Composers Datebook

Today marks the birthday of the British composer Ruth Gipps, who lived from 1921 to 1999, and rates among the more prolific of UK composers, having written five symphonies, and dozens of concerto, chamber works, and vocal scores. Gipps always said she found it “difficult to understand young people who don’t know what they want to be when they grow up.” She published her first music at age 8, and by her twenties had also become a professional oboist and pianist. Her triple career peaked in 1945, when in Birmingham, Gipps performed the Glazunov Piano Concerto on the first half of a concert, then, on the second half, played the English horn part in the premiere performance of her own First Symphony. Vaughan Williams was one of her composition teachers, and her music was, like his, firmly based in melody and traditional harmony. Ironically, this counted against her in the years following World War II when music that wasn’t atonal and avant-garde was deemed old-fashioned and passé. Even so, in 1981, Gipps was included in the Queen’s Honors List, but Dame Ruth probably derived as much pleasure from her MG as her MBE: an avid sports car enthusiast, her obituary noted that, heavily swathed, Gipps enjoyed driving her roadster though whatever the British climate threw at her. These days, the artistic forecast seems more favorable, and the music of Ruth Gipps is receiving renewed attention.