CHAPTER 1: NARRATIVE, REPRESENTATIONAL, AND PROGRAMMATIC
ELEMENTS IN THE EARLY CHAMBER MUSIC OF LIBBY LARSEN
Early Career
In the 1970’s and early 80’s there was no shortage of musicians in the Minneapolis
area and beyond interested in playing the chamber music of the young composer Libby
Larsen. Performers such as flutist Eugenia Zukerman, trombonist William McGlaughlin,
clarinetist Robert Spring, bassoonist Lynn Moran Riccardo, cellist Ruth Dreier, violist
Robert Levine, and guitarist Jeffrey Van were instrumental in commissioning, performing
and promoting her new works for their instruments between the time of Larsen’s
graduation from the University OfMinnesota in 1978 and the beginning of her residency
with the Minnesota Orchestra in 1983.
Her popularity was due in part to her involvement at the time with the Minnesota
Composer’s Forum, an advocacy group that she and fellow composer Stephen Paulus had
со-founded in 1973 while still graduate students. The goal of this organization, now
called the American Composer’s Forum, is to “enrich lives by nurturing the creative spirit
of composers and communities. [To] provide new opportunities for composers and their
music to flourish, and engage communities in the creation, performance and enjoyment of
new music.”1 Now the largest group of its kind in the United States, this was and
continues to be a vital resource for young composers.
American Composer’s Forum “Mission Statement”
www.composersforum.org/AboutTheForum/MissionHistory/tabid/154/Default.aspx
(accessed 1 February 2010).