Louise Talma (1906–1996) Was Born in Arcachon, France, a Resort Town Near Bordeaux

Louise Talma (1906–1996) was born in Arcachon, France, a resort town near Bordeaux. Her father died while she was still a child, and her American mother moved with her daughter to New York City in the summer of 1914. An excellent science student, Talma studied chemistry at Columbia University while pursuing piano and composition studies at the Institute of Musical Art, the music academy that later became the Juilliard School of Music. Talma took courses there from 1922 until 1930, winning the Seligman Prize for composition in 1927, 1928, and 1929. She later earned her Bachelor of Music degree from New York University in 1931, and in 1933, an M.A. degree from Columbia.

During summers from 1926 to 1939, Talma traveled to Fontainebleau to study piano at the American Conservatory under Isidor Philipp, one of France's most renowned piano instructors, and composition under the rigorous training of Nadia Boulanger. By 1935, Boulanger had convinced Talma to focus exclusively on composition, and Talma's career truly took shape.

Talma's earliest compositions included Song of the Songless (1928); Three Madrigals (1928), a piece for voice and string quartet; Two Dances (1934); and a sacred work titled In principio erat verbum (1939). This composition won the Stovall Prize at the Fontainebleau School in both 1938 and 1939.

She wrote a myriad of vocal and chamber works, including La Corona (1955), an a cappella setting of seven sonnets of John Donne; A Time to Remember (1967), a work for three choirs and orchestra that features quotes of John F. Kennedy; and The Alcestiad (1958), an opera written in collaboration with Thornton Wilder. Her output of instrumental chamber music is prolific and varied. Her primary keyboard works include Alleluia in Form of Toccata (1945); Six Etudes (1954); Three Bagatelles (1955); Passacaglia and Fugue (1962); a five-movement study in Textures (1977); and Kaleidoscopic Variations (1984) Interview with Louise Talma: https://www.bruceduffie.com/talma.html

Listen: Alleluia in Form of Toccata (1945) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMwL3goJMek

Let's Touch the Sky for choir, flute, oboe & bassoon (1952) Louise Talma - Let's Touch the Sky (1952) - YouTube

Six Etudes for piano (1954) Louise Talma: Six Etudes for piano (Beveridge Webster, pianist) - YouTube

Seven Episodes for flute, viola & piano (1987) Seven Episodes for flute, viola, & piano - YouTube