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Chinaman, Laundryman
"Chinaman, Laundryman" is a song composed by Ruth Crawford Seeger. The song depicts the exploitation of an immigrant Chinese laundry worker. In 1932 Ruth Crawford Seeger composed two songs for a commission from the Society of Contemporary Music in Philadelphia, which she called ''Two Ricercari''. The first, ''Sacco, Vanzetti'' is a tribute to the infamous executions of the two Italian people, Italian Anarchists after whom the piece is named, in Massachusetts. The second, ''Chinaman, Laundryman,'' depicts the exploitation of an immigrant Chinese people, Chinese laundry worker. Both are settings of politically militant poems written in 1928 by a young Chinese author, H.T. Tsiang.Hua Hsu, 'The Remarkable Forgotten Life of H.T. Tsiang',''The New Yorker,'' 14 July 201/ref> When she wrote the songs, Crawford was a member of the Composer’s Collective in New York City, a group under the control of the American Communist Party, which sought to enlist art in the service of politics. Chinam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ruth Crawford Seeger
Ruth Crawford Seeger (born Ruth Porter Crawford; July 3, 1901 – November 18, 1953) was an American composer and folk music specialist. Her music was a prominent exponent of the emerging modernist aesthetic and she became a central member of a group of American composers known as the "ultramoderns". Though she composed primarily during the 1920s and 1930s, Seeger turned towards studies on folk music from the late 1930s until her death. Her music influenced later composers, particularly Elliott Carter. Childhood Ruth Crawford was born in East Liverpool, Ohio, the second child of Clark Crawford, a Methodist minister, and Clara Crawford (''née'' Graves). The family moved several times during Crawford's childhood, living in Akron, Ohio, St. Louis, Missouri, and Muncie, Indiana. In 1912, the family moved to Jacksonville, Florida, where Clark Crawford died of tuberculosis two years later. After her husband's death, Clara Crawford opened a boarding house and struggled to maintain her f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
