Raum, Elizabeth
Elizabeth Raum (b Hodges). Composer, oboist, b Berlin, NH, 13 Jan 1945, naturalized Canadian 1985; B MUS and Performer's Certificate (Eastman School of Music, Rochester) 1966, M MUS (Regina) 1985, hon DHumL (Mount Saint Vincent) 2004. Elizabeth Raum grew up in Boston, where she studied oboe and piano and did some composing. She studied oboe 1962-6 with Robert Sprenkle at the Eastman School of Music, then did freelance orchestral, operatic, ballet, and other work in Boston. She moved to Halifax in l968, and was principal oboist 1968-75 with the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra and the Charlottetown Festival Orchestra.
In 1975, Raum moved to Regina, and began playing part-time with the Regina Symphony Orchestra (SO). She also took up composing again, now seriously; and studied composition 1983-4 with Thomas Schudel at the University of Regina. Her master's thesis project was the opera The Garden of Alice, first performed in a condensed concert version by the Contemporary Directions Ensemble, a local new-music organization she helped found in 1978.
In 1986, Raum became principal oboist with the Regina SO; she also performs with the orchestra's Chamber Players. Her husband, Richard Raum, who became principal trombonist of the Regina SO in 1975, is a professor of theory and trombone at the University of Regina. Elizabeth Raum has written prolifically for the trombone, and since the 1990s has developed a special, abiding interest in the tuba; she has worked closely with, and been commissioned by, leading tubists and has become celebrated within their community. In 1994, she founded the Prairie Festival of New Music.
Compositions for Video and Film
She received a $10,000 senior arts grant from the Saskatchewan Arts Board in 1985 to produce Canada's first classical video with original music. She composed the score (Evolution: A Theme with Variations, which spans musical styles from Renaissance to modern) and produced the video in collaboration with the Arts Board, the CBC, the Canadian Music Centre, the Regina SO, and the University of Regina; it was premiered by the CBC in April 1986. She has won the Saskatchewan Film and Video Showcase Award for best musical score three times: for the documentary Saskatchewan River (1992); for Like Mother, Like Daughter (1993, a documentary on the composing and recording of her Concerto for Violin, written for and performed by her daughter, violinist Erika Raum); and for the feature film Sparkle (1999). She has also collaborated on films involving her works The Green Man (1993), Symphony of Youth (1995), and Prelude to Parting (1996), all broadcast on national television.
Commissions and Recordings
Since the early 1980s, most of Raum's music has been commissioned. She has been commissioned repeatedly by the CBC and the Regina SO (including its Chamber Players), and has received commissions from many other organizations in her home city and province, including the City of Regina, the Globe Theatre, the Prairie Opera Company, the Province of Saskachewan, the Regina Male Voice Choir, the Saskatchewan Arts Board, the Saskatchewan Band Association, the Saskatchewan Choral Federation, the Saskatchewan Music Educators Association, the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, and the University of Regina. She has also been commissioned by the Calgary Philharmonic, the Canadian Music Centre, Canadian Music Competitions, Music Toronto, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, the Scotia Festival, and the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra. (Some of her commissions have been assisted by the Canada Council.) She has written test pieces for the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition, and has received commissions from many ensembles and individual performers and patrons.
Raum's music is performed often across Canada and is heard frequently on the CBC; she has also had performances outside Canada - in the US, England, continental Europe (including Scandinavia and Russia), and in China, Japan, and South America. More than a dozen of her works have been recorded, including most of those for tuba. The three concertos appear on the CD The Legend of Heimdall, with the Orchestra of the Capella of St. Petersburg, and solo works appear on CDs by John Griffiths. Her works are included on two Centrediscs CDs produced by the Canadian Music Centre (CMC). Publishers of her music have included Alry, the CMC, Editions Bim, Southern, Treble Clef Music, the Tuba/Euphonium Press, Virgo Music House, and Warwick.
Raum has served as a jurist for music competitions and arts councils, and has lectured on composition at conferences, eg for the Alliance for Canadian New Music Projects, the Eastman School of Music, and Orchestras Canada.
Raum's Style
Raum is enormously prolific, and her body of work covers a wide range of genres and styles. Her music is unabashedly conservative: tonal, tuneful, often light-hearted, at times frankly programmatic (eg, Echoes of Fort San), drawing eclectically on traditional vocabularies and sonorities. One of her best works, the Fantasy for Double Orchestra (1988), is deeply expressive and shows a sophisticated command of medium and material. Raum is skeptical of most avant-garde music and philosophy (she parodies them mercilessly in Thunder in a Concave Vacuum) and strives to be accessible to a broad public.
Raum is an associate of the Canadian Music Centre and a member of SOCAN.
Compositions
For all vocal music, the text is by Elizabeth Raum unless otherwise specified.
Bracketed information gives details of lyricists and premieres.
