery Music
Van de Vate @ North/South Editions
Van de Vate @ Peter McKee Music Co. [Waterloo Music Co./distributor]
Van de Vate @ Sisra Publications
Van de Vate @ Southern Music Co.
Van de Vate @ Summy-Birchard Co.
Van de Vate @ Tenuto Publications [sole selling agent: Theodore Presser]
Van de Vate @ Tritone Press
Van de Vate @ Vienna Masterworks
Van de Vate @ Wadsworth Publishing Co.
Streaming Audio
Van de Vate @ last.fm
Van de Vate @ Rhapsody
Van de Vate @ Vienna Masterworks
Recordings
Van de Vate @ Composer's website
Van de Vate @ ArkivMusic
Van de Vate @ CDeMusic
Van de Vate @ ClassicsOnline
Van de Vate @ Vienna Modern Masters
Video
Van de Vate @ YouTube
Van de Vate @ Google Video
Van de Vate @ eOneill.tv/Where the Cross Is Made
Boulanger - Gubaidulina - Van de Vate: Three Lionesses by Pinuccia Carrer (Amadeus.com)
A triptych of women musicians who emblematically represent the varied world of women composers of the XX and XXI centuries
"Let us imagine a dividing line. We start with preconceived ideas, which are similar to Lego building blocks; some are yellow and some green, some are four blocks in one, with a window; all are catalogued and each one produces a boxed-in emotion, rather like the theory of the emotions of the monkeys that had been conditioned by Pavlov…..but on the other side of the dividing line hic sunt leones is the dark zone. And there are many who say “I’m not interested in playing with blocks, and money is of no interest. I want to free the pure energy inside those ready-to-use little Lego blocks and touch the living material that is burning underneath." Writing a piece of music or explaining an artistic expression today means exactly this: one must look over and beyond the dividing line and assume the risk of tracing another line as a frontier….. one should persevere in believing that it is possible to build a work or rather construct a meaningful building that can be understood by others, even if at the beginning there are only two others: it is essential that the work stand on its own feet and that behind it there is an idea . . . "
This is a quotation from an interview given by Luca Francesconi to Marilena Laterza (in il Manifesto, 1st October 2008) before the opening of the 52nd Biennale of Contemporary Music in Venice, Future Roots, in which the Artistic Director, Francesconi, expressed his opinions about cultural behavioural patterns and female creativity in the present and immediate past, covering a period of roughly sixty years hic sunt leaenae. With determination and often with elegant discretion, women confirm with their artistic activities that they go well beyond the predictable constructions built with Lego blocks.
The words of composer Ada Gentile bring us further understanding: “When I write, I think only of describing what I feel at that moment: if afterwards my work is received well by the public, this gives me pleasure, but I don’t do as many of my colleagues do--write just to be successful with the public.
In this way they often subvert their own creativity. I like my profession because it allows me to use freely the creativity that is in each of us... The only thing I don’t like is the lack of inquiry ("research") since for some years now many of my colleagues have only wanted public success. They don’t explore new directions as was done in the 70’s and 80’s.
Each composer is truly different and individual: in the same way in which every mother gives birth to a child with its own individual characteristics, so every musician creates a musical child that is different from those created by others. At the same time, the world of female composition is always more and more varied, characterised – rather like Maurice Kagel’s Hetereophonie – by a very personal elaboration of lessons, models, and extant pages in music history. A profound study of tradition, as well as of the avant-garde, is undertaken not merely to be able to apply the rules, but above all to overcome and to go beyond them. The attention given to research, above all to the production of the research itself, is the thread of Adrianne which links the extraordinary production of music by women. It is difficult to classify or catalogue this in any particular way.
Since I cannot mention all of the women in this heterogeneous universe, I am highlighting the works of three real lionesses in the history of modern music: Sophia Gubaidulina, Nancy Van de Vate and Nadia Boulanger.
The Lioness from the East is Sophia Gubaidulina Asgatovna, born in Čistopol (24-10-1931) in the Tatar Republic. She completed her music studies in the capital city, Kazan, and from 1953 to 1963 studied at the Conservatory in Moscow. In a long interview given to Restagno, Gubaidulina spoke of her training, her fascination for the piano playing of Bella Davidovich and Rosa Damarkina, her “idols”, Sofronitzky and Richter, the enduring greatness of Wagner, Shostakovich, Berg, Arvo Pärt, and her adoration for Bach and Bartok, who have always been her leading lights. She spoke of her musical experience, begun in the year in which Stalin and Prokofiev died, and of her maestro, Nikolaj Pejko, an assistant to Shostakovich before the latter was dismissed from his teaching position in 1948.
She said: "Before writing music we must meditate at great length and see everything in our head through our souls and hearts…..a free soul is indispensable if one wishes to compose." She remembered the incredible emotions she experienced when she heard the Moscow concerts given by Glenn Gould, Leonard Bernstein, and in 1962 by Stravinsky, then an American citizen, who returned to his homeland, 'old and celebrated like a legend': "I saw Stravinsky conduct a rehearsal. His gestures said more than any words. He was very precise and efficient; he had a relationship between one hand and the other... I think that this relationship mirrored the coincidences between unity and rationality, as if to say that the left hand was to take care of the sphere of intuition and the right hand to take care of all that is rational." His Symphony of Psalms appeared to Gubaidulina like "the building of a temple". These very meaningful words help us to understand this woman composer’s own production, reaching towards the sacred as a cosmic concept, inside, outside and beyond history: "It’s difficult for me to say whether or not one part of a cathedral is more sacred than another. It is the process of creation itself that brings sacredness as a reward."
