Ivana Marburger Themmen

American composer and pianist

Ivana Themmen
Born	Ivana Marburger Themmen (1935-04-07) April 7, 1935 (age 88) New York City, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Composer, pianist
Spouse	Harold B. Themmen
Children	3, including Paris Themmen
Relatives	Susan Blu (daughter-in-law)^[1]

Ivana Marburger Themmen (born April 7, 1935) is an American composer and pianist,^[2]^[3] whose Concerto for Guitar was a finalist in the 1982 Kennedy Center Friedheim Composition Competition.^[4]^[5]

Career

Themmen was born on April 7, 1935, in New York City, where she began studying piano at age 7. She attended the New England Conservatory of Music, where she met and married Harold B. Themmen.^[6] They had three children, Paris, Allegra, and Tania.^[7] Tania is married to voice actress Susan Blu.^[8]

In addition to the New England Conservatory, Themmen studied in Europe, at the Eastman School of Music, and at the Tanglewood Music Center. Her teachers included Francis Judd Cooke, Nicolas Flagello, Lukas Foss, Carl McKinley, Jean Rosenblum, and Otto Schulhof.^[5] She corresponded with Eugene Ormandy.^[9]

Themmen taught at the Hampton Conservatory and also worked as an accompanist for the American Ballet Theatre. She received grants from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Queens Symphony, and the New York State Council on the Arts.^[5]

Themmen belonged to the National Association of Composers, USA (NACUSA).^[10] Her music was published by Lyra Music Company.^[5] and Cor Publishing Company/Wiltshire Music.^[11]

Discography

Chamber music

Circles (flute, French horn and piano)
Concept V (clarinet and viola)^[11]
Concepts (two violas or clarinet and viola)^[5]
Duets (flute and bass clarinet)^[5]
Fanfares (three trumpets)^[5]
For Two Trombones^[5]
Green Willow: A Japanese Fairy Tale (narrator, chamber ensemble, and optional dancers)^[5]
Little Etudes (three trumpets)^[5]
Montages (harp)^[5]
Music for Friends, Perhaps (piano, clarinet, violin, viola and cello)^[5]
Piece (flute and piano)^[5]
Quintet (flute, clarinet, horn, violin and cello)^[5]
Sextet^[5]
Sonata (cello and piano)^[5]
Ten Cantos (two French horns)^[12]
Tetrachiron (piano four hands)^[5]
Wind Game (saxophone quartet)^[5]

Opera

Lucian (libretto by Norman Simon)^[13]

Orchestra

Concerto for Guitar^[6]
Concerto for Trombone^[5]
Cupid & Psyche (violin and orchestra)^[14]
Fasching^[9]
Triptych^[5]

Vocal

Magnificat (chorus and orchestra)^[5]
Mystic Trumpeter (song cycle; text by Walt Whitman)^[9]
"Ode to Akhmatova" (medium voice and piano; text by Anna Andreevna Akhmatova)^[15]
Requiem (chorus and orchestra)^[5]
Shelter this Candle from the Wind (soprano and orchestra; text by Edna St. Vincent Millay)^[5]

References

^ Fury, Sol (September 8, 2013). "Congratulations Sue Blu and Garry Chalk!". TFW2005. Retrieved September 13, 2022.
^ McLellan, Joseph (September 26, 1982). "Remember Music You Could Hum?". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 13, 2022.
^ American Woman Composers News, Volume 1, Issues 2-3
^ Tuck, Lon (October 4, 1982). "Pone's 'Avanti!' Wins Friedman Prize". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 13, 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w Cohen, Aaron I. (1987). International encyclopedia of women composers (Second, revised and enlarged ed.). New York. ISBN 0-9617485-2-4. OCLC 16714846.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ ^a ^b Ivana Marburger Themmen discography at Discogs
^ Fanfare Magazine, Volume 6, Issues 3-4, 1983, page 276
^ Peeples, Jase (July 18, 2014). "Susan Blu: Transformation of an Animation Icon". Advocate. Retrieved September 13, 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Themmen, Ivana Marburger – Works". WorldCat. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
^ Ericson, Raymond (1977-06-23). "Music: National Composers Association's Debut Attracts and Repels". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-07-27.
^ ^a ^b "Themmen, Ivana Marburger_Concept V". CAMco. Retrieved 2021-07-27.
^ Lin Foulk Baird. "Works with horn by female composers". www.linfoulk.org. Retrieved 2021-07-27.
^ Borroff, Edith (1992). American Operas : A Checklist. J. Bunker Clark. Warren, Michigan: Harmonie Park Press. ISBN 0-89990-063-1. OCLC 26809841.
^ Broeker, Tobias (2016). The 20th century violin concertante – A repertoire catalogue of the compositions for violin concertante written between 1894 and 2006. Broeker. ISBN 978-3-00-050001-5.
^ Stewart-Green, Miriam (1980). Women composers : a checklist of works for the solo voice. Boston, Massachusetts: G.K. Hall. ISBN 0-8161-8498-4. OCLC 6815939.