MARGARET RUTHVEN LANG

Margaret Ruthven Lang (1867-1972) was born in Boston, Massachusetts to a family that was part of the Boston musical aristocracy where famous musicians were frequent guests. Richard Wagner’s children were her playmates. She received lessons in harmony, counterpoint, and orchestration, then went to Munich to study violin and counterpoint. But she was denied entrance into the Royal Conservatory of Music as a female. She returned to Boston and continued studies in orchestration and composition. She became a successful and productive composer and her works were often performed in Boston concert halls. In 1893, the Boston Symphony Orchestra premiered her Dramatic Overture, Op. 12, the first composition by a woman to be performed by a major American symphony orchestra. After she stopped composing, she was devoted to religious work, attending the Episcopal Church of the Advent in Boston. She was subscriber to the Boston Symphony Orchestra for a record 91 consecutive years. In 1967, the orchestra performed a concert in honor of her 100th birthday. In her honor, they installed a plaque on her seat, 1st Balcony, Right, B.

 

All are SATB and unaccompanied unless noted in VOICING column. A noting of “div” indicates some divisi within a part or parts, but usually not a true independent part throughout the work. Solos and accompaniment are also noted.

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TITLE

VOICING
TEXT
REGION
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Spring Flowers

w/piano
Nixon Waterman
U.S.
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The Hawthorn Tree, Op. 25

SATBdiv, S & T solos
Nathan Haskell Dole
U.S.
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The Old Person of Cassel

Arranged for mixed voices from: Nonsense Rhymes and Pictures, Op. 42
w/piano
Edward Lear
U.S.
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The Old Man with a Beard

Arranged for mixed voices from: More Nonsense Rhymes and Pictures, Op. 43
w/piano
Edward Lear
U.S.
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X

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