Musgrave, Thea (1928– )

Scottish composer. Her music, in a conservative modern idiom, includes concertos, chamber music, and operas, such as Mary, Queen of Scots (1977), and Harriet, the Woman Called Moses (1985). Later works include the opera Simón Bolívar (1993), the bass clarinet concerto Autumn Sonata (1995), and the orchestral piece Phoenix Rising (1998). Her opera Pontalba: A Louisiana Legacy (2003) places the struggle of its heroine in the larger historical context of the Louisiana Purchase and the forging of the young USA.

She studied at Edinburgh University and with Nadia Boulanger in Paris 1950–54; her Cantata for a Summer's Day dates from this period. After 1953 she felt the influence of Schoenberg's 12-note method, which is seen in a number of works up until the Sinfonia of 1963. After this she gradually, particularly under the influence of US composer Charles Ives, wrote with greater freedom of dramatic gesture, as in the clarinet concerto (1968), in which the soloist moves around the various groups of the orchestra in performance. She lectured at London University from 1959 to 1965, and at the University of California from 1970. As Distinguished Professor at Queens College, City University of New York 1987–2002, she guided and interacted with many new and gifted young student composers. Her music has employed serial and improvisatory techniques. She was awarded a CBE in 2002.

Works Opera The Abbot of Drimock (1955), The Decision (1967), The Voice of Ariadne (1974), Mary, Queen of Scots (1977), A Christmas Carol (1979), An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (1981), Harriet, the Woman Called Moses (1985), Simón Bolívar (1993), Pontalba, A Louisiana Legacy (2003).

Orchestral Scottish Dance Suite for orchestra, Divertimento for string orchestra, Perspectives for small orchestra; three chamber concertos for various instruments, Concerto for Orchestra (1967), Peripateia for orchestra (1981), The Seasons (1988) and Rainbow (1990) for orchestra.

Vocal Triptych for tenor and orchestra; The Five Ages of Man for chorus and orchestra; songs.

Chamber string quartet (1958); two piano sonatas.