Margaret Buechner (May 27, 1922 – June 8, 1998) was a German-born American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

. Born in

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

, she emigrated to the United States in 1951 and became an American

citizen Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

in 1961. Her works include the ballets ''Phantomgreen'' and ''Elizabeth'', along with tone poems ''The Old Swedes Church'' and ''Erlkönig'' (based on the Goethe poem). Other major works are two related to her adopted country: ''Liberty Bell'' for chorus and orchestra, which incorporates a 1959 recording of the actual bell by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

, and the "symphonic trilogy" ''The American Civil War''. She died in

Midland, Michigan Midland is a city in and the county seat of Midland County, Michigan. The city's population was 42,547 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Midland Micropolitan Statistical Area, part of the larger Saginaw-Midland-Bay City Comb ...

, at the age of 76.

External links

Nord-Disc Record Company
publisher of Buechner's music 1922 births 1998 deaths American women composers German emigrants to the United States People from Midland, Michigan 20th-century American composers Musicians from Michigan Musicians from Hanover 20th-century American women musicians 20th-century American musicians 20th-century women composers {{US-composer-20thC-stub