Louise Spizizen facts for kids

Louise Fleur Meyers Schlesinger Spizizen (born August 24, 1928, died July 2, 2010) was an American musician with many talents. She was a composer, a music critic, and played both the harpsichord and piano. She was also a singer. Today, she is best known for her research and her belief that pianist Johana Harris actually wrote some music that was published under her husband's name, Roy Harris.

Early Life and Education

Louise Spizizen was born in Lynn, Massachusetts. Her parents were Lillian Gordon and Louis Samuel Meyers. She grew up in Kansas City, Missouri. Louise studied music at Vassar College and the University of California, San Diego. She learned from many great teachers, including Robert Erickson, Kenneth Galburo, Gustav Leonhardt, and Roslyn Tureck.

Family Life

In 1948, Louise married Eugene Richard Schlesinger. They had three sons and one daughter before they divorced. Later, in 1969, she married Dr. John Spizizen.

Her Career and Contributions

Louise Spizizen had many different jobs in music. From 1949 to 1952, she was the music director for Interplayers Inc. in New York. She also worked as a singer and accompanist for the Westchester County Civic Opera. From 1959 to 1965, she sang, played instruments, and composed for the Madrigal Singers in Westport, Connecticut. She also sang and played for the First Unitarian Church in Westport.

Besides these jobs, Louise taught music to students privately and at the University of California. She wrote many music reviews and articles for newspapers like the La Jolla Light and the Los Angeles Times. She also wrote for music journals. Louise performed as an accompanist, harpsichordist, or singer with groups like the Arizona Opera and the San Diego Symphony.

Louise loved to share music with everyone. She started free lunchtime concerts in public places like shopping malls in San Diego and Tucson. She also helped create the Arizona Early Music Society and was its president. She co-founded the Basically Baroque Symposium at the University of California San Diego. Louise received special music projects from the Westport Madrigal Singers. She also won an award from Vassar College in 1946 for her musical comedy called Sweep It Clean.

Her Research on Johana Harris

For the last ten years of her life, Louise Spizizen worked on a book about the pianist Johana Harris. Louise strongly believed that Johana Harris had actually composed some of the music that was published under her husband, Roy Harris's, name. Sadly, Louise passed away before she could finish the book. Her letters with the famous author and composer Nicolas Slonimsky are kept in the Library of Congress.

Her Music and Writings

Louise Spizizen's music was published by Theodore Presser Co. Here are some of her works:

Articles and Lectures

• Johana and Roy Harris: Marrying a Real Composer (published in Musical Quarterly, 1993)
• Johana and Roy Harris: Whose Music is it, Anyhow? (presented at a College Music Society Conference, 1996)
• The Composer of Area Code 714 (published in Applause: San Diego Magazine of the Arts, 1978)

Ballet

• Birthday of the Infanta (for harpsichord, chamber orchestra, and piano)

Harpsichord Music

• Realizations of pieces by composers like Heinrich Biber, Johan Friedrich Fasch, Jean-Marie Leclair, and Pietro Locatelli
• Teaching pieces for students

Theatre Music

• Six scores for Invisible Theatre productions
• Sweep It Clean (a musical comedy)

Vocal Music

• Sacred Service for Reformed Jewish Congregation (for women’s voices and organ)
• Three Games for Ten Players (for string quintet and chorus)
• Three Rounds for Mothers (for a chorus singing without instruments)
• Weary with Toil (for a chorus singing without instruments)