“You Too Can Compose”

Abstract

This article offers a detailed explication of the relationship between Ruth Crawford and Vivian Fine, who was Crawford’s composition student in the 1920s. Drawing on work by feminist scholars such as hooks, Heilbrun, and Miller, I focus on the connections between gender and modernism in two different aspects of the Crawford/Fine relationship: mentoring and musical style. Closer examination reveals valuable insights not only into the gendered implications of the affectionate, empathetic relationship that the two women created and sustained, but also the impact that Crawford’s mentoring had on Fine’s development and emergence as an atonal composer. A case study analysis of Fine’sLittle Suite for Voice and Piano, written just after Fine’s studies with Crawford, helps to elucidate the structural and stylistic connections between the two composers. A recording ofLittle Suite, which is only available in manuscript and has not been performed since 1931, was also prepared as part of this article.