{"value"=>"<p>Trude (Trudy, Gertrude) Rittman (24 September 1908-22 February 2005) was a prominent German-born American composer, music arranger, teacher and pianist. Her career spanned from the 1930's to the 1970's, highlighted by her vital roles in many famous musicals such as <em render=\"italic\">Carousel, Brigadoon, South Pacific, The King and I, The Sound of Music, Fanny, Peter Pan</em>, etc. Rittman's work with household names such as Rodgers and Hammerstein and Lerner and Lowe has earned Rittman recognition.</p> <p>Born in Mannheim, Germany, Rittman began to study piano at the age of six at the conservatory there. At the age of fourteen, she began her formal studies in composition with Ernst Toch and pianist Hans Bruch. Three years later she commenced studies with composer Philipp Jarnach and pianist Eduard Erdmann at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne. In 1932 Rittman graduated with an Artist's and Teacher's diploma (Staats-and Konzertdiplom).</p> <p>By 1931, Rittman had begun to build a successful performing career, giving concerts in Germany, Switzerland, France, Holland, and England. After fleeing increasing Nazi persecution of the Jews in 1933 (Rittman's Jewish heritage made it difficult to for her to perform under growing German anti-Semitism; her mother escaped from Mannheim, but her father died in a German prison), she joined a group of soloists performing under the direction of the conductor Hermann Scherchen at the Strasbourg Festival of Contemporary Music.</p> <p>Following the premiere performance of a work by the British composer Alan Bush, she settled in England.. There she started teaching piano, theory, harmony, counterpoint and other courses at the distinguished Dartington Hall School in Totnes, Devon. While working as musical collaborator and pianist at the Kurt Jooss School of Dance at Dartington Hall, she was introduced to the relationship of music and dance.</p> <p>In 1935, Rittman performed at the music festival in Brussels and in the spring of 1936, she worked with the ballet of the Théâtre de la Monnaie. Works performed included <em render=\"italic\">Les Noces</em> by Igor Stravinsky and <em render=\"italic\">Aeneas</em> by Albert Roussel.</p> <p>Rittman immigrated to the United States in the summer of 1937 (she filed a petition for naturalization on October 5, 1937). Through a recommendation from a Dutch acquaintance and a meeting with Lew Christensen and Eugene Loring (from the American Ballet Caravan company), Rittman was hired by Lincoln Kirstein and George Balanchine as concert accompanist and pianist for the short lived American Ballet Caravan (a precursor to the New York City Ballet), her first job in America.</p> <p>Rittman composed the ballet music for <em render=\"italic\">Charade</em> and <em render=\"italic\">The Debutante</em> and made several two- piano arrangements of other ballets in the repertory of the American Ballet Caravan. In 1938, following the resignation of Elliott Carter, she became musical director of the company. Her new position brought her in contact with many famous composers such as Leonard, Bernstein, Marc Blitzstein, Henry Brant, Paul Bowles, Elliott Carter, Aaron Copland, David Diamond, Virgil Thomson, and others.</p> <p>Following the dissolution of the company in 1941, Rittman worked as a concert pianist for the choreographer Agnes de Mille, commencing a close creative relationship. While working with De Mille, Rittman was hired as dance arranger in 1943 for the Kurt Weill musical <em render=\"italic\">One Touch of Venus</em>. In arranging the ballet music in <em render=\"italic\">Bloomer Girl</em> (1944); her role behind the scenes became integral to the musical continuity in countless theatrical productions, integrating a composer's theme or melody into the ballet or interlacing incidental music for a theatrical/dramatic effect. In short, Rittman's special calling was transforming music into myriad arrangements, whether it was dance, choral, theatrical, or incidental.</p> <p>In 1945, Rittman began her association with Rodgers and Hammerstein. For the musical <em render=\"italic\">Carousel</em>, she was responsible for the arrangement of music to Agnes de Mille's dances. Rodgers and Hammerstein hired her again in 1949 as composer for incidental music and musical continuity in <em render=\"italic\">South Pacific</em> (1952, directed by Joshua Logan) which ran for 1,925 performances. (In a late interview with Trude Rittman by Nancy Reynolds for the New York Public Library Dance Division, Rittman described approaching <em render=\"italic\">South Pacific</em> from the point of view of Russian theater as influenced by Constantin Stanislavsky.) Several accounts also describe her as being \"billed as the assistant to Mr. Rodgers.\" Rittman went on to work with Rodgers and Hammerstein on many other projects. For <em render=\"italic\">The King and I</em> (1951) she composed interludes and the dance sequence the dance \"The Small House of Uncle Thomas,\"choreographed by Jerome Robbins. Robbins's exotic staging ideas inspired Rittman to explore new approaches of musical expression. <em render=\"italic\">The Sound of Music</em> (1959) summoned Rittman's conservative compositional training, demonstrated by her use of Gregorian Chants and contrapuntal techniques to elevate the dramatic content of the nun's and children's choral singing.