Peggy Stuart Coolidge
Encyclopedia
Peggy Stuart Coolidge was an American composer
and conductor
. She was one of the first female American composers to have a recording devoted to her symphonic works, and the first American composer (male or female) to have a concert devoted entirely to her works presented in the Soviet Union
. Although she does not quote
particular melodies, her compositional style is influenced by American folk idiom; and also by composers such as Charles Ives
, Aaron Copland
and George Gershwin
.
on 19 July 1913. She started piano lessons at age five, wrote her first song at age nine, and later studied with Heinrich Gebhard
(a pupil of Teodor Leszetycki
and teacher of Leonard Bernstein
), privately with Raymond Robinson, and at the New England Conservatory with Quincy Porter
. She originally planned to be a concert pianist
, and her early mature works are all for piano
.
In 1937, she wrote a ballet Cracked Ice, for the Boston Skating Club. This was the first ballet ever composed specifically for ice skating
. The work was scored, at her request, by Ferde Grofé
, who conducted it at Madison Square Garden
; it was also played by the Boston Pops Orchestra
under Arthur Fiedler
. Stuart then studied orchestration with a grand-pupil of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
. Her orchestral scores Night Froth, The Island (sinfonietta), Smoke Drift and Twilight City (piano and orchestra) were all premiered by the Boston Pops.
In World War II
, she was involved in a housing bureau for servicemen station in Boston
, and often played for hospitalised soldiers. She conducted an all-woman ensemble, and was pianist and assistant conductor of the Women's Symphony of Boston. She founded the Junior League Orchestra in Boston and conducted it for seven years. After the war she moved to New York
, and started a research project in music psychotherapy
at a mental institution.
In 1952 she married Joseph R. Coolidge, a freelance writer from Boston. Together they wrote a number of children's stories with Peggy's background music, and other songs in traditional folk style. She wrote her only film score for The Silken Affair
, starring David Niven
, in 1956. She wrote incidental music
for a New York production of Seán O'Casey
's Red Roses for Me
, and the music was later reworked as the orchestral suite Dublin Town. In 1963 and 1965, she was invited to Vienna
, Budapest
, Warsaw
and Moscow
for performances of her works, also sometimes appearing as piano soloist. She and Joseph met Aram Khachaturian
and his wife Nina Makarova
, becoming close friends. A ballet An Evening in New York was written on her return to the United States.
Rhapsody for Harp and Orchestra was written in 1965. In 1967 her works were played in Tokyo
in a concert of American music, and she was received by Emperor Hirohito
's brother, Prince Mikasa
. In 1969 Peggy Stuart Coolidge write Spirituals in Sunshine and Shadow, an orchestral work inspired by African-American blues
and spirituals
.
In 1970 she wrote Pioneer Dances, inspired by the 19th century settlers of America. This was the only American work played at a 1975 Carnegie Hall
concert to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Norwegian
immigration to the United States.
In 1970 also, at Khachaturian's instigation, she became the first American composer to have a concert devoted entirely to her works presented in the Soviet Union
. She was awarded the medal of the Soviet Union of Workers in Art on this occasion. Her name started to become better known, and she featured in concerts in Western Europe and East Berlin
.
In 1971, at the request of the World Wildlife Fund
, she composed a three-minute theme to complement the fund's visual symbol of a Giant Panda
on a green field. The theme became the basis for a ten-minute orchestral work with narration written by her husband, called Blue Planet. That year also saw New England Autumn, a two-movement suite for chamber orchestra.
In 1975, the Westphalian Symphony Orchestra conducted by Siegfried Landau
recorded one of the first LPs ever devoted to the works of a single American female composer. The works were the Rhapsody for Harp and Orchestra (with soloist Aristid von Würtzler), New England Autumn, Pioneer Dances, and Spirituals in Sunshine and Shadow.
She later wrote a song cycle to words by American poets, to honour the art patron Isabella Stewart Gardner
, her husband's great-aunt. American Mosaic was written in 1978 on a commission by the American Wind Symphony
.
Peggy Stuart Coolidge died of cancer in Cushing, Maine
, on 7 May 1981. Her musical scores are held at the Harvard University Library
.
Many of her premieres took place in Europe, and she is better known overseas than she is in her own country. However, she is one of the few 20th century American women composers whose works were performed and recorded.
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
. She was one of the first female American composers to have a recording devoted to her symphonic works, and the first American composer (male or female) to have a concert devoted entirely to her works presented in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. Although she does not quote
Musical quotation
Musical quotation is the practice of directly quoting another work in a new composition. The quotation may be from the same composer's work , or from a different composer's work ....
particular melodies, her compositional style is influenced by American folk idiom; and also by composers such as Charles Ives
Charles Ives
Charles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer. He is one of the first American composers of international renown, though Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives came to be regarded as an "American Original"...
, Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
and George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
.
