Rebecca Clarke achieved what she called “my one little whiff of success” in 1919 when her viola Sonata tied for first place in a competition sponsored by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. Clarke lived much of her life in the US, although she was born and educated in Great Britain. Striking for its passion and power, her music spans a range of 20th-century styles including Impressionism, post-Romantic, and neo-Classical. Although she wrote nearly 100 works (including songs, choral works, chamber pieces and music for solo piano), only 20 pieces were published in her lifetime, and by the time of her death in 1979, at age 93, all of these were long out of print.
The goal of the Rebecca Clarke Society, Inc. is to honor the life and work of composer and violist Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979) by promoting interest in her and her music. We encourage and support performances, recordings and publications, and scholarship concerning Clarke and her music. Founded in 2000, we are a recognized non-profit organization.
A friend of mine introduced me to the Rebecca Clarke’s Piano Trio. I had never heard of Rebecca Clarke’s previously and was saddened to learn that much of her compositions have never been published, let alone the roughly 20 percent that were went out of circulation. I am not a professionally trained archivist, but I would love to become involved in helping to uncover her dormant works for the benefit of entire communities.
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Nice to meet you and Rebecca. I am a pianist from Argentina and I am teaching chamber music in a High School of Music, “ESEAM Esnaola” Two of my students (viola and clarinet) are interested in a work of Rebecca: Prelude, allegro and Pastorale. Should you tell us how we can get this music?
Greetings from Buenos Aires, Argentina
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i am playing a violin sonata rebecca clarke i am writing about philip hesetine peter warlock are there any phographs or letters from these two heseltine married minnie lucy channing thank you for your help thomas clarke flat 14 42 great
pulteney street bath ba2 4dr somerset england
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I have recently performed Clarke’s Sonata and the work ‘Morpheus’ with viola. I was astound by the beauty of the pieces. It was a marvelous experience: I loved the sound, the colors, the texture… Working on it was a delight and performing it was a great pleasure. The difficulty imposed by the piece did not take away the pleasure in any moment, for the writing is simply perfect. On the contrary, the difficulty of the piece intensifies the experience. Definitely, Rebecca is one of the greatest composers of her time.
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