Detail from a portrait of Ruggles taken in Minnesota, c. 1911
Born
(1876-03-11)March 11, 1876
Marion, Massachusetts, USA
Died
October 24, 1971(1971-10-24) (aged 95)
Bennington, Vermont, USA
Occupations
Composer
painter
teacher
violinist
Notable work
Men and Mountains (1924) Sun-Treader (1926–31)
Spouse
Charlotte Snell
(m. 1906; died 1957)
Children
1 (Micah Ruggles)
Signature
Carl Ruggles (born Charles Sprague Ruggles; March 11, 1876 – October 24, 1971) was an American composer, painter and teacher. His pieces employed "dissonant counterpoint", a term coined by fellow composer and musicologist Charles Seeger to describe Ruggles' music. His method of atonal counterpoint was based on a non-serial technique of avoiding repeating a pitch class until a generally fixed number of eight pitch classes intervened. He is considered a founder of the ultramodernist movement of American composers that included Henry Cowell and Ruth Crawford Seeger, among others. He had no formal musical education, yet was an extreme perfectionist—writing music at a painstakingly slow rate and leaving behind a very small output.
Famous for his prickly personality, Ruggles was nonetheless close friends with Cowell, Seeger, Edgard Varèse, Charles Ives, and the painter Thomas Hart Benton. His students include the experimental composers James Tenney and Merton Brown. Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas has championed Ruggles' music, recording the complete works with the Buffalo Philharmonic and occasionally performing Sun-Treader with the San Francisco Symphony. Especially later in life, Ruggles was also a prolific painter, selling hundreds of paintings during his lifetime.
CarlRuggles (born Charles Sprague Ruggles; March 11, 1876 – October 24, 1971) was an American composer, painter and teacher. His pieces employed "dissonant...
Deaths of: Igor Stravinsky Duane Allman Louis Armstrong Jim Morrison CarlRuggles Notable releases: Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin IV David Bowie – Hunky...
150. New York: Oxford University Press. Harrison, Lou. 1946. About CarlRuggles. Yonkers, N.Y.: Oscar Baradinsky at the Alicat Bookshop. Nattiez, Jean-Jacques...
composition with Chou Wen-chung, Lionel Nowak, Paul Boepple, Henry Brant, CarlRuggles, Kenneth Gaburo, John Cage, Harry Partch, and Edgard Varèse. He also...
Stravinsky as well as his pioneering work with the music of Charles Ives, CarlRuggles, Steve Reich, John Cage, Ingolf Dahl, Morton Feldman, George Gershwin...
friends from the "hillbilly" recording industry; and avant-garde composers CarlRuggles and Henry Cowell. It was at one of Benton's parties that Pete heard "John...
Louis Bachelier, French mathematician and theorist (d. 1946) 1876 – CarlRuggles, American composer and painter (d. 1971) 1880 – Harry H. Laughlin, American...
include Charles Ives, Charles and Ruth Crawford Seeger, Henry Cowell, CarlRuggles, and John Becker. The New York School was an informal group of American...
include Johanna Beyer, John Cage, Ruth Crawford-Seeger, Vivian Fine, CarlRuggles, Henry Cowell, Carlos Chávez, John J. Becker, Henry Brant, Lou Harrison...
independently in the works of Alexander Scriabin, Igor Stravinsky, Béla Bartók, CarlRuggles, and others. "Essentially, Schoenberg and Hauer systematized and defined...
of Charles Ives and other American "ultramodernists", including CarlRuggles. Carl’s music until 1997 tends to explore different styles, and to create...
Massachusetts) was an American composer who studied with Wallingford Riegger and CarlRuggles. He often collaborated with choreographers including former Martha Graham...
(1956–57) Ottorino Respighi: Ancient Airs and Dances, Suite No. 3 (1932) CarlRuggles: Portals Aulis Sallinen: Aspects of the Funeral March of Hintriki Peltoniemi...
Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné, was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised...
ulcer) October 13 – Benito Canónico, Venezuelan composer, 77 October 24 – CarlRuggles, composer, 95 October 29 – Duane Allman of The Allman Brothers Band,...
1587) Giovanni Maria Ruggieri (c. 1665 – c. 1725) CarlRuggles (1876–1971) Jake Runestad (born 1986) Carl Friedrich Rungenhagen (1778–1851) Conrad Rupsch...
the Stieglitz group, "Affirm America", Copland found only the music of CarlRuggles and Charles Ives upon which to draw. Without what Copland called a "usable...
and scores in the United States, including the papers of Charles Ives, CarlRuggles, Quincy Porter, Horatio Parker, Virgil Thomson, Clarence Watters, Richard...
Poland; Carl Maria von Weber and Heinrich Marschner in Germany; Edvard Grieg in Norway; Jean Sibelius in Finland; Giuseppe Verdi in Italy; Carl Nielsen...
for Flute and Piano Ottorino Respighi – Pines of Rome (I Pini di Roma) CarlRuggles – Men and Mountains Erik Satie – Relâche (ballet) Jean Sibelius – Symphony...
Rosner (1945–2013) Christopher Rouse (1949–2019) David Ruffin (1941–1991) CarlRuggles (1876–1971) Jake Runestad (born 1986) Craig Russell (born 1951) George...
Edgar Evans, Welsh naval seaman and polar explorer (d. 1912) March 11 – CarlRuggles, American composer (d. 1971) March 15 – Óscar R. Benavides, 67th and...
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