music.wikisort.org - Composer

Ann Loomis Silsbee (21 July 1930 - 28 August 2003)[1] was an American composer[2] and poet who composed two operas,[3] published three books of poetry,[4] and received several awards, commissions, and fellowships.

Silsbee was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[5] She earned a bachelor's degree from Radcliffe College, a master's in music from Syracuse University, and a doctor of musical arts in composition from Cornell University. She studied with Irving Fine,[6] Earl George, and Karel Husa,[7] and in Paris with unspecified teachers.[8] Her dissertation was on a composition by Peter Maxwell Davies called Stone Litany.[9] While at Cornell, she attended a poetry seminar led by Archibald Randolph (A.R.) Ammons, whose poetry she would later set to music. She married Robert Silsbee, a physicist who taught at Cornell,[4] and they had three sons, Doug, David, and Peter.[10]

In 1964, Silsbee's work River was performed at the Ferienkurs fuer Neue Musik in Darmstadt, Germany.[11] In the late 1960s and early 1970s, she taught at the State University of Cortland (New York) and at Cornell University.[8] In the early 2000s, she hosted several poetry groups and retreats.[4] Her awards, commissions, and fellowships included:

Awards

• Burge Eastman Prize[8]
• Society for New Music

Commissions

• First Street Playhouse, New York[3]
• TROIKA Association, Ithaca, New York[3]

Fellowships

• Composers Conference, Vermont[12]
• Composer Fellowship Grant, National Endowment for the Arts[12]
• Yaddo Residency 1979[12]

Silsbee served on the boards of the American Composers Alliance (ACA) and the International League of Women Composers. Her papers are archived at Cornell University.[4] Her works were recorded commercially on the LPs TURNA TV 34704 and NORTH NR 221,[8] and published by the ACA.[13] They include:

Books

• Book of Ga[4]
• Fullest Tide (published posthumously)[4]
• Orioling[4]

Chamber

• Another River (cello quartet and percussion)[14]
• Expressions (clarinet)[8]
• Glyphs (guitar and harpsichord)[8]
• Go Gentle (three woodwinds or three strings)[8]
• Journey (flute and percussion)[8]
• Pathway (percussion and strings)[8]
• Phantasy (oboe and harpsichord)[8]
• Pharos (cello, piano and percussion)[8]
• Quartet (clarinet, violin, cello and piano)[15]
• Quest (string quartet)[8]
• Runemusic (cello)[8]
• Spirals (string quartet; also arranged for piano and for orchestra)[8]
• Three Chants (unspecified number of flutes)[8]
• Trialogue (violin, clarinet and piano)[8]

Dance

• River (two groups of musicians and optional dancers)[8]

Electronic

• Prometheus (bass, chorus, chamber ensemble and tape)[8]

Opera

• Nightingale’s Apprentice (for children; libretto by Margaret Weaver)[3]
• People Tree[3]

Orchestra

• Seven Rituals[8]
• Spirals (also arranged for string quartet and for piano)[8]
• Trois Historiettes[8]

Piano

• Bagatelle[8]
• Corrai (prepared piano) [8]
• Doors (Burge Eastman prize)[8]
• Expressions[8]
• In and Out the Window[8]
• Letter from a Field Biologist (two pianos)[4]
• Spirals (also arranged for string quartet and for orchestra)[8]

Vocal

• An Acre for a Bird (motet)[8]
• Bourn (text by A. R. Ammons; soprano, tenor, cello and harpsichord)[8]
• Canticle (text after the Song of Solomon; soprano, oboe and harpsichord)[8]
• De Amore et Morte (woman's voice and chamber ensemble)[8]
• Diffraction (text by e. e. cummings; soprano, flute, piano and percussion)[8]
• Dona Nobis Pacem (chorus)[6]
• “Huit Chants en Brun” (text by Federico Garcia Lorca; translated into French by Andre Belamich)[8]
• Hymn (text by A. R. Ammons; soprano, oboe and piano)[8]
• Icarus (eight voices, recorder, and bongo drums)[8]
• Leavings (soprano, percussion and prepared piano)[8]
• Mirages (text by e. e. cummings; bass, cello and quarter tone harpsichord)[8]
• “Now” (text by e. e. cummings)[8]
• Only the Cold, Bare Moon (song cycle based on eight Chinese poems; soprano, flute and piano)[8]
• Pictures from Brueghel (soprano and chorus)[8]
• Raft (text by A. R. Ammons; narrator and percussion)[8]
• Scroll (soprano and chamber ensemble)[8]

• Hear music by Ann Loomis Silsbee

References

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