Avenger of the Week | Marga Richter, Composer

Composer Marga Richter, who passed away last month at the age of 93, was so determined to have her work showcased in a male-dominated field that she once rented a concert hall in New York, where her compositions were performed by the Drucker Trio, the Atlantic Quartet and others.

Although she had a successful career, Richter did not hold back about the inequality she and other women experienced in the field.

“Conductors or musicians see a woman’s name on a score, and they won’t look at the music”, she said in 1981. ”Like math and the sciences, music is supposed to be too rigorous for women. Oh, as musicians, we were allowed to play it if it was handed to us, but we weren’t supposed to write it ourselves.”

Richter did not favor the trend of concerts featuring women or minority composers. “We don’t want to be featured,” she said. “We want to be absorbed.”

A graduate of Juilliard, Florence Marga Richter wrote almost 200 compositions for orchestra, chorus, small ensembles and voice. Her works were performed by violinist Daniel Heifitz and for the Harkness Ballet and the Joffrey Ballet at Lincoln Center and by orchestras and ensembles nationally and internationally. The subject of a biography Marga Richter by Sharon Mirchandani, a professor at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, Richter has been described as “one of America’s preeminent musical matriarchs”.

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The @GenderAvenger #AvengerOfTheWeek is composer Marga Richter, who passed away last month at the age of 93. Of women in her male-dominated field: “We don’t want to be featured,” she said. “We want to be absorbed.” #GenderAvenger https://www.genderavenger.com/blog/avenger-of-the-week-marga-richter