Libby Larsen (born 1950)
Libby Larsen was born in Wilmington, Delaware, and grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her interest in music began with her family: Her father played the clarinet, her mother enjoyed boogie-woogie, and she became familiar with the piano when her older sister started taking lessons. She attended the University of Minnesota, eventually leading to a PhD in Theory and Composition in 1978.
Libby Larsen has composed operas, music for orchestras, choruses, chamber ensembles, and songs. Her music assimilates numerous influences but often has a particularly American sound, such as her 1979 Cowboy Songs:
The American sound is quite evident in her 1994 composition Slang for clarinet, violin, and piano:
About Slang, Libby Larsen has written:
Its title refers to the use of both jazz and boogie slang and twentieth-century “new music” slang throughout the composition. I got the idea for Slang while I was working on a ballet for the Ohio Ballet. I was thinking about our American culture with its vast array of musical languages. I’m fascinated by the idea that just as we have developed slang in our speaking language, we have also developed a lexicon of musical slang. This composition explores the idea, asking the performers to freely change performance styles as the musical language dictates.