Composer Rhian Samuel: The Female Viewpoint and Welsh Influences in Her Vocal Music

Abstract

THE ENTRY FOR THE BRITISH COMPOSER Rhian Samuel in the Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers states, understanding of vocal genres betokens her Welsh background as well as American influences; they come together in her direct, sympathetic settings of women's poetry. (1) Samuel readily admits that her experiences as a child growing up in Wales, especially her recollections of the sights and sounds of her native land, have become an integral part of her composing consciousness. (2) Tempered by her years of living and studying in the United States, this affinity for Welsh themes and for setting poetry by women writers that expresses the female viewpoint have become hallmarks of her compositional style. Not only is Samuel a highly accomplished and active British composer, but she is also the musicologist who coedited the Dictionary with Julie Anne Sadie. (3) In this role, Samuel could have pressed for a deservedly lengthier entry in the Dictionary; however, she was far more interested in promoting as many composers as possible, which reflects a certain degree of altruism on her part. Samuel's research led to the identification and inclusion of some nine hundred women composers in this pivotal reference work. In spite of Samuel's ongoing commitment to advancing feminist musicology, however, it is her work as a composer that places her squarely in the forefront of Britain's most illustrious contemporary musicians. Samuel's self-identity as a woman composer is unwavering. At the preconcert interview in 2000 for the performance of one of her works for the Millennium BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall in London, Samuel was asked about her reluctance to be considered a Welsh composer. Her reply--I'm not so happy to be called only a Welsh composer because I haven't lived in Wales all my life and have other influences as well. On the other hand, I bare been a woman all my life! --brought both laughter and applause from the expectant crowd of concertgoers. (4) In short, Samuel is proud to he considered a woman composer in Great Britain, one whose connection to the Welsh language and people resurfaces at interludes throughout her musical life. Background Born in 1944 in Aberdare, Wales, Samuel was a musical child who grew up singing Welsh folk songs and performing vocal duets with her brother. By the age of four she had begun piano lessons. Raised to be bilingual, she spoke Welsh in the home and English at school. Although her father was a music teacher and the home resounded with music, Samuel was directed by her parents toward a career in the sciences. Samuel pursued studies in mathematics and physics but eventually switched to music. Even though she had not originally intended to pursue music as a career, she was, in her words, saved by the scruff of my neck. (5) Her accomplishments as an oboist and orchestral musician, along with her experiences as a singer, have enhanced her compositional skills. Samuel moved to the United States to pursue postgraduate work, receiving her doctorate in music theory (her thesis a study of sixteenth-century music ficta) from Washington University in St. Louis. Samuel married, had a son, and left academe. She also ceased composing for a number of years. She admits to having felt insecure about her composing at this time--possibly as a result of leaving a supportive academic environment for a traditional domestic one, while realizing that as a woman composer she would be quite alone in the professional world. A turning point came when the Director of the St. Louis Conservatory and Schools for the Arts, Stephen Jay, offered her a job teaching music theory at the conservatory, which proved a catalyst for her reentry into the academic and composition fields. Also at this time she won a local composition competition with a work that spanned her compositional hiatus, The Hare in the Moon for soprano and piano. A commission from the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra for Elegy-Symphony (1981) spurred her on further. …