Ruth Crawford Seeger - Springfield Cemetery - Springfield, MA - Grave of a Famous Person on Waymarking.com

Ruth Crawford was born on July 31, 1901 in East Liverpool, Ohio. In 1921 she earned a teaching certificate from the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. She moved to New York and began studying musical composition with Charles Seeger, whom she married in 1932. Folksinger Pete Seeger is her adopted son and folksingers Peggy and Mike Seeger her natural children.

During the 1920's and 1930's Ruth became America's most prominent female composer as a member of a group of American composers known as the "Ultramoderns." In 1936 the Seeger family moved to Washington, D.C. to work collect folk songs for the Library of Congress.

In 1948, Ruth Crawford Seeger published her pioneering collection, American Folk Songs for Children which was designed for use by elementary school children. This book along with Animal Folk Songs for Children, (1950) and American Folk Songs for Christmas, (1953), are widely adopted and regarded as the primary texts in elementary school music education.

Ruth Crawford Seeger's career was cut short by cancer. She died at the age of 52 on November 18, 1953. She is buried along narrow, wooded, terraced path on a steep hillside in Springfield Cemetery in Springfield, MA.

Description: Composer, folklorist, author, educator List of works from wikipedia: Little Waltz, for piano, 1922 Piano Sonata, 1923 Theme and Variations, for piano, 1923 Little Lullaby, for piano, 1923 Jumping the Rope (Playtime), for piano, 1923 Caprice, for piano, 1923 Whirligig, for piano, 1923 Mr Crow and Miss Wren Go for a Walk (A Little Study in Short Trills), for piano, 1923 Kaleidoscopic Changes on an Original Theme, Ending with a Fugue, for piano, 1924 Five Canons, for piano, 1924 Piano Preludes No. 1–5, 1924–25 Adventures of Tom Thumb, 1925 Sonata for Violin and Piano, 1926 Two Movements for Chamber Orchestra (Music for Small Orchestra), 1926 We Dance Together, for piano, 1926 Piano Preludes No. 6–9, 1927–28 (corrected version) Suite No.1, for five wind instruments and piano, 1927, rev. 1929 Suite No. 2, for four strings and piano, 1929 Five Songs to Poems by Carl Sandburg: Home Thoughts, White Moon, Joy, Loam, Sunsets, 1929 Piano Study in Mixed Accents (three versions), 1930 Four Diaphonic Suites: No.1 for oboe or flute, No.2 for bassoon and cello (or two cellos), No.3 for two clarinets, No.4 for oboe (or viola) and cello, 1930 Three Chants for Female Chorus: To an Unkind God, To an Angel, To a Kind God, 1930 Three Songs to poems by Carl Sandburg, for contralto, piano, oboe, percussion and optional orchestra: Rat Riddles, Prayers of Steel, In Tall Grass, 1930-1932 String Quartet, 1931 Andante for Strings (after String Quartet Slow Movement), 1931 ? Two Ricercare to poems by H.T. Tsiang: Sacco, Vanzetti; Chinaman, Laundryman, 1932 The Love at the Harp, 1932 Nineteen American Folk Songs for Piano, 1936-1938 Rissolty, Rossolty, 1939-1941 American Folk Songs for Children, 1948 Animal Folk Songs for Children, 1950 Suite for Wind Quintet, 1952 American Folk Songs for Christmas, 1953 Date of birth: 07/31/1901 Date of death: 11/18/1953 Area of notoriety: Education Marker Type: Horizontal Marker Setting: Outdoor Visiting Hours/Restrictions: Daylight Hours Fee required?: No Web site: [Web Link]

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