Williametta Spencer

Williametta Spencer (August 15, 1927 – March 29, 2026) was an American composer, musicologist and teacher who played harpsichord, organ, and piano. She is best known for her award-winning choral work At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners.

Life and career Spencer was born in Marion, Illinois on August 15, 1927, to Viva Jewell and Samuel Joseph Spencer. The family moved to Paducah, Kentucky, where her father was a minister of music at several different Baptist churches during her childhood. Spencer earned a B.A. at Whittier College and a M.Mus. and Ph.D. at the University of Southern California. Her dissertation was entitled The Influence and Stylistic Heritage of André Caplet. In 1953, she received a Fulbright scholarship to study in Paris. Her teachers included Pauline Alderman, Tony Aubin, Alfred Cortot, Ingolf Dahl, Ernst Kanitz, and Halsey Stevens.

She won several awards, including the Southern California Vocal Association National Composition Award for At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners; Alumni Achievement Awards from Whittier College in 1995 and 2008; and the Amy Beach Award for her orchestral overture.

Spencer's works have been published by Associated Music Publishers Inc., Mark Foster Music Co., Orpheus Publications, Shawnee Press, and Western International Music Co.

Article The Relationship Between André Caplet and Claude Debussy (The Musical Quarterly, Volume LXVI, Issue 1, January 1980, Pages 112–131)

Chamber Adagio and Rondo (oboe and piano) Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano Sonata for Trombone and Piano Suite (flute and piano) Trio for Brass Instruments

Vocal And the White Rose is a Dove (choir) “Give Me the Splendid Silent Sun” (text by Walt Whitman) Nova, Nova, Ave Fit Ex Eva (a cappella choir) Three Songs (text by William Shakespeare; flute, oboe, 2 clarinets, bassoon, and voice) Winter Has Lasted Too Long (voice, clarinet, and piano)