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Creator
Gideon, Miriam, 1906-1996
Call number
JPB 04-13
Physical description
18.5 linear feet (22 boxes)
Language
Some of the material in the writings series is in French
Preferred Citation

Miriam Gideon Papers, JPB 04-13. Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Repository
Music Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Restrictions apply

The papers of the American composer Miriam Gideon consist primarily of scores and sketches; they also include concert programs, press clippings, school notebooks and papers, personal writing and awards.

Biographical/historical information

The American composer Miriam Gideon (b Greeley, CO, 23 Oct 1906; d New York, 18 June 1996) grew up in Boston and, from age 10, New York. Her parents were a professor of literature and an elementary school teacher. Gideon began music lessons after her family moved to New York, studying piano with her uncle, Henry Gideon, and later with Hans Barth and Felix Fox. Gideon graduated from Boston University in 1926 with a BA in French and mathematics, after which she studied composition privately with Lazare Saminsky (1931 1934) and Roger Sessions (1935 1943). Gideon later received an MA in literature from Columbia University (1946), as well as a doctorate in sacred music from the Jewish Theological Seminary (1981). During her career she taught composition at Brooklyn College, City College, Jewish Theological Seminary and Manhattan School of Music. She also received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Brooklyn College (1983), was only the second female composer to be inducted into the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters (1975), and received awards and commissions from, among others, the Ford, Rockefeller and Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundations.

Gideon was strongly interested in bridging literature and music and produced many musical settings and song cycles for poems, often in two languages. A prolific composer, she also produced music for two complete Jewish Sabbath services (including Shirat Miriam LShabbat, 1974); an opera (Fortunato, 1958); and instrumental compositions, including pieces for orchestra (Symphonia Brevis, 1953) string quartet (1946), and sonatas for flute (1943) and piano (1977). Her harmonic language was often atonal, though not systematically so (she described her music as free atonal). Gideon was a proponent of new music and helped form the American Composers Orchestra in 1977. From the 1970s onward she was often cited as a role model for young female composers, though she admitted later that she had never thought of herself as a woman composer before that time. Gideons husband was the author/scholar Frederick Ewen.

Sources:

Ardito, Linda. Gideon, Miriam, Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 7 Jan. 2005),

Kessler, Minuetta. Miriam Gideon: Doctor of Sacred Music in Composition. The Pen Woman, June 1985.

Kozinn, Allan. Miriam Gideon, 89, a Composer of Vocal and Orchestral Music. The New York Times, June 20, 1996, D21.

Scope and arrangement

The Miriam Gideon Papers consist of 18.5 linear feet of material dating from 1905 to 1992. The bulk of the Papers date from 1930 to 1990 and consist primarily of published and unpublished scores, parts and sketches documenting Gideons early compositional efforts and her mature work in progress. They also include a detailed collection of concert programs and clippings which document the performances of her work; a set of text and music notebooks used in Gideons school studies, as well as papers she wrote for her degrees; a small amount of correspondence and personal journals; and several of the awards and commendations she received during her life.

The Miriam Gideon papers are arranged in four series:

  • Series I: Scores and Sketches
    1928 - 1990 and undated
    15 boxes

    This series consists of published and unpublished scores, parts and sketches. Many of the scores and parts were used in performance and bear marks written by the composer, conductors or performers. All phases of Gideons career are represented in this series; many of the early pieces are unpublished.

  • Series II: Concert Programs and Clippings
    1965 - 1992 and undated
    2 boxes

    The combined elements of this series document the history of the public performances of Gideons work, and the reaction to them, from the middle 1960s to the early 1990s. Many performances are documented in both sub-series.

  • Series III: Writings
    1905 - 1988 and undated
    4 boxes

    Most of this series consists of papers Gideon wrote and notes she took in various classes for her degrees or studies with composition teachers. The rest consists of correspondence, personal journals and poetry.

  • Series IV: Awards
    1974 - 1986
    5 folders

    Notable awards in this series include Gideons doctoral degree from Jewish Theological Seminary (1981) and her induction certificate into the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters (1975). Some of the folders also include correspondence regarding the award and photos of Gideon receiving them.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Donated by Alexander Ewen, 1997.

Processing information

Processed by Matthew Snyder; Machine-readable finding aid created by Matthew Snyder.

Using the collection

Location

Music Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor

Conditions Governing Use

For permission to publish, contact the Chief, Music Division.

Access restrictions

Photocopying prohibited.

Alternative form available

Box 13, folder 9-10; Box 14, folder 1-2; Box 21, folder 6, 8, are also available on microfilm; service copy number: *ZB-4292