White, Ruth
White, Ruth
White, Ruth, American composer; b. Pittsburgh, Sept. 1,1925. She studied composition with Lopatnikoff (B.F.A., 1948; M.F.A., 1949) and received training in piano at the Mellon Inst. in Pittsburgh. She then studied at the Univ. of Calif. at Los Angeles (1951-54) and had private composition lessons with Antheil (1952-54). She specialized in teaching music to children and wrote much didactic music. Her other music followed along conventional lines until she took up electronic composition in 1964.
Works
dramatic: Pinions, opera (1967); film and television music. ORCH.: Suite (1949); Shofar Symphony (1965). CHAMBER: Various works; piano pieces. VOCAL: Palestinean Song Cycle for Voice, Bassoon, Piano, and Percussion (1949); Songs from the Japanese Poets for Voice and Piano (1949); Settings for Lullabies from ’round the World for Tenor, Soprano, Piano, Cello, and Horn (1955); Garden of Delights for Soprano and Electronics (1971); about 150 songs for children. ELECTRONIC: 7 Trumps from the Tarot Cards (1967); Flowers of Evil (1969); Short Circuits (1970). OTHER: Pedagogical pieces.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire