FEATURED COMPOSER: THEA MUSGRAVE (born 1928)

Prepared by Marilyn Copeland Davidson
(Coordinating Author, Share the Music)

Thea Musgrave, born in Scotland May 27, 1928, is greatly respected for her work as both composer and conductor. Her opera, Harriett, the Woman Called Moses, written in 1985, has received admiration and recognition throughout the musical world. She wrote both the text (called a libretto in opera) and the music for the opera. The opera was commissioned jointly by the Royal Opera House and the Virginia Opera Association. It weaves spirituals such as "Go Down, Moses" and "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" through the music.

Learn more about this opera in Share the Music, Book 5, pages 166-167 (CD 3:33).

Other operas Musgrave has written are The Voice of Ariadne (1973) and Simon Bolivar (1995). Three of Musgrave's compositions were premiered at the Cheltenham International Festival of Music in 1994: a concerto for marimba and wind orchestra; Journey Through a Japanese Landscape; a bass clarinet concerto, Autumn Sonata; and a choral work using poems from On the Underground Set No. 1: On gratitude, love and madness.

Musgrave has always explored unusual treatments of her ideas. For example, in her clarinet concerto, the soloist moves around to different parts of the orchestra, and in the horn concerto, the horns are in different sections of the auditorium.

Recent projects include Phoenix Rising, an orchestral work for the BBC Symphony, premiered in 1998.

Musgrave first studied at the University of Edinburgh as a medical student. However, she realized that her love of music would be her driving force, so she changed her career plans—working for, and receiving, a music degree in 1950. She also studied at the Paris Conservatoire, where she was a pupil of the famous teacher of many composers, Nadia Boulanger. In 1970, she was appointed Guest Professor at the University of California in Santa Barbara, where she has remained. She has received many awards for her work.

For more information on this outstanding composer, see G. Schirmer/AMO Home Page. The information includes links to further information about various compositions of Thea Musgrave.