Stringfield, Lamar

Composed 1927. First performance Washington, DC, 14 February 1928, the Washington National Opera Association, the composer conducting.--Cf. Fleisher Collection.

Composed 1924 as No. 1 of Indian Sketches, originally for flute and sting quartet. Orchestrated 1924. First performance New York, 6 March 1927, Sunday Symphonic society, Josiah Zuro conductor. Awarded part of the Seligman Prize given by the Institute of Musical Art, New York, 1924. Themes used in the work are derived from the "Green Corn Dance" and "Medicine Man" melodies of the Cherokee Indians of North Carolina.--Cf. Fleisher Collection.

Composer of symphonic works based on American folklore, and Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship winner, conductor, flutist, teacher, and promoter of local and regional musical groups, chiefly in North Carolina.

Composed 1937, as one movement of the suite From the Blue Ridge. First performance New York, 1939, WOR Symphony Orchestra, Morton Gould conductor.--Cf. Fleisher Collection.

Lamar Stringfield was born in 1898 and began studying flute in Asheville, N.C. After a year, he continued his study in New York City under George Barrere, Percy Goetschius, Franklin Robinson, and George Wedge. Stringfield also studied composition in Paris, France, with Nadia Boulanger in 1928 before returning to New York City to conduct and perform with music ensembles and symphony orchestras until 1930. In 1928, Stringfield won the Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship for his composition From the Southern Mountains. . He returned to North Carolina, organizing and directing the North Carolina Symphony, 1932-1935, followed by serving as associate conductor at Radio City Music Hall in New York, N.Y., 1938-1939. Stringfield lectured on American folk music at Juilliard Summer School in New York City, 1939-1941, and taught composition and orchestration at Claremont College in the summer of 1942. After serving as musical director of the Knoxville Symphony in Tennessee, 1946-1947, Stringfield once again returned to North Carolina, conducting the Symphonette of Charlotte and acting as musical director of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, 1948-1949. He died in 1959.

Lamar Stringfield (1897-1959) of North Carolina was a composer of symphonic works based on American folklore, Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship winner, conductor, flutist, teacher, and promoter of local and regional musical groups, chiefly in North Carolina.

Stringfield studied the flute for a year in Asheville, N.C., and then in New York, where he studied under George Barrere, Percy Goetschius, Franklin Robinson, and George Wedge. He studied composition in Paris, France with Nadia Boulanger in 1928, and conducting with Chalmers Clifton and Henry Hadley. He received the Pulitizer Traveling Fellowship award for From the Southern Mountains in 1928; played and conducted with music ensembles and symphony orchestras in New York until 1930; promoted the organization of the Institute of Folk Music the University of North Carolina in 1930; organized and directed the North Carolina Symphony, 1932-1935; was associate conductor, Radio City Music Hall, 1938-1939; was a lecturer on American folk music at Juilliard Summer School, 1939-1941; taught composition and orchestration at Claremeont College, summer 1942; was musical director of the Knoxville Symphony, 1946-1947; was conductor of the Symphonette of Charlotte, 1948-1949; and was musical director of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, 1948-1949.