Music theatre and multi-media
The Final Bid. 1980. One-act opera, for 4 singers with chamber orchestra or piano. (University of Regina, 1980)
The Garden of Alice. 1983 (after Lewis Carroll). Two-act opera, for 9 singers, 2 percussionists, and piano (Globe Theatre, Regina, 1985); concert version as Garden of Alice (1983), for 4 singers, narrator, 2 percussionists, and piano (Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina, 1984)
Mulligan's Toy Shop. 1983. Musical for children, with piano and optional rhythm band
The Adventures of Ian the Oboe. 1985. Narrator and chamber orchestra
Thunder in a Concave Vacuum. 1986. Multi-media theatre work, for live musicians and tape (Globe Theatre, Regina, 1986)
The Robot from Orion. 1989. Narrator, 2 optional dancers, and chamber orchestra
Eos: The Dream of Nicholas Flood Davin. 1990. Three-act opera, for 6 singers, chorus, narrator, and chamber orchestra (Prairie Opera, Regina and Saskatoon, 1991; University of Regina, 2003)
The Green Man. 1993. Ballet
Orchestra, band, and large ensemble
Evolution: A Theme with Variations. 1985. Chamber orchestra; arr. two pianos
Processional Fanfare. 1985. Large brass ensemble and percussion
Echoes of Fort San. 1987. Concert band
Fantasy for Double Orchestra. 1988
Suite from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. 1989. Chamber orchestra; arr. orchestra
A Prairie Alphabet Musical Parade. 1993. (Jo Bannatyne-Cugnet), solo voice with chamber orchestra; arr. symphonic band
Legislative Assembly Fanfare. 1993. Brass and percussion
Salute to Mt Carmel. 1993. Woodwind octet, trombone, and double bass
Prairie Jubilee. 1996. String orchestra
Festival Fanfare. 1997. Brass quintet or large brass ensemble and percussion
Impulse. 1997. Orchestra
Sodbuster. 1999. Concert band
Jason and the Golden Fleece. 2000. Tuba ensemble
A Little Monster Music. 2000. Tuba ensemble
Fanfare Overture. 2002. Orchestra
Queen City Fanfare. 2002. Wind symphony; arr. brass band
One Hundred Years of Fanfares. 2005. Band
Soloist with orchestra or band
The Legend of Heimdall. 1991. Tuba and orchestra
Capriccio. 1992. Violin and orchestra
Concerto for Violin. 1993. Violin and orchestra
Concerto for Double Bass (or Cello) and Orchestra. 1993. Arr. with taped synthesized accompaniment
Olmütz Concerto. 1994. Alto trombone and orchestra
Sherwood Legend. 1996. French horn and orchestra; arr. for euphonium and orchestra
Concerto del Garda. 1996. Tuba and orchestra; arrs. with band and piano
Pershing Concerto. 1998. Tuba and band; arrs. with orchestra and piano
Romance. 2001. Trombone and chamber orchestra; arr. with piano; arr. French horn, bassoon, and cello
The Phantom Drum. 2003. Oboe, strings, and percussion
Faustbuch. 2004. Tuba or euphonium and concert band; arr. with piano
Persephone and Demeter. 2004. Violin, viola, and orchestra
Chamber and keyboard
Four Elements. 1980. Violin and trombone
Quintet for Brass. 1980. Arr. Quartet for Brass, 2 trombones, 2 trumpets
Conversations for Flute and Piano. 1982
Idiom. 1982. French horn
Suite for Woodwind Quintet. 1982
Fantasy for Trombone. 1985. With piano; arr. French horn and piano
Arabesque. 1985. Double bass and English horn
Processional Fanfare. 1985. Trombone quartet
Phoenix. 1986. Flute, clarinet, cello, trombone, percussion, and piano
Reverie. 1987. Viola and piano
Rhapsody. 1987. Violin, cello, harp, and organ
King Lear Fantasy. 1987. Woodwind quintet
Les Ombres. 1988. Violin and piano
Rondo Variations. 1989. Piano, violin, and double bass (or cello)
Baroque Suite. 1989. Clarinet (optional doubling on E-flat), flute (optional doubling on alto flute and piccolo), and piano; "mix and match" arrs. for violin on first part and viola on second
Valentine Variations, on a theme by Thomas Schudel. 1991. Flute and piano
Barcarole. 1991. Flute (or piccolo) and piano
Prairie Suite. 1992. Violin, cello, oboe, and piano
The International Suite. 1992. Wind octet
Sextet. 1992. Woodwind quintet and piano
Romance for French Horn. 1992. Arr. with chamber orchestra
Parody for Clarinet. 1992
String Quartet. 1993
Prelude to Parting. 1994. Trombone, violin, and tape
