Rebecca Clarke

Synopsis

Today we note the birthday anniversary of a remarkable British composer who spent a good deal of her life in the United States. Her name was Rebecca Clarke and she was born in Harrow, England, on today’s date in 1886 to an American father and German mother.

Rebecca studied at the Royal Conservatory in London, where she became the first female composition student of the Victorian composer Sir Charles Villiers Stanford. As a professional violist, she was one of the first women to be admitted as a member of the Queen’s Hall Orchestra, an ensemble led by Sir Henry Wood.

Many of the chamber works Clarke composed were written for and premiered by professional colleagues. The American music patron Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, herself an amateur composer, admired Clarke’s music, and two of Clarke’s finest chamber works, a Viola Sonata from 1919 and a Piano Trio from 1921, were both written for competitions sponsored by Coolidge.

Based in London from 1924 to 1939, Clarke toured extensively, performed with a number of ensembles, and broadcast over the BBC. She found herself stranded in the U.S. by the outbreak of World War II. In 1944 she married pianist James Friskin, who had been a fellow student at the Royal College, and settled in New York.

She lived long enough to experience what she called “a little renaissance” of interest in her music around the time of her 90th birthday. She died at the age of 93 in 1979.

Music Played in Today's Program

Rebecca Clarke (1886 - 1979) Piano Trio Clementi-Trio of Cologne Largo 5103

On This Day

Births

• 1886 - English light music composer, Eric Coates, in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire

• 1886 - English-born American composer and viola player Rebecca Clarke, in Harrow

• 1944 - Australian composer Barry Conyngham, in Sydney;

Deaths

• 1521 - Flemish composer Josquin Des Prez, age c. 81, in Condé-sur-Escaut

• 1611 - Spanish composer Tomas Luis de Victoria, age c. 62, in Madrid;

Premieres

• 1748 - Rameau: opera-ballet "Pygmalion," in Paris;

• 1900 - Fauré: Prométhée," in Béziers, France;

• 1937 - Copland: "El Salon Mexico," in Mexico City, with Carlos Chávez conducting;

• 1940 - Meredith Wilson: Symphony No. 2 ("The Missions of California") during a San Francisco Symphony concert on Treasure Island conducted by the composer; On the same program was the premiere of Wilson's "Prelude to 'The Great Dictator'" (based on Wilson's film score to the Charlie Chapin film, whose musical themes were provided by Chaplin himself);

• 1979 - Bernstein: song "Piccola Serenata" (for Karl Böhm's 80th Birthday), at Salzburg Festival, with mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig and pianist James Levine

Others

• 1734 - Handel and John Rich agree to hold the next opera season of Handel's "Royal Academy" at Rich's Covent Garden Theater in London (Gregorian date: Sept. 7).