Ruth Schonthal

At the Jewish Museum (Jüdische Museum) in Vienna, Austria, are walls with the names of Jewish musicians who were exiled during the Nazi occupation. The name "Ruth Schonthal" is in the center of a wall with a button that when pressed, permits a visitor to listen to a Sonatina, which was published in Stockholm when the composer was fifteen, along with her life history. In August 2003, Schonthal participated in the Songs Across the Americas Festival; she writes: "I was one of the two featured North American composers with Ton Cipullo and was performed every day of the festival."

Performances

The Bells of Sarajevo for clarinet and prepared piano was heard June 21, 2002, by Esther Lamneck and the composer, Kommandantenhaus, Heidelberg, Germany. On June 22, another concert in the Kommandantenhaus featured a performance of A Bird Sings About . . The Songs Across the Americas Festival, which took place August 23-29, 2003 in La Paz, Santa Cruz, and Cochabamba, Bolivia, featured the following works By the Roadside (W. Whitman), Early Songs (R.M. Rilke), Two Songs with words by Garcia Lorca, Seven Songs of Love and Sorrow (various English and American poetry), Wildunger Lieder Zyklus (Olbricht) and Drei Liebeslieder (Kottek), as performed by tenor Keither Clifton, tenor David Judish, soprano Maya Friedman-Hoover, mezzo-soprano SAI Peggy Balensuela, soprano Fricka Rahn, soprano Kathleen Wilson, and pianists Ruth Friedberg and the composer. A concert of the composer's piano works was given by Adina Mornell on October 26, at the Jüdisches Museum, Vienna, Austria; performed works were: The Canticles of Hieronymus, Reverberations for prepared piano, Sonatina, Portrait of the Artist as an Older Woman, and Variations in Search of a Theme. On November 9, The Canticles of Hieronymus was presented by pianist Margaret Mills, The Madison Avenue First Presbyterian Church, New York, NY.

Publications

Tristana, violin and piano; Totengesänge, soprano and piano; Sonata Quasi Un'improvvisazione, piano; Fiestas Y Danzas, piano; Improvisation for solo cello; Six Times Solitude (A.A. Milne), soprano and piano; Homage a Garcia Lorca, soprano, flute, viola, cello, harp, and timpani; The Temptation of St. Anthony, organ; Princess Maleen, two-act opera for children of all ages (based on a fairytale by the Brothers Grimm, English libretto Schonthal/W.Wood, German libretto Schonthal ), piano vocal score; all by Furore.

Recordings

Adina Mornell Plays Works by Ruth Schonthal, Edel-Koch International. Keyboard Expressions, performed by Gary Steigerwalt; Cambria Master Recordings. Early Songs (R.M. Rilke), on the album Songs by Women; Leonarda LP #352. Holocaust in Memoriam (String Quartet No. 3) and Bird Over Jerusalem, recorded for the Milkin Archive of American Jewish Music, Naxos.

Further Information

• 1999-2000 American Composers Update
• 1996-1997 American Composers Update
• SAI's Composers Bureau Online
• SAI's Music for Young People section