{"id":8667,"date":"2024-10-02T16:37:02","date_gmt":"2024-10-02T21:37:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=8667"},"modified":"2024-10-02T22:25:11","modified_gmt":"2024-10-03T03:25:11","slug":"ruth-crawford-seeger-and-american-identity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2024\/10\/02\/ruth-crawford-seeger-and-american-identity\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruth Crawford Seeger and American Identity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ruth Crawford Seeger (1901-1953) was an American Musicologist and a pioneer of Women Composers in America.<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" href=\"#sdfootnote1sym\" name=\"sdfootnote1anc\"><sup>1<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Her compositions shaped the track of American musical identity with atonal avant-garde American music.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"584\" height=\"329\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/agu5Xo7alIQ?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Her music was written with a particular kind of dissonance that used open 5ths in parallel. Scholars say that this is influence taken from composers like B\u00e9la Bartok and Igor Stravinsky. <a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" href=\"#sdfootnote1sym\" name=\"sdfootnote1anc\"><sup>3<\/sup><\/a> Her interest in ultramodernist music and serialism <a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" href=\"#sdfootnote1sym\" name=\"sdfootnote1anc\"><sup>2<\/sup><\/a> come across clearly in the clip above of String Quartet (1931), which is described as the masterpiece and peak of her career as a composer. <a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" href=\"#sdfootnote1sym\" name=\"sdfootnote1anc\"><sup>1<\/sup><\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 1930, Ruth Crawford Seeger was the first woman to win a Guggenheim Fellowship in composition and travels to Europe to complete that work. <a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" href=\"#sdfootnote1sym\" name=\"sdfootnote1anc\"><sup>1<\/sup><\/a> When she arrives back in the U.S. in 1931 her life changes. When Ruth Seeger returned from Europe she faced hardship that came from the Great Depression and the stock market crash. Below are headlines were collected by Matilda Gaume and listed in the book, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ruth Crawford Seeger: memoirs, memories, music<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> by Matilda Gaume<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" href=\"#sdfootnote1sym\" name=\"sdfootnote1anc\"><sup>4<\/sup><\/a>:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cJulliard benefit for Unemployed Musicians\u201d (January 17, 1931),\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cLondon Orchestra in Trouble\u201d (April 2, 1932),\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cMetropolitan Opera Prospects Uncertain for 1932-33\u201d (April 2, 1932),\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cEconomy the Watchword in Vienna\u201d (April 11, 1931),\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cBush Conceervatory in Bankruptcy\u201d (August 27, 1932). <a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" href=\"#sdfootnote1sym\" name=\"sdfootnote1anc\"><sup>4<\/sup><\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Due to the position that America is in when she comes back, she is unable to compose. She gets married to Charles Seeger, and becomes a mother.<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" href=\"#sdfootnote1sym\" name=\"sdfootnote1anc\"><sup>3<\/sup><\/a> She writes about feeling fulfilled by her family life, but also feeling too guilty to make any time for composing.<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" href=\"#sdfootnote1sym\" name=\"sdfootnote1anc\"><sup>3<\/sup><\/a> Her family falls into poverty in the great depression, until Charles Seeger takes a job with the U.S. government doing fieldwork in the Appalachian region of America collecting folk music. <a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" href=\"#sdfootnote1sym\" name=\"sdfootnote1anc\"><sup>5<\/sup><\/a> She publishes this work, which is recognized as groundbreaking, and provides for her family and the larger educational continuum. However, while Ruth Crawford Seeger recognizes great importance for collecting this folk music, she still expresses a deep calling to compose. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">She composes again in 1952, writing Wind Quintet, for a competition (which she wins). That is her last competition, she died the following year <a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" href=\"#sdfootnote1sym\" name=\"sdfootnote1anc\"><sup>5<\/sup><\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"584\" height=\"329\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Kn6x-zIHvGg?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote1\">\n<p class=\"sdfootnote\"><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" href=\"#sdfootnote1anc\" name=\"sdfootnote1sym\">1 Tick, Judith. \u201cRuth Crawford Seeger: A Composer\u2019s Search for American Music.\u201d <i>OUP Academic<\/i>, Oxford University Press, 25 Sept. 1997, academic.oup.com\/book\/49355?login=true.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote1\">\n<p class=\"sdfootnote\"><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" href=\"#sdfootnote1anc\" name=\"sdfootnote1sym\">2 <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wesby, Alan. \u201cRuth Crawford Seeger: Musical Ultra-Modernist and Folklorist.\u201d <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ruth Crawford Seeger: Musical Ultra-Modernist and Folklorist<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, www.lapl.org\/collections-resources\/blogs\/lapl\/ruth-crawford-seeger-ultra-modernist-and-folklorist. Accessed 2 Oct. 2024. <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"sdfootnote\"><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" href=\"#sdfootnote1anc\" name=\"sdfootnote1sym\">3 https:\/\/nationalphilharmonic.org\/media\/video\/composers-in-crisis-ruth-crawford-seeger-the-great-depression\/\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"sdfootnote\"><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" href=\"#sdfootnote1anc\" name=\"sdfootnote1sym\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"sdfootnote\"><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" href=\"#sdfootnote1anc\" name=\"sdfootnote1sym\">4<\/a>Gaume, Matilda. <i>Ruth Crawford Seeger: Memoirs, Memories, Music<\/i>. Scarecrow Press, 1986.<a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" href=\"#sdfootnote1anc\" name=\"sdfootnote1sym\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"sdfootnote\"><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" href=\"#sdfootnote1anc\" name=\"sdfootnote1sym\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"sdfootnote\"><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" href=\"#sdfootnote1anc\" name=\"sdfootnote1sym\">5 <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The New York Times<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, The New York Times, 13 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com\/2017\/10\/13\/arts\/music\/ruth-crawford-seeger-jack-quartet.html. <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ruth Crawford Seeger (1901-1953) was an American Musicologist and a pioneer of Women Composers in America.1\u00a0 Her compositions shaped the track of American musical identity with atonal avant-garde American music.\u00a0 Her music was written with a particular kind of dissonance &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2024\/10\/02\/ruth-crawford-seeger-and-american-identity\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5290,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1563,1],"tags":[1595,370,1596],"class_list":["post-8667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall-24-mus-345b","category-uncategorized","tag-avante-guarde","tag-female-composer","tag-ruth-crawford-seeger"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7jEhR-2fN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5290"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8667"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8669,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8667\/revisions\/8669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}