Gertrude Price Wollner Explained

Gertrude Price Wollner (May 15, 1900 – March 1985) was an American writer and composer.^[1] Her teachers included Albert Stossel, E. Robert Schmitz, and Emile Jacques Dalcroze. She married Herbert J. Wollner on April 2, 1926 and they had a daughter named Zelda.^[2] She published several articles about music education^[3] and one book, Improvisation in Music: Ways Toward Capturing Musical Ideas and Developing Them (1963).^[4] Wollner taught at Boston University, New England Conservatory of Music, and New York University. She believed that "For any age, a childlike attitude and tenacity of search are essential, and rewarding. Not all “creative” music-making needs to be great music that lasts forever. Through the doing, something genuine occurs which enhances all future music experience for the individual."^[5]

Wollner was an honorary member of Sigma Alpha Iota, the international music fraternity for women.^[6]

Selected works

Her compositions include:^[7]

Chamber

• Allegro (oboe and bassoon; 1950)
• Cello Sonata (1946)
• Quartet (English horn, violin, viola, and cello)
• Trio (clarinet, violin, cello; 1950)

Orchestra

• Exaggerated Impressions (string orchestra and percussion)
• Suite (string orchestra)

Piano

• A Dance to My Daughter
• Impressions of Tour of Old Marblehead

Theatre

• After Paul Draper (1944)
• Caesar and Cleopatra
• Music-Narration-Pantomime-Dance
• Reed Drum (1940)
• Scarlet Letter

Vocal

• "Poem" (text by Rabindranath Tagore; 1937)
• "These August Nights" (text by Melville Henry Cane; 1935)
• We Catch a Fish (voice and orchestra)

Notes and References

1. Book: Stern, Susan. Women composers: a handbook. 1978. Scarecrow Press, Incorporated. 978-0-8108-1138-6. en.
2. Web site: Join Ancestry®. 2020-07-07. www.ancestry.com.
3. Book: Boletín Interamericano de Música. 1968. Organization of American States. es.
4. Web site: ETD Home. 2020-07-07. etd.ohiolink.edu.
5. Web site: Improvisation Lin Foulk Baird. 2020-07-07. www.linfoulk.org.
6. Web site: Hendrix. Michael. Honorary Member - Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity. 2020-07-07. www.sai-national.org. 8 December 2017 . en-gb.
7. Book: Cohen, Aaron I.. International encyclopedia of women composers. 1987. 0-9617485-2-4. Second edition, revised and enlarged. New York. 16714846.