Evelyn Ruth Anderson (March 21, 1928 – November 29, 2019) was an American composer, orchestrator, teacher, and flutist.
Biography Evelyn 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 1949 — Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, University of Washington 1951 — Master of Arts, University of Washington 1958–60 — studied with Darius Milhaud and with Nadia Boulanger at The American School at Fontainebleau 1962–63 — Princeton University Graduate School (one of the first four women admitted) 1965, 1966, 1969 — Columbia–Princeton Electronic Music Center (today, the Computer Music Center)
She was a "respected electronic composer" whose works have been released on the Opus One label, Charles Amirkhanian's "pioneering"Zurbrugg, Nicholas, ed (2004). Art, Performance, Media: 31 Interviews. Introduction to "Charles Amirkhanian", p.17. . 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."Anderson, Ruth (1997). Sinopah. Compact disc. Notes to the track “I Come Out of Your Sleep.” 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 Leidecker, Jon (2009). Variations #3: The Approach . An online radio series on the history of sampling. Barcelona, Ràdio Web MACBA. (1970), also a sonic collage, are her best known pieces.Elizabeth Hinkle-Turner. Women Composers and Music Technology in the United States, p.29. Published 2006. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. 301 pages. . She called her study of Zen, begun in 1990, "a natural extension of my music," and cited as influential, especially on her interest in music and healing, composers Pauline Oliveros and Annea Lockwood.
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.
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.Rugoff, Lazlo. 'Pioneering electronic composer and flautist Ruth Anderson’s solo work collected on new LP', in The Vinyl Factory, 13 February 2020 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".DeLaurenti, Christopher. 'Ruth Anderson: Uncaged Music' in The Wire, December 2019
Anderson composed dozens of pieces for a variety of groups; below are some selections of her works.
Title Composition Date Instrumentation Impression IV 1950 Soprano, flute, and string quartet Sonata 1951 Flute and piano Sonatina 1951 Flute and piano Motet, Psalm XIII 1952 Mixed choir Prelude and Allegro 1952 Woodwind quintet Symphony for Small Orchestra 1952 Orchestra Three Children's Songs 1952 Soprano and piano Prelude and Rondo (dance score) 1956 Flute and strings Song to My Father 1959 Women's voices and piano Richard Cory 1960 Women's voices and piano Wheel on the Chimney 1965 Slide film score and orchestra The Pregnant Dream 1968 Tape DUMP 1970 Tape So What 1971 Tape SUM (State of the Union Message) 1973 Tape Conversations 1974 Tape Points 1974 Tape Sappho 1975 Tape Tunable Hopscotch 1975 Installation/Game I Come Out of Your Sleep 1979, revised 1997 Tape Centering 1979 Interactive biofeedback: four "observers" with galvanic skin resistance oscillators, and dancer Time and Tempo 1984 Biofeedback installation
References
External links Andreu, Montse. "Innovative Women Composers" Gann, Kyle. "List of Women Composers". Lockwood, Annea. Hearing a Person—Remembering Ruth Anderson (1928–2019), "NewMusicBox". Tyranny, "Blue" Gene. [ "I come out of your sleep"], All Music. Press Release on Anderson