Louise Fleur Meyers Schlesinger Spizizen [1] (August 24, 1928 - July 2, 2010) was an American composer, [2] [3] critic, harpsichordist/pianist, [4] and singer. She is best remembered today for her research and controversial claim that pianist Johana Harris actually composed music that was published under the name of her husband, Roy Harris. [5]
Spizizen was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, [6] to Lillian Gordon and Louis Samuel Meyers. After growing up in Kansas City, Missouri, she earned music degrees from Vassar College and the University of California, San Diego. [5] Her teachers included Robert Erickson, Kenneth Galburo, Gustav Leonhardt, Josef Mars, John Metz, Wilbur Ogdon, Wallingford Riegger, and Roslyn Tureck. [7] [8] [5] [9]
Spizizen married Eugene Richard Schlesinger in 1948 and they had three sons and a daughter before divorcing. [5] She married Dr. John Spizizen in 1969. [1]
Spizizen’s jobs included:
1949-1952 music director, Interplayers Inc. (New York)
1954-1957 singer/accompanist, Westchester County (New York) Civic Opera
1959-1965 singer/accompanist/composer, Madrigal Singers (Westport, Connecticut)
1960-1963 singer/accompanist, First Unitarian Church (Westport). [7]
Spizizen also taught music privately and at the University of California. [7] She published music reviews and criticism in the La Jolla Light, Los Angeles Times, [10] San Diego Reader, and Tucson Weekly, as well as articles in various music journals (listed below). She appeared as an accompanist, harpsichordist, or singer with the Arizona Opera, Civic Orchestra of Tucson, and San Diego Symphony. [5]
Spizizen created free lunchtime concert series in public venues such as shopping malls in San Diego and Tucson. She formed the Arizona Early Music Society and served as its president, and co-founded the Basically Baroque Symposium at the University of California San Diego. [5] [11] She received two commissions from the Westport Madrigal Singers, as well as a prize from Vassar College for her 1946 dance score/musical comedy, Sweep It Clean. [7]
Spizizen spent the last decade of her life working on a biography of pianist Johana Harris, who she believed had actually composed some of the works published by Roy Harris. [12] She died before completing the biography. [5] Spizizen’s correspondence with author and composer Nicolas Slonimsky is archived in the Library of Congress Music Division. [13] Spizizen’s music was published by Theodore Presser Co. [7] Her publications included:
Johana Harris was a Canadian pianist, composer, and music educator. She had highly successful career as a concert pianist, making numerous recordings and appearing as a soloist with almost every major American symphony orchestra. She made over 100 solo recordings, working with such labels as Columbia, RCA, Capitol, MGM and Contemporary Records. She also performed on the soundtracks of several Hollywood films and television productions. She was married to composers Roy Harris and Jake Heggie. She performed widely with both men in duo piano concerts and was considered to have had a particularly profound effect on Roy Harris's work as a composer.
Regina Kastberg Hansen Willman was an American composer, born in Burns, Wyoming. She married Allan Arthur Willman in 1942; they divorced in 1956, but remained close throughout her life. Willman received a B.M. from the University of Wyoming in 1945, and a M.M. from the University of New Mexico in 1961. She studied with Darius Milhaud at Mills College, Roy Harris at Colorado College, and pursued further studies at the University of California, Berkeley, the Juilliard School, the Sorbonne, and the Lausanne Conservatory. Willman was the resident composer of the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos, New Mexico, from 1956–57 and 1960-61. Her papers are archived at the University of Wyoming.
Mary Eliza Watson Weaver was an American composer, pianist, and poet who was born in Kansas City, Missouri.
Katharine Mulky Warne was an American composer, pianist and teacher, who founded the Darius Milhaud Society and organized 15 Milhaud festivals in Cleveland, Ohio, to promote his music. She was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. On June 27, 1953, She married Clinton L. Warne and they had three children: Kate, Clinton Jr. and Carolyn.
Viola Edna Beck Van Katwijk was an American composer and pianist. Her music was published under the names "Viola Beck" and "Viola Van Katwijk."
Mildred Lund Tyson was an American choral director, composer, organist, and soprano.
Mildred Josephine Cozzens Ewald Turner was an American composer, pianist, and singer who published her music under the name Mildred Cozzens Turner.
Karen Anne Tarlow is an American composer and music educator who has composed multi-media pieces and many choral works based on Hebrew texts.
May Louise Cooper Spindle was an American composer and teacher who wrote many pedagogical pieces for piano.
Fannie Morris Spencer was an American composer and organist who wrote a collection of 32 hymns and was a founding member of the American Guild of Organists.
Mildred Elizabeth Thomson Souers was an American composer who wrote music for ballets and ballet studios, as well as for chamber ensembles, piano, and voice.
Janina Skowronska was a Polish composer who is best remembered for her arrangements of folk songs, and for creating Little Chopin, a children’s musical based on the life and works of Frederic Chopin.
Fannie Lovering Skinner was an American composer and singer.
Ann Loomis Silsbee was an American composer and poet who composed two operas, published three books of poetry, and received several awards, commissions, and fellowships.
Alice Marion Shaw was an American composer, pianist, and teacher who was a well-known accompanist during the early 20th century.
Virginia Claire Seay Ploeser was an American composer and musicologist who studied and collaborated with composer Ernst Krenek. She published her works under the name Virginia Seay.
Margaret Lee Scoville was an American composer of chamber, electronic and piano music.
Elizabeth Anne Schwerdtfeger was an American composer, choral conductor, educator, and Fulbright scholar who spent several years as a Dominican nun and was also known as Sister Mary Ernest O.P.. She was known professionally as E. Anne Schwerdtfeger.
Friederike Schwarz was a Czech composer, educator, pianist and writer. She, together with her sister, committed suicide during the Prague uprising. She sometimes published under the pseudonym rz.
Meta Fust Willoughby was an American composer, pianist, and singer who performed and published under the name Meta Schumann.
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