Biography
Peggy Stuart was born in Swampscott, MassachusettsSwampscott, Massachusetts
Swampscott is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States located 15 miles up the coast from Boston in an area known as the North Shore. The population is 13,787...
on 19 July 1913. She started piano lessons at age five, wrote her first song at age nine, and later studied with Heinrich Gebhard
Heinrich Gebhard
Heinrich Gebhard was a German-American pianist, composer and piano teacher.-Performer:...
(a pupil of Teodor Leszetycki
Teodor Leszetycki
Theodor Leschetizky was a Polish pianist, professor and composer.-Life:Theodor Leschetizky was born on the estate of the family of Count Potocki in Łańcut. His father was a gifted pianist and music teacher of Viennese birth. His mother Therèse Ulmann was a gifted singer of German origin...
and teacher of Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
), privately with Raymond Robinson, and at the New England Conservatory with Quincy Porter
Quincy Porter
Quincy Porter was an American composer and teacher of classical music.Born in New Haven, Connecticut, he went to Yale University where his teachers included Horatio Parker and David Stanley Smith. Porter received two awards while studying music at Yale: the Osborne Prize for Fugue, and the...
. She originally planned to be a concert pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
, and her early mature works are all for piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
.
In 1937, she wrote a ballet Cracked Ice, for the Boston Skating Club. This was the first ballet ever composed specifically for ice skating
Ice skating
Ice skating is moving on ice by using ice skates. It can be done for a variety of reasons, including leisure, traveling, and various sports. Ice skating occurs both on specially prepared indoor and outdoor tracks, as well as on naturally occurring bodies of frozen water, such as lakes and...
. The work was scored, at her request, by Ferde Grofé
Ferde Grofé
Ferde Grofé was a prominent American composer, arranger and pianist. During the 1920s and 1930s, he went by the name Ferdie Grofé.-Early life:...
, who conducted it at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
; it was also played by the Boston Pops Orchestra
Boston Pops Orchestra
The Boston Pops Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts, that specializes in playing light classical and popular music....
under Arthur Fiedler
Arthur Fiedler
Arthur Fiedler was a long-time conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, a symphony orchestra that specializes in popular and light classical music. With a combination of musicianship and showmanship, he made the Boston Pops one of the best-known orchestras in the country...
. Stuart then studied orchestration with a grand-pupil of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
. Her orchestral scores Night Froth, The Island (sinfonietta), Smoke Drift and Twilight City (piano and orchestra) were all premiered by the Boston Pops.
In World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, she was involved in a housing bureau for servicemen station in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, and often played for hospitalised soldiers. She conducted an all-woman ensemble, and was pianist and assistant conductor of the Women's Symphony of Boston. She founded the Junior League Orchestra in Boston and conducted it for seven years. After the war she moved to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, and started a research project in music psychotherapy
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
at a mental institution.
In 1952 she married Joseph R. Coolidge, a freelance writer from Boston. Together they wrote a number of children's stories with Peggy's background music, and other songs in traditional folk style. She wrote her only film score for The Silken Affair
The Silken Affair
The Silken Affair is a 1956 British romantic comedy film directed by Roy Kellino and starring David Niven, Geneviève Page, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Joan Sims, Irene Handl and Ronald Squire.-Cast:* David Niven as Roger Tweakham...
, starring David Niven
David Niven
James David Graham Niven , known as David Niven, was a British actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. "the Phantom", in The Pink Panther...
, in 1956. She wrote incidental music
Incidental music
Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, film or some other form not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as the "film score" or "soundtrack"....
for a New York production of Seán O'Casey
Seán O'Casey
Seán O'Casey was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes.- Early life:...
's Red Roses for Me
Red Roses for Me (play)
Red Roses for Me is a four-act play written by Irish playwright Seán O'Casey which premiered at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin in 1943. The story is set against the backdrop of the Dublin Lockout of 1913, events in which O'Casey himself had participated....
, and the music was later reworked as the orchestral suite Dublin Town. In 1963 and 1965, she was invited to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
and Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
for performances of her works, also sometimes appearing as piano soloist. She and Joseph met Aram Khachaturian
Aram Khachaturian
Aram Ilyich Khachaturian was a prominent Soviet composer. Khachaturian's works were often influenced by classical Russian music and Armenian folk music...
and his wife Nina Makarova
Nina Makarova
Nina Vladimirovna Makarova was the wife of composer Aram Khachaturian and a composer in her own right who had great interest in Russian and Mari folksongs. She co-composed several pieces with her husband, including the Music to M. Aliger's Play "A Tale of Truth" and Music to Yu. Chepurin's Play...
, becoming close friends. A ballet An Evening in New York was written on her return to the United States.
Rhapsody for Harp and Orchestra was written in 1965. In 1967 her works were played in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
in a concert of American music, and she was received by Emperor Hirohito
Hirohito
, posthumously in Japan officially called Emperor Shōwa or , was the 124th Emperor of Japan according to the traditional order, reigning from December 25, 1926, until his death in 1989. Although better known outside of Japan by his personal name Hirohito, in Japan he is now referred to...
