Ruth Anderson

Evelyn Ruth Anderson (March 21, 1928 – November 29, 2019) was an American composer, orchestrator, teacher, and flutist.

Biography Evelyn Ruth Anderson was born March 21, 1928, in Kalispell, Montana. She was a composer of orchestral and electronic music. Her extensive education spanned two decades, and was spent at eight different institutions. Throughout this time, Anderson was the recipient of a multitude of awards and grants, including two Fulbright awards (1958–60) to study composition with Darius Milhaud and Nadia Boulanger in Paris. After completing her education, Anderson spent time as a freelance composer, orchestrator, and choral arranger for NBC-TV, and later for Lincoln Center Theater.

Post-secondary education 1949 — Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, University of Washington 1951 — Master of Arts, University of Washington 1958–60 — studied with Darius Milhaud and with Nadia Boulanger at The American School at Fontainebleau whose works have been released on the Opus One label, Charles Amirkhanian's "pioneering" LP anthology New Music for Electronic and Recorded Media (1977), New World/CRI, Arch Records, and Experimental Intermedia (XI). Further work was released on Arc Light in 2020.

Compositions Anderson composed for a wealth of instruments and ensembles, including orchestra and electronic music. Her sound poem I Come Out of Your Sleep (revised and recorded on Sinopah 1997 XI) is constructed from whispered phonemes extracted from Louise Bogan's poem "Little Lobelia." According to the composer "a very soft dynamic level is an integral component of this piece. It is important to listen to it in the way it was composed, near the threshold of hearing." Her collage piece SUM (State of the Union Message) is included on the Lesbian American Composers collection (1973 Opus One, reissued 1998 CRI: 780). SUM and DUMP (1970), also a sonic collage, are her best known pieces. She called her study of Zen, begun in 1990, "a natural extension of my music," and cited as influential, especially on her interest in music and healing, composers Pauline Oliveros and Annea Lockwood. Included are: "I Come Out of Your Sleep"; "SUM" (which uses TV advertisement samples to mimic a speech by President Richard Nixon); "Pregnant Dream" (a collaboration with poet May Swenson); "Points" (constructed entirely from sine-waves); and the electro-acoustic "So What".

Anderson composed dozens of pieces for a variety of groups; below are some selections of her works.

Title Composition Date Instrumentation Impression IV 1950 Soprano, flute, and string quartet Sonata 1951 Flute and piano Sonatina 1951 Flute and piano Motet, Psalm XIII 1952 Mixed choir Prelude and Allegro 1952 Woodwind quintet Symphony for Small Orchestra 1952 Orchestra Three Children's Songs 1952 Soprano and piano Prelude and Rondo (dance score) 1956 Flute and strings Song to My Father 1959 Women's voices and piano Richard Cory 1960 Women's voices and piano Wheel on the Chimney 1965 Slide film score and orchestra The Pregnant Dream 1968 Tape DUMP 1970 Tape So What 1971 Tape SUM (State of the Union Message) 1973 Tape Conversations 1974 Tape Points 1974 Tape Sappho 1975 Tape Tunable Hopscotch 1975 Installation/Game I Come Out of Your Sleep 1979, revised 1997 Tape Centering 1979 Interactive biofeedback: four "observers" with galvanic skin resistance oscillators, and dancer Time and Tempo 1984 Biofeedback installation