Northern Lights. 1994. Flute and tape
River Rhapsodie. 1994. Piano
Sonata for Violin and Piano. 1994
Searching for Sophia. 1995. Piano trio; arr. oboe and string quartet
Cinderella Suite. 1996. Piano trio; arr. flute, cello, and piano
Three Jazz Moods. 1996. Tenor trombone and piano; arr. trombone and band
Prayer and Dance of Praise. 1996. Viola and piano; arrs. for violin and cello
Will There Be a Time. 1996. Tuba, incl. dialogue
Festival Fanfare. 1997. Brass quintet; arr. brass and percussion
Secret: Melodrama for Tuba and Tape. 1998
Nation. 1998. Tuba and tape; arr. with chamber orchestra
Quartet for Horns. 1998
Diversions for Trombone Quartet. 1998
Aegean Perspective. 1999. Flute, clarinet, saxophone, tuba, and percussion, with narration (after Greek myths)
(W)right State of Mind. 2000. Saxophone and tape
Pantheon. 1999. Horn, violin, and piano
Sonata for Piano Four Hands. 2000
Romance for Tuba and Piano. 2000
Canzoni di Natali. 2000. Brass trio, violin, and organ
Wascana Park. 2001. Piano
Fast Lane. 2001. Organ
Duet and Burlesque. 2001. Violin, clarinet, and piano
Mutability. 2002. Piano
The Bushwakker Brewpub. 2002. Horn, clarinet, and piano; arr. clarinet, trumpet, and piano; arr. trumpet, horn, and piano; arr. clarinet, saxophone, and piano
Fantasy on Amazing Grace. 2002. Trumpet, clarinet, and piano
Sweet Dances. 2002. Tuba
Requiem for Wounded Knee. 2003. 2 tubas, narrator, and piano; arr. with orchestra
Freya. 2003. Violin and piano
Faustbuch. 2003. Euphonium and piano; arr. F tuba and piano
Four Elements for String Quartet. 2004
Mr. S.C. 2005. Tuba (or euphonium), saxophone quartet, vibraphone
Choral
Place of Beginnings. 1988. High-school chorus and string orchestra, with optional violin; arr. with piano
Four Medieval Songs. 1990. Chorus with brass quintet or piano
Posaune Oratorio. 1992. Based partly on the Bible. Chorus, soloists, organ, and trombone quartet
Symphony of Youth. 1993. Orchestra, stage band, concert chorus, and swing chorus
Little Dove. 1995. Chorus and piano; arr. women's chorus and piano
The Right Combination. 1995. Chorus and piano
Voices Raised. 1995. Men's chorus
Piano on the Prairie. 2004. Arrs. for SA, SSA, SAB, SATB, and TTBB
Capital Pontiac. 2005. Chamber chorus
Solo-Vocal
Four Songs from The Garden of Alice. 1983. High and medium male voices and piano
The Garden Song. 1983. From The Garden of Alice. Soprano and piano
A Hymn to God the Father (John Donne). 1983. Soprano and piano
The Passing (Emily Dickinson). 1983. Soprano or mezzo-soprano and piano
The Orphic Thread (John V. Hicks). 1984. Mezzo-soprano and woodwind quintet
Player Pianist (Priscilla Hallberg). 1984. Song cycle for soprano, violin, oboe, and marimba
Joke Aria from The Final Bid. 1984. Tenor and piano
Men I Have Known. 1984. Song cycle for mezzo-soprano and piano
A Poet's Day (Emily Schudel). 1984. Soprano, piano, and optional string bass
First and Gracious Sight (John V. Hicks). 1987. Tenor, oboe, and piano; or baritone, violin, and piano
Victims of Eagles (John V. Hicks). 1990. Tenor and piano
What Is Truth? 1990. Tenor and piano
Carol in Three-Three Time (John V. Hicks). 1992. Soprano and piano
The Golden Years. 1992. Voice and piano
Wait Until Morning. 1992, from Eos. Soprano and piano
River of Life. 1997. Soprano and piano
Dark Thoughts (Betsy Warland). 1998. Countertenor, clarinet, and piano
Renovated Rhymes (John V. Hicks). 1999. Soprano, viola (or violin), and piano
Sirens (after Greek myths). 2004. Two voices and piano
Music for young performers
Ballad to Saskatchewan. 1980. Unison children's chorus or SATB youth chorus and piano
Saskatchewan Mosaic. 1980. Children's chorus, piano, optional recorder trio and drum
The Seasons. 1980. Children's chorus and piano
T for Tuba. 1991. Professional and student versions solo tuba; arrs. for trombone and baritone
Barcarola. 1994. Flute or piccolo and piano
Flowers. 1994. Flute or oboe and piano
Canterbury Ayre. 1990. Woodwind quintet
Serenade à la Posthorn. 1995. Flute or oboe and piano
Ballad and Dance. 2001. Cello and piano
Three Easy Songs for Beginner Singer and Accompaniment. 2004
Six Easy Tunes for Beginner Piano. 2004