's brother, Prince Mikasa
Prince Mikasa
is a member of the Imperial House of Japan. He is the fourth and youngest son of Emperor Taishō and Empress Teimei. His eldest brother was Emperor Shōwa , and is the only surviving paternal uncle of Emperor Akihito. With the death of his sister-in-law, Princess Takamatsu , on 17 December 2004, he...
. In 1969 Peggy Stuart Coolidge write Spirituals in Sunshine and Shadow, an orchestral work inspired by African-American blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
and spirituals
Spiritual (music)
Spirituals are religious songs which were created by enslaved African people in America.-Terminology and origin:...
.
In 1970 she wrote Pioneer Dances, inspired by the 19th century settlers of America. This was the only American work played at a 1975 Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
concert to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
immigration to the United States.
In 1970 also, at Khachaturian's instigation, she became the first American composer to have a concert devoted entirely to her works presented in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. She was awarded the medal of the Soviet Union of Workers in Art on this occasion. Her name started to become better known, and she featured in concerts in Western Europe and East Berlin
East Berlin
East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...
.
In 1971, at the request of the World Wildlife Fund
World Wide Fund for Nature
The World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States...
, she composed a three-minute theme to complement the fund's visual symbol of a Giant Panda
Giant Panda
The giant panda, or panda is a bear native to central-western and south western China. It is easily recognized by its large, distinctive black patches around the eyes, over the ears, and across its round body. Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the panda's diet is 99% bamboo...
on a green field. The theme became the basis for a ten-minute orchestral work with narration written by her husband, called Blue Planet. That year also saw New England Autumn, a two-movement suite for chamber orchestra.
In 1975, the Westphalian Symphony Orchestra conducted by Siegfried Landau
Siegfried Landau
Siegfried Landau was a German-born American conductor and composer.He was born in Berlin, the son of Ezekiel Landau, an Orthodox rabbi, and Helen Landau. He was a music student at the Stern and Klindworth-Scarwenka Conservatories in Germany. His family emigrated to London in 1939...
recorded one of the first LPs ever devoted to the works of a single American female composer. The works were the Rhapsody for Harp and Orchestra (with soloist Aristid von Würtzler), New England Autumn, Pioneer Dances, and Spirituals in Sunshine and Shadow.
She later wrote a song cycle to words by American poets, to honour the art patron Isabella Stewart Gardner
Isabella Stewart Gardner
Isabella Stewart Gardner – founder of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston – was an American art collector, philanthropist, and one of the foremost female patrons of the arts....
, her husband's great-aunt. American Mosaic was written in 1978 on a commission by the American Wind Symphony
American Wind Symphony Orchestra
The American Wind Symphony Orchestra is an American musical ensemble comprising the wind instruments found in a symphony orchestra, which is dedicated to the performance of contemporary classical music, and which is known for having commissioned over 400 new works...
.
Peggy Stuart Coolidge died of cancer in Cushing, Maine
Cushing, Maine
Cushing is a town in Knox County, Maine, United States. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 1,322. A favorite of artists for its unspoiled natural setting, Cushing includes the villages of North Cushing, Cushing, South Cushing, and Pleasant Point.-History:Part of the Waldo...
, on 7 May 1981. Her musical scores are held at the Harvard University Library
Harvard University Library
The Harvard University Library system comprises about 90 libraries, with more than 16 million volumes. It is the oldest library system in the United States, the largest academic and the largest private library system in the world...
.
Many of her premieres took place in Europe, and she is better known overseas than she is in her own country. However, she is one of the few 20th century American women composers whose works were performed and recorded.
Works
In addition to the works mentioned above, Peggy Stuart Coolidge wrote:- American Mood, symphonic poem
- American Sketch, piano and orchestra
- Boston Concerto, piano and orchestra
- Come with Us, incidental music
- The Conversation Waltz, orchestra
- Dark Water, violin and piano
- La Enmascarada, chamber ensemble
- ÉtudeÉtudeAn étude , is an instrumental musical composition, most commonly of considerable difficulty, usually designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular technical skill. The tradition of writing études emerged in the early 19th century with the rapidly growing popularity of the piano...
, piano - Evening in New Orleans, ballet
- French Drinks, piano and orchestra
- Improvisation for Vera, harp
- In the Shadow of Spain, piano, strings, flute and timpani
- Isabella, orchestra
- Lament, orchestra
- Look over the Bay, piano
- Look to the Wind, chamber ensemble
- Lullaby in Blue, piano
- Mister Rip, incidental music
- The Moon Passing Behind the Clouds, piano
- Oriental Scarf Dance, orchestra
- Out of the Night, piano and orchestra
- Passing Shadow, violin, piano and flute
- Petit Prelude, harp
- P.M. Preludes, piano
- Song of the Night-Bird, piano
- Spanish Dance, chamber ensemble
- Sunday Afternoon in the Public Garden, piano and orchestra
- The Voice, orchestra
- Voices, incidental music (song)
- many songs and vocal pieces.