Alice M. Ditson Fund

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The Alice M. Ditson Fund, founded in 1940, [1] supports contemporary American music. [2] Significant ongoing awards include the Ditson Conductor's Award.

In its early years, the fund supported notable 20th-century musicians such as Bela Bartok, [3] Benjamin Britten, Aaron Copland, Gian Carlo Menotti, Virgil Thomson, [4] and Walter Piston. [5] From 1945 to 1952, the Fund sponsored the week-long Columbia Festival of Contemporary American Music. [6] The Ditson Fund was also active in supporting the Composers' Forum concerts in New York. [7]

The fund's namesake, Alice Ditson, was the wife of music publisher Charles Healy Ditson and daughter-in-law of Oliver Ditson, founder of the publishing house that bore his name. [8] She was a supporter of American classical music during her lifetime, and her will bequested $400,000 (equivalent to $9 million in 2024) to Columbia University [9] [10] for "the encouragement and aide of musicians." [11]

References

  1. ↑ Wiprudon, Theodore (2000-08-01). "On the Money: New Music Funding in the United States". NewMusicBox. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
  2. ↑ Tommasini, Anthony (2010-06-09). "Jack Beeson, Composer and Teacher, Dies at 88". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-04-10.
  3. ↑ Peyser, Joan (1995). The Music of My Time. Pro/AM Music Resources Incorporated. ISBN   978-0-912483-99-3.
  4. ↑ Tommasini, Anthony (1997). Virgil Thomson: Composer on the Aisle . W. W. Norton & Company. p.  379. ISBN   978-0-393-04006-7.
  5. ↑ Steinberg, Michael (1995). The Symphony: A Listener's Guide . Oxford University Press. p.  420. ISBN   978-0-19-512665-5.
  6. ↑ "About the Ditson Fund Recordings Archive".
  7. ↑ Patterson, Nick (2011). "The Archives of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center" . Notes. 67 (3): 483–502. doi:10.1353/not.2011.0008. ISSN   0027-4380. JSTOR   23012776. S2CID   191585272.
  8. ↑ Ardizzone, Heidi (2007). An Illuminated Life: Belle Da Costa Greene's Journey from Prejudice to Privilege. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN   978-0-393-05104-9.
  9. ↑ "About the Fund". The Alice M. Ditson Fund. Retrieved 2021-02-20.
  10. ↑ Beardslee, Bethany; Proctor, Minna (2017). I Sang the Unsingable: My Life in Twentieth-Century Music. Boydell & Brewer. ISBN   978-1-58046-900-5.
  11. ↑ "Columbia Receives Trust to Aid Music" . The New York Times . 1940-05-16. p. 31. Retrieved 2021-02-20.
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