Role

:

Composer

Birth

:

July 19, 1913

Death

:

May 7, 1981

Genre

:

Concerto

 

 

Orchestral

 

Peggy Stuart-Coolidge was an American composer and patron of the arts who was born on June 29, 1913, in Boston, Massachusetts. She was the daughter of a prominent Boston family and grew up in a household that valued music and the arts. Her mother was a pianist, and her father was a lawyer who served as the president of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Stuart-Coolidge began her musical education at an early age, studying piano and composition with various teachers in Boston. She attended the New England Conservatory of Music, where she studied composition with Walter Piston and piano with George Copeland. She also studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, who was a significant influence on her musical style. Stuart-Coolidge's early compositions were influenced by the neoclassical style of Stravinsky and the French school of composition. Her works were characterized by their clarity of form, rhythmic vitality, and use of traditional tonal harmony. Her first major work, the Symphony in E-flat, was premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1937 when she was just 24 years old. In the 1940s, Stuart-Coolidge became interested in the music of the Far East and began incorporating elements of Chinese and Japanese music into her compositions. Her works from this period, such as the Chinese Suite and the Japanese Suite, were praised for their exoticism and originality. Stuart-Coolidge was also a patron of the arts and played an important role in promoting contemporary music in Boston. She founded the Boston Composers' Project in 1945, which provided a platform for local composers to showcase their works. She also established the Coolidge Foundation, which supported the commissioning and performance of new music. Stuart-Coolidge's most significant contribution to the world of music was her support of the American composer Charles Ives. She became friends with Ives in the 1940s and was instrumental in promoting his music to a wider audience. She commissioned several works from Ives, including the Symphony No. 4, which was premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1965. Stuart-Coolidge continued to compose throughout her life, and her later works were characterized by their use of serialism and atonality. She also wrote several works for the theater, including the opera The Yellow Wallpaper, which was based on the short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Stuart-Coolidge died on November 7, 1981, in Boston, Massachusetts. She was remembered as a talented composer and a passionate advocate for contemporary music. Her contributions to the world of music continue to be celebrated today, and her legacy lives on through the many works she commissioned and the composers she supported.

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