Johanna Beyer
Johanna Beyer | |
---|---|
Born | Johanna Magdalena Beyer July 11, 1888 New York City, New York, U.S. |
Era | 20th-century music |
Johanna Magdalena Beyer (July 11, 1888 – January 9, 1944) was a German-American composer and pianist.
Biography
Johanna Beyer was born in
Though she was largely ignored as a composer,
Beyer battled with
Some of her scores are available in recopied, annotated editions through the Frog Peak/Johanna Beyer Project. The editing and recopying work has been contributed on a voluntary basis by composers interested in the project.[10]
Musical style
Much of Beyer's music, particularly that written between 1931 and 1939, reflects the aesthetics of the American "ultra-modernists," a circle which included
Although her music was overlooked during her lifetime and for decades after her death, it was some of the most experimental and prophetic work created during the 1930s. Music of the Spheres (1938) is the first known work scored for electronic instruments by a female composer.
Perhaps Beyer's most important and overlooked contribution to the development of new music is her repertoire for percussion ensemble. The Percussion Suite of 1933 is one of the earliest examples in this genre and differs from those of her contemporaries in that it "explores the understated and quiet expressive possibilities of percussion."[15] Other percussion pieces from the 1930s include IV (1935), the March for Thirty Percussion Instruments (1939), which John Kennedy calls one of the "most gorgeous orchestrations for percussion ensemble ever composed,"[15] and the Three Movements for Percussion (1939). All of her percussion music is distinguished from that of her contemporaries by its sense of humor, and "emphasis on process over more purely rhythmic exploration."[15]
Works
Percussion
- Percussion Suite in 3 Movements (1933)
- IV (1935)
- March for 30 Percussion Instruments (1939)
- Percussion, opus 14 (1939)
- Three Movements for Percussion (1939)
- Waltz for Percussion (1939)
Chamber works
- Suite for Clarinet I (1932)
- Suite for Clarinet Ib (1932)
- Suite for Clarinet and Bassoon (1933)
- Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (1936)
- Suite for Bass Clarinet and Piano (1936?)
- Movement for Double Bass and Piano (1936)
- Movement for Two Pianos (1936)
- Suite for Violin and Piano (1937)
- Suite for Oboe and Bassoon (1937)
- Six Pieces for Oboe and Piano (1939)
- Quintet for Woodwinds (1933)
- Movement for Woodwinds (1938)
- Trio for Woodwinds (194?)
- String Quartet No. 1 (1933–34)
- String Quartet No. 2 (1936)
- Movement for String Quartet ("Dance") (1938)
- String Quartet No. 4 (1943?)
- "Music of the Spheres" from Status Quo (1938)
For solo piano:
- Gebrauchs-Musik (1934)
- Clusters (or, New York Waltzes) (1936)
- Winter Ade and five other folk song settings (1936)
- Dissonant Counterpoint (193?)
- Suite for Piano (1939)
- Sonatina in C (1943)
- Prelude and Fugue (in C Major) (no date)
- Piano-Book, Classic-Romantic-Modern" (no date)
Songs:
- Sky-Pieces (1933)
- Three Songs (Timber Moon; Stars, Songs, Faces; Summer Grass) (soprano, piano, percussion) (1933)
- Ballad of the Star-Eater (soprano and clarinet) (1934)
- Three Songs for Soprano and Clarinet (Total Eclipse; Universal-Local; To Be) (1934)
- Have Faith! (soprano and flute) (3 versions) (1936–37)
Large Mixed Ensembles
- March (14 instruments) (1935)
- Cyrnab (chamber orchestra) (1937)
- Elation (concert band) (1938)
- Reverence (wind ensemble) (1938)
Choir
- The Robin in the Rain (1935)
- The Federal Music Project (1936)
- The Main—Deep (1937)
