Schonthal, Ruth (1924-2006) Website
formerly of New Rochelle, New York


Interlude for Harp
3'30" $6.00 #040126 AP-736

Interlude was composed in 1980 and is in one movement marked Andante, molto rubato.

 

Love Letters for Clarinet and Cello
11'25" $9.00 #040121 AP-731
Recording: Capriccio Vol. 1

The piece was written in 1979 and is in nine short movements.

 

Composer, pianist and teacher, Ruth Schonthal grew up in Hamburg, Germany where she was accepted as the youngest student ever admitted to the Stern Conservatory in Berlin. When her family was forced to flee Germany and moved to Stockholm, she began studies there at the Royal Academy of Music. After the family fled the dangers of Europe a second time, she began to work with Manuel Ponce in Mexico City. There she met Paul Hindemith who was in Mexico on tour, and accepted his offer to study with him at Yale University where she graduated with honors in 1948.

Her teaching career included appointments to the faculties of New York University, the Westchester Conservatory, and Mercy College. In 1994 she was honored by the city of Heidelberg with a prize and exhibition on her life and works. She has received grants from Meet the Composer and ASCAP and recognition from the Yale Alumni Association and New York University. Her music, reflecting a blend of European traditions and contemporary techniques, has been performed widely at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Recital Hall, and abroad in Belgrade, London, and Paris and is published by Furore Verlag, Oxford University Press, Southern Music Company, Carl Fischer, and Arsis Press. Recordings are available on the Cambria, Leonarda and Capstone labels. A biography by Martina Helmig has been published in Europe under the title of Ruth Schonthal—Ein Werdegang in Exil and is scheduled for publication in the U.S. by Scarecrow Press.

Sisra Publications (the name Arsis Press uses for ASCAP composers) has published her Interlude for harp, and Love Letters for clarinet and cello which is also available on a Capriccio Recording.

 

 

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