Carl Ruggles

Ruggles' eclectic education included private lessons in theory and composition from professors at Harvard. While supporting himself as an engraver, Ruggles honed his compositional craft and gave lectures on modern music. The year 1907 marked the beginning of an active musical period during which Ruggles taught at the Mar d'Mar School of Music in Minnesota, founded The Winona SO and began work on the opera The Sunken Bell. A move to New York in 1917 brought Ruggles private patronage and acquaintances with Varese and Ives, relationships that opened many professional doors for Ruggles. Ruggles' largest work, Sun Treader for orchestra, was performed in Paris and Berlin in 1932. In addition to a position at University of Miami as director of composition from 1938-43, Ruggles continued composing and revising his scores. Though he received many honors for his musical work, in later years he began to shift his creative emphasis to painting. Although not a serial composer, Ruggles wrote melodies so that no note was repeated until a set number had been played. His music is atonal with an emphasis on the chromatic. His love for American and English literature is evident in his use of the work of Whitman and Browning for settings for his work. ~ Lynn Vought