- The People, Yes (1937)
- The Composers' Forum Laboratory (1937)
Orchestra
- Fragment for Chamber Orchestra (1937)
- Symphonic Suite (1937)
- Dance for Full Orchestra from Status Quo (1938)
- Symphonic Movement I (1939)
- Symphonic Opus 3 (1939)
- Symphonic Opus 5 (1940)
- Symphonic Movement II (1941)
Selected discography
- Restless, Endless, Tactless: Johanna Beyer and the Birth of American Percussion Music, Meehan/Perkins Duo and the Baylor Percussion Group, (New World Records 80711, 2011)
- Dissonant Counterpoint, I–VIII; Gebrauchs-Musik, on Nine Preludes, Ruth Crawford/Johanna Beyer, Sarah Cahill, piano (New Albion, NA 114 CD, 2001)
- Ballad of the Star-Eater, Merlyn Quaife, soprano, Craig Hill, clarinet, on Sticky Melodies, (New World Records 80678-2, 2008)
- Bees, Peter Dumsday, piano, on Sticky Melodies, (New World Records 80678-2, 2008)
- Clarinet Sonata II in B flat, Pat Okeefe, clarinet, on If Tigers Were Clouds (Zeitgeist, Innova 589, 2003)
- The Federal Music Project, Astra Choir, John McCaughey, conductor, on Sticky Melodies, (New World Records 80678-2, 2008)
- Movement for Double Bass and Piano, Nicholas Synot, double bass, Kim Bastin, piano
- Movement for Two Pianos, Peter Dumsday, piano 1, Kim Bastin, piano 2, on Sticky Melodies, (New World Records 80678-2, 2008)
- Music of the Spheres (1938), The Electronic Weasel Ensemble, on New Music for Electronic and Recorded Media: Women in Electronic Music (CRI CD 728, 1977, 1997)
- Sonatina in C, Peter Dumsday, piano, on Sticky Melodies, (New World Records 80678-2, 2008)
- String Quartet no. 1, Miwako Abe, violin 1, Aaron Barnden, violin 2, Erkki Veltheim, viola, Rosanne Hunt, cello, on Sticky Melodies, (New World Records 80678-2, 2008)
- String Quartet no. 2, Miwako Abe, violin 1, Aaron Barnden, violin 2, Erkki Veltheim, viola, Rosanne Hunt, cello, on Sticky Melodies, (New World Records 80678-2, 2008)
- Suite for Clarinet I, Daniel Goode, clarinet, on Sticky Melodies, (New World Records 80678-2, 2008)
- Suite for Clarinet Ib, Craig Hill, clarinet, on Sticky Melodies, (New World Records 80678-2, 2008)
- Suite for Violin and Piano, Miwako Abe, violin, Michael Kieran Harvey, piano, on Works for Violin by George Antheil, Johanna Beyer, Henry Cowell, Ruth Crawford, Charles Dodge, David Mahler, Larry Polansky, Stefan Wolpe (New World Records 80-641, 2006)
- Three Pieces for Choir: The Main Deep; The Composers Forum Laboratory; The People, Yes!, Astra Choir, John McCaughey, conductor, on Sticky Melodies, (New World Records 80678-2, 2008)
- Three Songs for Soprano and Clarinet, Merlyn Quaife, soprano, Craig Hill, clarinet, on Sticky Melodies, (New World Records 80678-2, 2008)
- IV, performed by Essential Music, on The Aerial no. 3, (Non Sequitur Recordings, 1991)
- Suite for Clarinet and Bassoon, movements 2 and 4 only, Rosario Mazzeo, clarinet, Raymond Allard, bassoon (New Music Quarterly Recordings 1413 side A [78rpm], 1938).
Notes
- ^ a b John Kennedy and Larry Polansky, "'Total Eclipse': The Music of Johanna Magdalena Beyer," Musical Quarterly 80/4 (Winter 1996),720.
- ^ Melissa de Graaf, "Intersections of Gender and Modernism in the Music of Johanna Beyer," Institute for Studies in American Music Newsletter 33/2 (Spring 2004): 8–9, 15 <http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/isam/>.
- ^ de Graaf, "'Never Call Us Lady Composers': Gendered Receptions at the New York Composers' Forum, 1935–1940," "American Music" 26/3 (Fall 2008), 291–92; Lumsden, Rachel, "'The Pulse of Life Today': Borrowing in Johanna Beyer's String Quartet No. 2," American Music 35/3 (Fall 2017), 303–342.
