Delos artists Donald George and Lucy Mauro continue to bring their pioneering research of Boston composer Margaret Ruthven Lang to to the attention of both the academic sphere and the general public. As they gear up for a second volume of Lang’s art songs, they have published a fantastic article in The Bulletin, the publication of the Society for American Music: “Retreat from Fame: Margaret Ruthven Lang, the once famous Boston composer, rediscovered.” We’ll offer some juicy excerpts here, and encourage you strongly to read the full article at American-Music.org.
Retreat from Fame: Margaret Ruthven Lang, the once famous Boston composer, rediscovered:
By Donald George and Lucy Mauro
I am glad, very glad, not to be active in any musical way, but only a thankful listener. So wrote the once noted American composer Margaret Ruthven Lang, in her 88th year, in a letter to Mrs. Edward MacDowell on June 5, 1955. (Johnston) Margaret Lang, some fifty years earlier, was known as “among the most prominent American women, whose position in the front rank of the best modern composers is no longer a question” (Program Notes, Baltimore Symphony Concert, March 14, 1901). Indeed, so well-known and regarded was Lang and her works, particularly her songs, that, in 1912, Ethel Syford in The New England Magazine described Lang thus: “It is the more sensitively poetic truth and beauty which she strives for and attains, and it is this unfailing quality which makes her songs of a higher order than those produced by any other American composer.” (Syford, 22-23)
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Margaret Lang was from the Lang family of Boston, the daughter of the prominent musician Benjamin Johnson “B. J.” Lang (organist, pianist, conductor and founder of the Cecilia Society and the Apollo Club) and Frances Burrage Lang, a singer. She was raised in an exceptionally musical home where she knew Dvořák and Paderewski as guests. The Langs knew Liszt and his daughter Cosima, Hans von Bülow and Richard Wagner, and Margaret knew the Wagner children as playmates. Margaret Lang studied with her father, Chadwick, Paine and Parker and also, as did many American composers in the late 19th century, in Germany. Her music shows the influence of the German Romantic tradition, along with some French and occasional Eastern styles, all combined to create her own American sound.
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When asked in 1967 why she stopped composing, Lang’s answer was: “Why did I stop, I had nothing to say.” (Mullins) In her own biographical notes in 1960 she states, not without a bit of pride, “My music writing stopped soon after The Heavenly Noel’s many performances in many places, with orchestra; with piano; and once at request, with organ, piano, and harp; – for much-involved housekeeping took place during my mother’s last housebound years.” (Lang) Theodore Presser published her final composition, Three Pianoforte Pieces for Young Players, op. 60, in 1919.
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Read the full publication on http://american-music.org
Love is Everywhere:
Songs of Margaret Ruthven Lang, Vol. 1
Donald George, tenor
Lucy Mauro, piano
CD + CD-ROM
CD-ROM Includes PDFs of All Sheet Music!
Margaret Ruthven lang was the first American woman composer to have works performed by major symphony orchestras in the US, beginning with the Boston Symphony under Nikisch. Her musical family associations included Liszt, Wagner, Dvorak and Paderewski. She studied in Munich with prominent teachers of the time, and in the U.S. with such figures as Chadwick, Paine and MacDowell. These delightful songs are mostly in the Late Romantic tradition. Donald George and Lucy Mauro are currently performing these songs internationally. Donald says: “Hers is a music of remarkable freshness and originality.” The companion disc also contains printable song text for both volumes, and a list of the songs categorized by degree of difficulty: a valuable resource for singers, teachers and students.