</p> <p>In addition to working with Rodgers and Hammerstein, Trude Rittman also collaborated on all the musicals of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, beginning with <em render=\"italic\">Brigadoon</em> (1947, choreography by Agnes de Mille). Other Lerner and Loewe collaborations included <em render=\"italic\">Paint Your Wagon</em> (1952, choreography by Agnes de Mille), <em render=\"italic\">My Fair Lady</em> (1956, choreography by Hanya Holm, and its 1976 revival), <em render=\"italic\">Camelot</em> (1961, choreography by Hanya Holm) and <em render=\"italic\">Gigi</em> (1973, choreography by Onna White). Rittman also worked with Lerner and Burton Lane, composing music continuity and doing vocal arrangements for <em render=\"italic\">On a Clear Day You Can See Forever</em> (1965).</p> <p>One year after Moss Hart commissioned Rittman to compose the music for his play, <em render=\"italic\">The Climate of Eden</em> (1952), she became the musical supervisor and composed original and arranged ballet scores for \"Agnes de Mille Dance Theater\" prior to the company's U. S. tour in 1953-54. Repertory included <em render=\"italic\">The Cherry Tree Legend</em> (an original ballet by Rittman), and two Lerner and Loewe works, <em render=\"italic\">Paint Your Wagon</em> and <em render=\"italic\">Brigadoon</em>. <em render=\"italic\">Paint Your Wagon</em>, with additional original music by Rittman became the subject of <em render=\"italic\">Goldrush</em> (mentioned below). Music from dances of <em render=\"italic\">Brigadoon</em> was used for another television special entitled, <em render=\"italic\">Bitter Weird</em> (1964).</p> <p>Having worked with her on <em render=\"italic\">South Pacific</em>, Joshua Logan again called on her to write the incidental music and music continuity arrangements for the musical <em render=\"italic\">Wish You Were Here</em> (1952) and the dance and incidental music arrangements for <em render=\"italic\">Fanny</em> (1954). Rittman provided the incidental music for two productions of <em render=\"italic\">Peter Pan;</em> she was the musical coordinator for the play staged in 1950 starring Jean Arthur (music and lyrics by Leonard Bernstein) and for the 1954 musical starring Mary Martin (directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins). Trude Rittman also composed original ballet scores for <em render=\"italic\">Look Ma', I'm Dancing!</em> (1948) alongside director/choreographer Jerome Robbins and incidental music arrangements for Cole Porter's <em render=\"italic\">Out of This World</em> (1950).</p> <p>Rittman continued to work with the choreographer Agnes de Mille for the musical <em render=\"italic\">The Girl in Pink Tights</em> (1954) and De Mille's ballet <em render=\"italic\">The Four Marys</em> (1965). During her Broadway and ballet success, Rittman also composed music for television (she has written compositions and arrangements for CBS, NBC, CBC, NET) and movies, including music for Loewe and de Mille's film, <em render=\"italic\">Goldrush</em> (CBS, 1958), and music for the motion picture <em render=\"italic\">Camelot</em> (1967). In the summer of 1967, the fifty-nine year old composer and arranger taught a course entitled, \"The Structural Relationship of Music and Dance\" at the University of Washington for a short period. Rittman continued to write numerous dance arrangements including those for the musical <em render=\"italic\">Gigi</em> (1973), <em render=\"italic\">A Musical Jubilee</em> (1975), and <em render=\"italic\">Rip Van Winkle</em> (1976), a production of the University of Tennesse's Clarence Brown Theatre. The production was directed by Joshua Logan and eventually played at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D. C.. Following her dance arrangements in the 1978 production of <em render=\"italic\">The American Dance Machine</em> (directed by David Baker and David Krane), Rittman formally retired and moved to Waltham, Massachusetts. Despite her retirement, she worked on dance arrangements for <em render=\"italic\">Jerome Robbins' Broadway</em> (1989). Trude Rittman passed away (unmarried and without survivors) at the age of 96 in 2005 in Lexington, Massachusetts. Her music has been featured on a television episode of <em render=\"italic\">Great Performances</em> following her death in 2006.</p> <p>Sources:</p> <p>Trude Rittman press release ca. summer 1967, found in the clipping file of the Dance Division at the New York Public Library for Performing Arts, \"Rittman, Trude\", call no. *MGZR.</p> <p>Trude Rittman \"List of Credits\" ca. 1976, found in the clipping file of the Dance Division at the New York Public Library for Performing Arts, \"Rittman, Trude\", call no. *MGZR.</p> <p>Saxon, Wolfgang. \"Trude Rittman, 96, an Arranger of Many Broadway Favorites. \" <em render=\"italic\">The New York Times</em>, March 10, 2005.</p> <p>Miller, Stephen. \"Trude Rittman, 96, Music Arranger on Broadway. \" <em render=\"italic\">The New York Sun</em>, March 9, 2005.</p> <p>Trude Rittman's resume, dated approximately 1938 found in the clipping file of the Music Division at the New York Public Library for Performing Arts.</p> <p>Rittman Trude. \"Interview with Trude Rittman. \" Transcript of interview by Nancy Reynolds recorded 9 Dec. 1976 at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center, New York. Archival transcript: call number: *MGZMTO 3-1197.</p>"}