- ^ Beal, Amy, "'Her Whimsy and Originality Really Amount to Genius': New Biographical Research on Johanna Beyer," "American Music" 38/1 (Fall 2008), 12.
- ^ Amirkhanian, Charles. "Women in Electronic Music – 1977". Liner note essay. New World Records.
- ^ Quoted in Polansky and Kennedy, "'Total Eclipse,'" 721.
- ^ Kennedy and Polansky, 723.
- ^ For a detailed discussion of Beyer's experiences in the Composers' Forum, see de Graaf, "Intersections of Gender and Modernism in the Music of Johanna Beyer."
- ^ "Johanna Beyer". Olympedia. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
- ^ Frog Peak Music http://www.frogpeak.org
- ^ Reese, 6–7.
- ^ Kennedy and Polansky, 725.
- ^ Hinkle-Turner (2000).
- ^ Boland, http://eamusic.dartmouth.edu/~larry/beyerjpegs/beyer_tempo_melodies_boland_polansky.pdf
- ^ a b c Polansky and Kennedy, "'Total Eclipse,'" 726.
Sources
- Beal, Amy. Johanna Beyer. Urbana, Chicago, and Springfield: University of Illinois Press, 2015.
- Beal, Amy. "'Her Whimsy and Originality Really Amount to Genius': New Biographical Research on Johanna Beyer," American Music Review 38/1 (Fall 2008), 1, 4-5, 12-13.
- Boland, Marguerite. "Experimentation and Process in the Music of Johanna Beyer." Viva Voce 76 (2007), https://mugi.hfmt-hamburg.de/upload/Johanna_Beyer/BeyerBoland.pdf
- Boland, Marguerite. "Le langage musical de Johanna Beyer." Proceedings from Le Colloque Des Ponts vers L'Amérique I, Centre de recherches sur les arts et le language, EHESS (Paris, France), December 2006. http://cral.ehess.fr/docannexe/file/1077/marguerite_boland_le_langage_musical_de_johanna_beyer.pdf
- Boland, Marguerite, and Larry Polansky. "Tempo Melodies in the Johanna Beyer Clarinet Suites (Fourth Movements)". Larry Polansky's Dartmouth website (accessed September 20, 2015).
- de Graaf, Melissa. "Intersections of Gender and Modernism in the Music of Johanna Beyer," Institute for Studies in American Music Newsletter 33/2 (Spring 2004), 8–9, 15 http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/isam/.
- de Graaf, Melissa. "'Never Call Us Lady Composers': Gendered Receptions in the New York Composers' Forum, 1935-1940," American Music 26/3 (Fall 2008), 277–308.
- de Graaf, Melissa. "The Reception of an Ultra-Modernist: Ruth Crawford's Experience in the Composers' Forum," in Ruth Crawford Seeger's Worlds: Innovation and Tradition in Twentieth-century American Music, eds. Ellie Hisama & Ray Allen. University of Rochester Press, 2006.
- Hinkle-Turner, Elizabeth. "Lady Ada's Offspring: Some Women Pioneers in Music Technology," in Frau Musica (nova): Komponieren heute/Composing today, ed. Martina Homma, 25–33. Sinzig: Studio-Verlag, 2000.
- Hinkle-Turner, Elizabeth. Women Composers and Music Technology in the United States. Aldershot, Hants; Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishers, 2006.
- Lumsden, Rachel. "'The Pulse of Life Today': Borrowing in Johanna Beyer's String Quartet No. 2," American Music 35/3 (Fall 2017), 303–342.
- Polansky, Larry "The Choral and Chamber Music of Johanna Magdalena Beyer". Liner notes to Johanna Beyer - Sticky Melodies. New World Records.
- Polansky, Larry, and John Kennedy. "'Total Eclipse': The Music of Johanna Magdalena Beyer: An Introduction and Preliminary Annotated Checklist," The Musical Quarterly 80/4 (1996), 719–78.
- Reese, Kirsten. "Ruhelos: Annäherung an Johanna Magdalena Beyer," Musiktexte: Zeitschrift fur Neue Musik, nos. 81–82 (1999): 6–15.