WMV Music Web Log

Please pardon my rant of August 1, but what is a blog for if not to rant once in awhile? I've started a fascinating project - assembling a list of Washington area composers, present and past, and their works. Not only have I identified a lot of them (103 on the list so far), but there are already emerging some insights - like how important Howard University has been in the history of music in Washington; also Catholic University and the Library of Congress. Composers from Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, Argentina, Sweden, England, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Ireland, Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, Turkey, Venezuela, Brazil, Italy, Poland, Spain, and Norway have lived and worked in Washington. On my list are 16 African-American composers, 21 women composers, and 15 composers who were born in DC or Baltimore. Interesting facts: Shirley Graham DuBois, the wife of W.E.B. DuBois, was a composer who taught at Howard University. "Jelly Roll" Morton owned and operated a nightclub in DC. Ruth Crawford Seeger lived here, as did Peter Schickele, Frank Zappa, Lester Trimble, and John Corigliano. And of course, both "Duke" Ellington AND John Philip Sousa were born in DC. Unfortunately, many significant composers who lived here seem to have disappeared with hardly a trace - one never hears their music performed, and hardly ever hears their names - a shameful lack of civic pride in our composers! I'm thinking of people like Leo Sowerby, Marion Bauer, Mary Howe, Esther Ballou, Dorothy Rudd Moore, Kurt Roger, Russell Woollen. George Walker (born in DC) recently won the Pulitzer Prize for composition.

I am excited about the idea of Washington Musica Viva taking on this cause. We will need the assistance of scholars, historians, publishers, librarians, and venues. We have already received enthusiastic assistance from the folks at the Martin Luther King DC Library.