Writing Homework Help

MUS 125 – Underrepresented Composer Obituary

Assignment: Using the following New York Times article as inspiration, write a 450-word (minimum) obituary of an overlooked composer. You may find your composer using my list of suggestions, or by proposing one of your own. (Please get my approval before writing about a composer of your own choosing.)

Complete Description: Since 1851, the New York Times has published obituaries for prominent people in the world (in addition to chronicling the lives of local residents, as do many local papers). Unsurprisingly, most of the subjects of these obituaries have been white men. In the last year or so, the NYT has begun a new series, Overlooked, which corrects the historical record to include obituaries for women and people of color, who distinguished themselves as inventors, spies, chefs, artists, musicians, and more. These short life sketches present a deeply compelling alternative list of “famous important people in history.”

Model Article: The New York Times – Overlooked obituary – Aloha Wanderwell (PDF on Canvas)

Overlooked Composer Suggestions:

Maddalena Casulana

Francesca Caccini

Barbara Strozzi

Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre

Countess Maria Theresia Ahlefeldt

Maria Hester Park

Amalie, Princess of Saxony

Johanna Kinkel

Josephina Lang

Cécile Chaminade

Susan McFarland Parkhurst

Clara Schumann

Amy Marcy Beach

Marion Eugénie Bauer

Violet Archer

Lili Boulanger

Nadia Boulanger

Avril Coleridge-Taylor

Ruth Crawford

Maria Luisa Sepulveda

Maria Rodrigo

Keiko Abe

Tishiko Akiyoshi

Franghiz Ali-Zadeh

Sofiya Asgatovna Gubaydulina

Hildegard Westerkamp

Margaret Bonds

Harry Lawrence Freeman

Louisa Melvin Delos Mars

Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson

Zenobia Powell Perry

William Grant Still

Pamela Z

Harry Burleigh

Will Marion Cook

J. Rosamond Johnson

Julia Perry