Miriam Gideon

Full biography Miriam Gideon

Miriam Gideon (October 23 , 1906 – June 18, 1996) was an American composer born in Greeley, Colorado. Her father was a Russian Jewish immigrant who owned a furniture store, while her mother was a native of Colorado. Gideon pursued her music studies at the University of Colorado, Columbia University, and the Juilliard School. One of her teachers in the early thirties was Lazare Saminsky , a Russian-American conductor, writer on music, and composer who had studied composition under Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

Gideon's music style developed over time. In her early years, she wrote in a neoclassical style inspired by the works of Igor Stravinsky, but in the 1940s and 1950s, she began exploring more complex and dissonant harmonies, placing her in a freely atonal or extended post-tonal style. She also sought to resist the labels of woman and Jewish composer , preferring to be seen as simply a composer.

Throughout her career, Gideon wrote over 50 compositions , covering a wide range of styles and genres, including choral and orchestral works. She was also known for her chamber music, and in 1958, she completed her only opera, "Fortunato." Her compositions were regarded highly by musicians and critics, and she earned fellowships and awards from institutions like the Guggenheim Foundation, the Koussevitzky Music Foundation, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

In addition to her composing work, Gideon was also a professor at Brooklyn College, where she taught from 1951 until her retirement in 1971. She was married to writer and educator Frederic Ewen in 1949, and they remained together until his death in 1988.

Overall, Miriam Gideon was a talented and prolific composer whose work continues to be celebrated and performed today. She pushed musical boundaries and challenged preconceived notions about what music and composers should be, leaving a lasting impact on the world of contemporary music.