A particular creative tension permeates the works of Nancy Van de Vate (Plainfield, New Jersey, 30-12-1930), composer, pianist, viola player, and entrepreneur. She completed her doctorate in music composition at the Florida State University in the sixties and continued her work in the fields of both teaching and concertizing, while giving more and more attention and time to composition, including the founding of the League of Women Composers in 1975. Her professional and artistic experiences continued in Hawaii and in Indonesia where she was unable – Debussy docet – to ignore the fascination of the gamelan: her travels and her discovery of other languages are immediately reflected in her way of composing. From Asia she moved to Vienna, where she founded the compact disc recording company, Vienna Modern Masters, which specialises in the production and recording of contemporary music, including much music by women composers. Van de Vate became more and more interested in social issues. Her operas are full of political themes and represent essential moments in recent history. These themes include the echoes of global warfare, the pacifist movement, the Chernobyl disaster, and of particular significance, her composition in 1998 of an opera symbolising humanity’s period of waiting for further events, All Quiet on the Western Front …
With Nadia Boulanger we look backwards, but this is not important since her name lives through the many students who became protagonists in modern music history. Born in Paris (16-9-1887 – 22-10-1979), Nadia was sister to Lili Boulanger, famous, apart from her delicate Mèlodies and intense Psalms, as the first woman to win the prestigious Prix de Rome. When Lili died in 1918 at the age of twenty-three, Nadia was already a prolific composer, but after a few years – always a pioneer – she stopped writing to dedicate her life to orchestral conducting and the teaching of composition. Her conservatory was the American School in Fontainebleau where, for more than fifty years, she imbued her students with her temperament, profound knowledge of music and French culture, and interest in experimentation with electronic music. One of her famous sayings was: "I am the highest level of tension. Listen to this in yourselves". Through her boulangerie (this is how people talked of Fontainebleau) passed Aaron Copland, Roy Harris, Walter Piston, Virgil Thomson, Marc Blitzstein, Robert Russell Bennett, Elliott Carter, Ross Lee Finney, and Philip Glass, and among others, a very young Leonard Bernstein and another young man who later also became famous: Daniel Barenboim.
Sophia Gubaibulina for Anne-Sophie Mutter
Gubaidulina’s catalogue includes vocal, orchestral and chamber music, and music for films. She has written two theatrical works, the ballet Begushchaya pro volnam (Flying on Waves) (1963) and the oratorio-opera-ballet Era vodoleya (Age of Aquarius) (1991). She recently wrote the Violinkonzert für Anne-Sophie Mutter, recorded on the CD In tempus praesens, Bach/Gubaidulina (Deutsche Grammophon). The tying of the concerto to works by Johann Sebastian Bach is not casual since this links to Gubaidulina’s elaboration of western counterpoint. Like Gubaidulina, Bach had no interest in theatrical works, even though he wrote in a highly dramatic and theatrical style, pouring symbolic content into the music. Like Bach, Gubaidulina uses rhetoric: in Offertorium for violin and orchestra, based on the Thema Regium from The Musical Offering, she uses the inventio to undo the original theme and the propositio to gradually reconstruct it. Anne-Sophie Mutter is only the latest of a long series of performers who have been involved with the creative processes of the Tatar composer.
In her entry in the New Grove Dictionary (by Valentina Kholopova) there is a list of artists who inspired her works: Arditti Quartet, Gidon Kremer, Kronos Quartet, Mark Pekarsky, Valery Popov, Simon Rattle, Mstilav Rostropovich, Gennady Roshdestrensky, and Vladimir Tonkha. Today we add Sophie Anne Mutter.
To Read
The testimony by Ada Gentile written by Fiorella Miracola with others by Italian women composers on www.renzocresti.it/saggi/saggi_4.html. See www.adagentile.it
Important and emotional essays for Gubaidulina by Enzo Restagno, Torino, Edt 1991.
Biography and works by Nancy Van de Vate in www.classical-composers.org/comp/vate and in New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (online) with a huge bibliography. Also Journeys Through the Life and Music of Nancy Van de Vate, (434 pages) published by Scarecrow Press (USA).
For Boulanger, see Bruno Monsaingeon Incontro con Nadia Boulanger, Palermo, rue Ballu 2007.
Musikszene Frau / Musiciennes en vedette is the title of clingKlong, magazine published by Forum of Swiss Female musicians in French, German and Italian, and dedicated to contemporary women composers, with inserts for those of the past.
To understand the historical context for women composers, Patricia Adkins Chiti’s books are essential, above all, Donne in Musica, and the volumes dedicated to the Nineteenth Century in the Storia della Musica curata dalla Società Italiana di Musicologia, Torino, Edt
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