Composers
male mandolinists such as Ferdinando
de Cristofaro who was also their
first conductor) and transcriptions
of orchestral favourites, and the
performances were enthusiastically
reviewed in national press. By early
1890s dozens of similar all-female
bands were being formed in London
(and hundreds more throughout
Britain), but the band formed by Clara
Ross was unique because its repertoire
consisted almost entirely of her own
music. During early 1890s Clara’s
band (consisting of twenty female
mandolinists and guitarists) regularly
performed her compositions in the
most fashionable parts of London, and
several new pieces were published each
year by Turner.
The mystery of why Clara’s name
is largely absent from British mandolin
literature was solved when I found she
had emigrated to US in 1895 to marry
a man she met as a student. As Clara
Ross Ricci she settled in Wheeling VA
and became well-known there as a
singing teacher and composer for voice
and piano, although she continued to
send mandolin compositions back to
London for publication (Turner kept
issuing new works by Clara until about
1903). She returned to Britain before
WW2 (after her husband’s death)
settling in her native Brighton where
she died in 1954.
A fuller account of her life can be
found in articles listed below although
I still have much to discover about the
career and music of this pioneering
woman composer. So far I have
obtained copies of about 30 of her
pieces for mandolin and piano (often
also arranged for two mandolins and
guitar), and about 25 of her songs and
trios for women’s voices and piano, but
as yet I have not located the following
pieces:
Cavatina (pub. G. White, 1890);
Caprice (publisher unknown, 1891); Il
lamento and Chanson d’Amour (pub.
G. White, 1893); Venezia, Entr’acte
(pub. W. Paxton, date unknown); Dawn
(Turner no. 143, 1895, I have the main
piece, but not the ‘mandolin prelude’);
Pas de Cymbales (Turner no. 186);
Crepuscule (Turner no. 256); Vie d’une
fleur (Turner no. 352); La Gioventu
(Turner no. 397); Danse Pastorale
(Turner no. 434); Clara Ross’ Barcarolle
(Turner no. 436); Arioso (Turner no.
462); A Memory (Turner no. 464);
Danse de la Reine (Turner no. 493);
Sonnet d’Amour (Turner no. 521);
Poesies Musicales (Turner no. 526);
Pensées (Turner no. 545).
If anyone reading this has a copy of any
of these missing pieces I would be very
pleased to hear from them (contact
Sandra Woodruff 0117 9672296 or
[email protected]).
My future plans include setting up
a web site devoted to Clara’s music
consisting of biographical material,
complete list of her compositions
and performances of her music. And
as