Margaret Vardell Sandresky
{{Short description|American composer}}
Margaret Ferrell Vardell Sandresky (born 28 April 1921) is an American composer, organist and teacher. She was still composing on her 100th birthday.{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Aaron I. |title=International encyclopedia of women composers. 2: Sai - Zyb, Appendices |date=1987 |publisher=Books & Music |isbn=978-0-9617485-1-7 |edition=2. ed., revised and enl |location=New York |pages=615}}{{Cite news |date=2 Jan 1957 |title=Margaret Ferrell Vardell Weds Clemens Sandresky |pages=5 |work=Asheville Citizen-Times}}{{Cite book |last=Stern |first=Susan |title=Women composers: a handbook |date=1978 |publisher=the Scarecrow press |isbn=978-0-8108-1138-6 |location=Metuchen London |pages=147}} She was a founding member of the Society for Music Theory (SMT) as well as its first female contributor.
Biography
Sandresky was born in Macon, Georgia, to a musical family. Her grandmother Linda Rumple Vardell founded the Conservatory of Music at Flora MacDonald College, where her grandfather Charles Graves Vardell also taught. Sandresky’s father Charles Gildersleeve Vardell was a composer and the dean of music at Salem College. Her mother had a degree in piano and voice.{{Cite web |last=Exchange |first=Laurinburg |date=2019-03-04 |title=Vardell name, history exist with Margaret Vardell Sandresky |url=https://www.laurinburgexchange.com/news/23274/vardell-name-history-exist-with-margaret-vardell-sandresky |access-date=2023-07-29 |website=Laurinburg Exchange}}{{Cite web |last=Sandresky |first=Margaret Vardell |date=2010-07-01 |title=Fluent in Music |url=https://www.ourstate.com/margaret-sandresky-fluent-in-music/ |access-date=2023-07-29 |website=Our State Magazine}}
Sandresky’s first organ lessons were with her father. She earned a BM from Salem College in 1942 and a MM from the Eastman School of Music in 1944, then got a Fulbright scholarship to study at the Hochschule für Musik in Frankfurt, Germany in 1955. Sandresky’s teachers included Harold Gleason, Howard Hanson, Kurt Hessenberg, Bernard Rogers, and Helmut Walcha. She married Clemens Sandresky in December 1956 and they had three children. {{Cite web |title=Sandresky, Margaret Vardell – Volume 2, The Organ Music of Margaret Vardell Sandresky, Solo Organ |url=https://theleupoldfoundation.org/product/the-organ-music-of-margaret-sandresky-vol-ii-solo-organ/ |access-date=2023-07-29 |website=The Leupold Foundation}} {{Cite book |last=Heinrich |first=Adel |title=Organ and harpsichord music by women composers: an annotated catalog |date=1991 |publisher=Greenwood Pr |isbn=978-0-313-26802-1 |edition=1. publ |series=Music reference collection |location=New York |page=319}}
Sandresky taught at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the University of Texas at Austin, the North Carolina School of the Arts, and the Salem Academy and College.{{Cite web |title=Audio archives recount early days of music theorist, alumna Margaret Vardell Sandresky {{!}} Salem College |url=https://www.salem.edu/news/2014/10/audio-archives-recount-early-days-music-theorist-alumna-margaret-vardell-sandresky |access-date=2023-07-29 |website=www.salem.edu}} {{Cite book |last=Anderson |first=Ruth |title=Contemporary American composers: a biographical dictionary |last2=Anderson |first2=E. Ruth |date=1976 |publisher=Hall |isbn=978-0-8161-1117-6 |location=Boston, Mass |pages=380}} She served as the organist at Home Moravian Church, First Baptist Church, and Centenary Methodist Church in Winston-Salem.
Sandresky cofounded the North Carolina Composers Symposium and was a founding member of the SMT. She was the first woman in SMT’s history to present at its National Conference of Music Theory and the first woman to publish in its official journal, the Music Theory Spectrum. In 2006, she received the Sam Ragan Award for service to music in the state of North Carolina. She also received the American Guild of Organists Distinguished Composer Award. {{Cite web |last=Sandresky |first=Margaret Vardell |title=Sandresky Collection |url=https://moravianmusic.org/wp-content/uploads/Sandresky-Collection-1.pdf |access-date=28 July 2023 |website=Moravian Music}}
Sandresky has received commissions from the American Guild of Organists, the National Endowment for the Arts, the North Carolina Arts Council, the North Carolina Music Teachers Association, and the Reynolda House Museum of American Art.
Sandresky noted that she has been heavily influenced by the Moravian Church music she heard in her childhood. The Moravian Music Foundation houses the Margaret Vardell Sandresky Collection. Her music has been published by Belwin Mills, Brodt Music Company, H. W. Gray Publishing Company, Hildegarde Press, Paraclete Press, and Wayne Leupold Editions.{{Cite web |title=Sandresky, Margaret Vardell Archives |url=https://paracletesheetmusic.com/composer/margaret-vardell-sandresky/ |access-date=2023-07-29 |website=Paraclete Press Sacred Music}}{{Cite book |last=Stewart-Green |first=Miriam |title=Women composers: A checklist of works for the solo voice |date=1980 |publisher=Hall |isbn=978-0-8161-8498-9 |series=A reference publication in women's studies |location=Boston, Mass |page=63}} Her compositions include:
Chamber
Keyboard
Orchestra
Vocal
- Come Gracious Spirit (chorus and organ)
- Jericho Cantata (chorus and piano)
- King of Glory, King of Peace (unison voices)
- “Marie Brunette”
- “My Heart's in the Highlands”
- “My Soul doth Magnify the Lord” (soprano and organ)
- Psalm 92 (chorus and organ)
- To the Chief Musician: A New Song (soprano, flute, piano and percussion)
- Two Italian Songs (chorus and handbells)
- Windows Cantata (women’s voices, organ and harp)
References
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External links
- [https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=margaret+vardell+sandresky Listen to music by Margaret Vardell Sandresky.]
- [http://societymusictheory.org/archives/audio Hear Sandresky’s audio recollections.]
- [https://moravianmusic.org/wp-content/uploads/Sandresky-Collection-1.pdf See the Margaret Vardell Sandresky Collection at the Moravian Music Foundation.]
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Category:20th-century American women composers
Category:21st-century American women composers
Category:Musicians from Macon, Georgia
Category:North Carolina School of the Arts faculty
Category:University of Texas at Austin faculty
Category:American music theorists