Tui St. George Tucker
Encyclopedia
Tui St. George Tucker was an American
composer and recorder
player.
She was born in Fullerton, Orange County, California
and attended Eagle Rock High School
in northeast Los Angeles, California
, graduating in 1941. She then attended Occidental College
in Los Angeles from 1941 to 1944. She moved to New York
in 1946, working as a composer, conductor, and recorder player, and spending most of her professional life in New York City
. Her compositions often feature microtonality and are strongly influenced by early music
. She developed special recorders with extra holes, as well as special fingerings for the recorder to allow for the playing of quarter tone
s. Her Indian Summer: Three Microtonal Antiphons on Psalm Texts for two baritones and chamber ensemble combines the use of quarter tones with a Latin text.
From 1947 to 1970 she spent her summers as the music director of Camp Catawba
for Boys, located near the Blue Ridge Parkway
on the Boone side of Blowing Rock
, North Carolina
. In 1985, she inherited the camp grounds from Vera Lachmann (1904-1985), who had founded the camp in 1944, and lived there year round from then until her death.
Her works have been performed by such performers as the Kohon Quartet, the pianists Grete Sultan
and Loretta Goldberg, and recorder
player Pete Rose.
She is named for the tui
, a bird native to New Zealand
, where her mother was born.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
composer and recorder
Recorder
The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes—whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle. The recorder is end-blown and the mouth of the instrument is constricted by a wooden plug, known as a block or fipple...
player.
She was born in Fullerton, Orange County, California
Orange County, California
Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...
and attended Eagle Rock High School
Eagle Rock High School (Los Angeles, California)
Eagle Rock High School is a public school located in the neighborhood of Eagle Rock of northeast Los Angeles, California.Eagle Rock is the only combination junior and senior high school that serves grades 7 to 12 as part of the Los Angeles Unified School District.-History:The school first opened...
in northeast Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, graduating in 1941. She then attended Occidental College
Occidental College
Occidental College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1887, Occidental College, or "Oxy" as it is called by students and alumni, is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges on the West Coast...
in Los Angeles from 1941 to 1944. She moved to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in 1946, working as a composer, conductor, and recorder player, and spending most of her professional life in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Her compositions often feature microtonality and are strongly influenced by early music
Early music
Early music is generally understood as comprising all music from the earliest times up to the Renaissance. However, today this term has come to include "any music for which a historically appropriate style of performance must be reconstructed on the basis of surviving scores, treatises,...
. She developed special recorders with extra holes, as well as special fingerings for the recorder to allow for the playing of quarter tone
Quarter tone
A quarter tone , is a pitch halfway between the usual notes of a chromatic scale, an interval about half as wide as a semitone, which is half a whole tone....
s. Her Indian Summer: Three Microtonal Antiphons on Psalm Texts for two baritones and chamber ensemble combines the use of quarter tones with a Latin text.
From 1947 to 1970 she spent her summers as the music director of Camp Catawba
Camp Catawba
Camp Catawba was a summer camp for boys near the town of Blowing Rock in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. It was established in 1944 by Vera Lachmann , a poet, classicist and educator who emigrated from Germany in 1939. In 1947 she was joined by the composer Tui St. George Tucker , who...
for Boys, located near the Blue Ridge Parkway
Blue Ridge Parkway
The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and All-American Road in the United States, noted for its scenic beauty. It runs for 469 miles , mostly along the famous Blue Ridge, a major mountain chain that is part of the Appalachian Mountains...
on the Boone side of Blowing Rock
Blowing Rock, North Carolina
Blowing Rock is a town in North Carolina, USA, situated in both Caldwell and Watauga counties. The population was 1,418 at the 2000 census. However, during the summer the town's population increases to about 10,000.]]\\...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
. In 1985, she inherited the camp grounds from Vera Lachmann (1904-1985), who had founded the camp in 1944, and lived there year round from then until her death.
Her works have been performed by such performers as the Kohon Quartet, the pianists Grete Sultan
Grete Sultan
Grete Sultan was a German-American pianist.Born in Berlin into a musical family, she studied piano from an early age with American pianist Richard Buhlig, and later with Leonid Kreutzer and Edwin Fischer...
and Loretta Goldberg, and recorder
Recorder
The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes—whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle. The recorder is end-blown and the mouth of the instrument is constricted by a wooden plug, known as a block or fipple...
player Pete Rose.
She is named for the tui
Tui (bird)
The tui is an endemic passerine bird of New Zealand. It is one of the largest members of the diverse honeyeater family....
, a bird native to New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, where her mother was born.
Discography
- Indian Summer: Three Microtonal Antiphons on Psalm Texts. LP. Greenville, Maine: Opus One, [1984?].
- String Quartet Number One. LP. Greenville, Maine: Opus One, [1986?].
- Herzliebster Jesu. CD. Harriman, New York: Spectrum, 1988. (Title of disc: Buxtehude, Moondog & Co., performed by Paul Jordan, Schuke organ.)
- Second Piano Sonata, "The Peyote." CD. Greenville, Maine: Opus One, [1991?]. (Title of disc: Soundbridge, performed by pianist Loretta Goldberg.)
- The Music of Tui St. George Tucker (1998). Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Centaur.
External links
- The official Tui St. George Tucker website. Launched 2005 includes her scores for download, contact info for use of her scores, biography, photo gallery plus other memorabilia.
- "High Country Loses Artist, Composer Tui St. George Tucker 1924-2004", by Jay Brown, The Mountain Times (Boone, North Carolina), April 29, 2004
- Appalachian State University news item about performance of Tucker's Requiem
- Article from The Mountain Times (Boone, North Carolina)