Yardena Alotin facts for kids

Yardena Alotin (Hebrew: ירדנה אלוטין; born October 19, 1930, in Tel Aviv; died October 4, 1994, in New York City) was an Israeli composer and pianist. She was known for her beautiful music and for writing educational pieces for young musicians, like her Six Piano Pieces for Children. Yardena Alotin won the Nissimov Prize for her work Yefei Nof in 1956.

About Yardena Alotin

Yardena Alotin started playing the piano when she was just five years old. Her first teacher was Rivka Sharett-Hoz. She studied music at colleges in Tel Aviv from 1948 to 1952. Her teachers included famous musicians like Alexander Uriah Boskovich, Mordecai Seter, Paul Ben-Haim, Ilona Vincze-Kraus, and Ödön Pártos.

Her first important work was Yefei Nof (meaning 'Beautiful Landscape'). She wrote it in 1952 for a choir. This piece won the Nissimov Prize. It was first performed by the Rinat Choir in Tel Aviv and at a festival in Paris in 1956. In 1958, her Cantata for choir was performed at a music festival in Italy. Yardena Alotin wrote music for teaching and also for special requests. She rewrote Yefei Nof for solo flute in 1978 for the famous flutist James Galway. He played it often during his concerts. This version is now a well-known piece for flutists around the world. In 1984, she was asked to write a piece called Shir Chag (Holiday Song) for Tel Aviv's 75th birthday. From 1975 to 1976, Alotin was a special composer at Bar-Ilan University. During this time, she wrote her Sonata for cello. She also taught piano at the Israel Conservatory of Music in Tel Aviv. Yardena Alotin passed away in New York City on October 4, 1994, at 64 years old. She is buried in Yarkon Cemetery in Petah Tikva, Israel. In 1998, her husband, Yohanan Riverant, created a fund in her name to support Israeli music.

Her Music Style

Alotin wrote music for different groups of instruments and voices, including chamber music (for small groups), vocal music, piano music, and orchestral music (for large orchestras). Much of her music was inspired by religious stories and the Bible. She often used happy, flowing melodies and interesting, colorful sounds. Her music was influenced by older styles from the Renaissance and medieval times. She often used musical forms from the Baroque and Classical periods. Her music blended sounds from Eastern, Western, and Jewish traditions. She used many layers of sound in her music, where different parts play together. She also used rhythmic patterns that repeat, and changed rhythms and accents to make her music exciting.

List of Works

Here are some of the works composed by Yardena Alotin:

Orchestral Music

• Al Golah D'vuyah [A Suffering Diaspora], for mezzo-soprano and orchestra, 1958
  • Also known as The Painful Exile
  • First performed in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1987.
• Divertimento, for chamber orchestra (1992)

Vocal Music

• Yefeh Nof [Beautiful Landscape], (based on the Bible: Psalm 48), for choir (1952)
• Mishirey Hanachal [Songs of the Stream], for voice and piano (1954)
• Cantata, (based on the Bible: Psalms), for choir (1956)
• Hinneh Ma Tov [Behold, How Good], (Psalm 132), for choir (1965)
• 8 Songs for Children, for voice and piano (1970)
• Shir Chag [Holiday Song], (based on Bible texts), for choir (1984)
  • Also known as Festive Song
  • Written for Tel Aviv's 75th anniversary

Chamber Music

• Duets, for two violins (1954)
  • Used for teaching music.
• Kina Fuga [Lament Fugue], for string trio (1960)
• Sonata, for violin and piano (1960)
• String Quartet (1960)
• Sonatina, for violin or flute and piano (1970)
  • Used for teaching music.
• Sonata, for cello (1976)
  • This piece is full of energy and has witty, poetic moments.
• Yefeh Nof, for flute (1978)
• Trio, for violin, cello, and piano (1979)

Piano Music

• Passacaglia on a Bukharian Theme (1954)
• Six Piano Pieces for Children (1954) - these are teaching pieces, about 8 minutes long.
  1. An Odd Minuet
  2. Rondo in Old English Style
  3. Courante
  4. Another Odd Minuet
  5. Rondo
  6. Capriccino
• Three Preludes (1958) - also teaching pieces.
  1. Vivace
  2. Adagio
  3. Allegro buffo (toccata)
• Suite (1974)
• Sonatina (1985)