Musgrave Thea, *27 May 1928 Barnton (Midlothian), Scottish composer. In 1947–50, she studied theory of music under H. Gál and M. Grierson at the Edinburgh University and in 1950–54 composition under N. Boulanger in Paris. From 1955, she worked in London, where she was a Saltire Singers Group leader and lectured at the university in 1959–64. In 1972, she moved to the United States. In 1987–2002, she was a professor at Queens College at the City University of New York. As a conductor, she led performances of her compositions and opera premiers. She is a laureate of the L. Boulanger Prize (1952), the S. Koussevitzky Award (1974), the Ivor Classical Music Award (2018) and The Queen’s Medal for Music (2018). She received honorary doctorates at Old Dominion University (Virginia, 1979), Glasgow University, Smith College (1979), New England Conservatory of Music in Boston (2004) and Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow (2018). In 2002, she was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
Musgrave’s early compositions (e.g. Cantata for a Summer’s Day) are influenced by tonal music. However, she soon turned to the twelve-tone technique (Triptych, Sinfonia), and from the 1960s onwards, she used various technical devices in her works, including aleatoricism in Chamber Concertos No. 2 and No. 3, which involved the musicians performing their precisely defined instrumental parts together asynchronously. Musgrave’s instrumental music also reflected her interest in stage work: in the aforementioned chamber and solo concerts, the musicians are simultaneously actors, and the music gains a dramatic character through the inclusion of quotes from popular music (the composer describes such works as “dramatic-abstract”). Operas occupy an important place in Musgrave’s compositional output. In The Voice of Ariadne, the artist used an asynchronous technique adopted from instrumental works in vocal ensembles. Harriet, The Woman Called Moses, was inspired by the music of Negro spirituals. Musgrave’s operatic works, which brought her the greatest successes, allow her to be regarded as one of the most interesting personalities of British music in the second half of the 20th century.
Literature: D. Hixon Thea Musgrave. A Bio-Bibliography, Westport (Connecticut) 1984; C. Roma The Choral Music of Thea Musgrave, “American Choral Review” XXXI, 1989; A.W. Waters and A. Hamre Text Setting and Symbolism in Thea Musgrave’s „Rorate coeli,” “The Choral Journal” XXXIX, 1999.
Instrumental:
Sonata No. 2 for piano, 1956
Divertimento for string orchestra, 1957
String Quartet, 1958
Obliques for orchestra, 1958
Trio for flute, oboe and piano, 1960
Colloquy for violin and piano, 1960
Monologue for piano, 1960
Chamber Concerto No. 1, 1962
Sinfonia, 1963
Excursions for 2 pianos, 1965
Nocturnes and Arias for orchestra, 1966
Chamber Concerto No. 2, 1966
Sonata for Three for flute, violin and guitar, 1966
I Impromptu for flute and oboe, 1967
Music for Horn and Piano, 1967
Chamber Concerto No. 3, 1967
Concerto for orchestra, 1967, Polish premiere Warsaw Autumn Festival 1986
Clarinet Concerto, 1967, Polish premiere Warsaw Autumn Festival 1970
Night Music for chamber orchestra, 1969
II Impromptu for flute, oboe and clarinet, 1970
Memento vitae for orchestra, 1970
French Horn Concerto, 1971
Viola Concerto, 1973
Space Play for wind quintet and string quartet, 1974
Peripeteia for orchestra, 1981
Morning into Aquarius for orchestra, 1984
Song of the Enchanter for orchestra, 1990
Rainbow for orchestra, 1990
Autumn Sonata for bass clarinet and orchestra, 1993
Journey Through a Japanese Landscape for marimba and wind orchestra, 1994
Helios for oboe and orchestra, 1994
Phoenix Rising for orchestra,1997
Voices from the Ancient World for flute trio and percussion, 1998
Aurora for string orchestra, 1999
Echoes of Time Past for English horn, trumpet and string orchestra, 1999
Lamenting with Ariadne for chamber orchestra, 1999
Turbulent Landscapes for orchestra, 2003
Points of View for chamber orchestra, 2007
Psalm 147 for organ, 2017
Trombone Concerto, 2019
Electronic:
Soliloquy for guitar and tape, 1969
From One to Another for viola and tape, 1970; 2nd version for viola and 15 string instruments, 1980
Orfeo I for flute and tape, 1975; 2nd version entitled Orfeo II for flute and 15 string instruments, 1975; 3rd version entitled Orfeo III for flute and string quintet, 1993
The Golden Echo for horn and tape, 1986
Vocal, including:
Memento Creatoris for choir a cappella, lyrics J. Donne, 1967
Rorate coeli for choir a cappella, lyrics W. Dunbar, 1973
For the Time Being: Advent for narrator and choir a cappella, lyrics W.H. Auden, 1986
Voices of Power and Protest for choir a cappella, lyrics by the composer, 2006
Vocal-instrumental:
Cantata for a Summer’s Day for reciter, vocal quartet and instrumental ensemble, lyrics A. Hume, M. Lindsay, 1954
5 Love Songs for soprano and guitar, lyrics R. Parry, 1955
4 Portraits for baritone, clarinet and piano, lyrics J. Davies, 1956
Triptych for tenor and orchestra, lyrics G. Chaucer, 1959
The Phoenix and the Turtle for choir and orchestra, lyrics W. Shakespeare, 1962
The Five Ages of Man for choir and orchestra after Hesiod, 1963
The Last Twilight for choir, 11 brass instruments and percussion, lyrics D.H. Lawrence, 1980
The Lord’s Prayer for choir and organ, 1983
Monologues of Mary, Queen of Scots for soprano and orchestra, lyrics by the composer after A. Elguera, 1986
Echoes through Time for female choir, narrators and orchestra, lyrics C.E. Cooper, 1988
Five Songs for Spring for baritone and piano, lyrics R. Burns, 2011
The Voices of Our Ancestors for narrator, choir and instrumental ensemble, to fragments of ancient texts in the languages: Vedic, Sanskrit, Hebrew, Persian, Arabic, Chinese, Latin, Greek, Egyptian, in English translation, 2014
La Vida es Sueño, dramatic monologue for baritone and piano, lyrics from a drama by P. Calderón de la Barca, 2016
Missa Brevis for choir a cappella and organ, 2017
Scenic:
The Abbot of Drimock, chamber opera, libretto M. Lindsay after J.M. Wilson, 1955, staged in London 1962
The Decision, opera, libretto M. Lindsay, 1965, staged in London 1967
The Voice of Ariadne, opera, libretto A. Elguera after H. Jamesa, 1973, staged in Aldeburgh 1974
Mary, Queen of Scots, opera, libretto by the composer after A. Elguera, 1977, staged in Edinburgh 1977; chamber version 2016
A Christmas Carol, opera, libretto by the composer after Ch. Dickens, 1979, staged in Norfolk (Wirginia), 1979
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, radio opera, libretto by the composer after A. Bierce, 1981, broadcast in BBC 1981
Harriet, The Woman called Moses, opera, libretto by the composer, 1984, staged in Norfolk 1985; chamber version The Story of Harriet Tubman, 1990, staged in Norfolk 1995
Simón Bolívar, opera, libretto by the composer after, 1992, staged in Norfolk 1995; chamber version 2013
The Mocking-Bird, chamber opera, libretto by the composer after A. Bierce, 2000, staged in Boston 2002
Pontalba, opera, libretto by the composer, 2003, staged in New Orlean 2003
