Libby Larsen

Comfortable and skilled in writing for all types of musical ensembles, Libby Larsen's vocal works are her most popular and most notable compositions.

Photo: Libby Larsen, LibbyLarsen.com

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    About

    A native of Wilmington, Delaware, Libby Larsen studied with Dominick Argento at the University of Minnesota. As stated by Mary Ann Feldman in the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, “…Although she [Larsen] has written abundantly for orchestras and mixed ensembles, she is attracted in particular to the qualities of the voice – in this she betrays the influence of Argento.” Besides her excellent song cycles (including Sonnets to the Portugese with text by Elizabeth Barrett Browning), Larsen’s more adventurous compositions include a cantata about Eleanor Roosevelt, as well as a multi-movement cycle entitled Mary Cassatt (1844–1926), which is performed with projections of Cassatt’s paintings. She has also written over 12 operas and has a catalogue of over 400 works.

    Larsen is also an advocate for women in the field of music, and was the first woman to hold a residency with a major orchestra (Minnesota Orchestra, 1983-1986). She is also a great advocate for music education. In her search to bring new music out of academia, she co-founded the Minnesota Composers Forum in 1973 (now called the American Composers Forum). Her prominence in the 1980s and 1990s earned her a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship as well as a Grammy Award (1994).

    –Christie Finn

    Related Information

    Songs

    A Man Can Love Two Women

    Libby Larsen

    Calamity Jane

    Song Collection: Songs From Letters

    A Pig in the House

    Libby Larsen

    A Working Woman

    Libby Larsen

    Calamity Jane

    Song Collection: Songs From Letters

    All I Have

    Libby Larsen

    Calamity Jane

    Song Collection: Songs From Letters

    Ántonia

    Libby Larsen

    Willa Cather

    Song Collection: My Ántonia

    Ántonia in the Field...

    Libby Larsen

    Willa Cather

    Song Collection: My Ántonia

    Before Winter

    Libby Larsen

    Beloved, Thou Hast Brought Me Many Flowers

    Song Collection

    Libby Larsen

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning

    H. D.

    Beloved, Thou Hast Brought Me Many Flowers

    Libby Larsen

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning

    Song Collection: Beloved, Thou Hast Brought Me Many Flowers

    Beneath the Hawthorne Tree

    Libby Larsen

    Willa Cather

    Song Collection: Margaret Songs

    Billy the Kid

    Libby Larsen

    Song Collection: Three Cowboy Songs

    Bind Me - I Still Can Sing

    Libby Larsen

    Song Collection: Chanting to Paradise

    Boy's Lips

    Libby Larsen

    Rita Dove

    Song Collection: Love After 1950

    Bright Rails

    Libby Larsen

    Willa Cather

    Song Collection: Margaret Songs

    Bucking Bronco

    Libby Larsen

    Belle Starr

    Song Collection: Three Cowboy Songs

    By a Departing Light

    Libby Larsen

    Emily Dickinson

    Song Collection: Chanting to Paradise

    Center Field Girl

    Libby Larsen

    Chain of Hope

    Song Collection

    Libby Larsen

    Chanting to Paradise

    Song Collection

    Libby Larsen

    Emily Dickinson

    Conversation in Avila

    Libby Larsen

    Phyllis McGinley

    Song Collection: Saints Without Tears

    Donal Oge

    Libby Larsen

    Eleanor Roosevelt

    Song Collection

    Libby Larsen

    Far in a Western Brookland

    Libby Larsen

    A. E. Housman

    Go From Me

    Libby Larsen

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning

    Song Collection: Beloved, Thou Hast Brought Me Many Flowers

    He Never Misses

    Libby Larsen

    Calamity Jane

    Song Collection: Songs From Letters

    Hell's Belles

    Song Collection

    Libby Larsen

    How Do I Love Thee?

    Libby Larsen

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning

    Song Collection: Sonnets From the Portuguese

    I Thought Once How Theocritus...

    Libby Larsen

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning

    Song Collection: Sonnets From the Portuguese

    If I Leave All For Thee

    Libby Larsen

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning

    Song Collection: Sonnets From the Portuguese

    In This Short Life

    Lori Laitman

    Emily Dickinson

    Jazz at the Intergalactic Nightclub

    Libby Larsen

    Landscape - From the Train

    Libby Larsen

    Willa Cather

    Song Collection: My Ántonia

    Landscape II - Winter

    Libby Larsen

    Willa Cather

    Song Collection: My Ántonia

    Landscape III - Prairie Spring

    Libby Larsen

    Willa Cather

    Song Collection: My Ántonia

    Landscape IV - Sunset

    Libby Larsen

    Willa Cather

    Song Collection: My Ántonia

    Late in the Day

    Song Collection

    Libby Larsen

    Lift Me Into Heaven Slowly

    Libby Larsen

    Robert Creeley

    Song Collection: Three Cowboy Songs

    Love After 1950

    Song Collection

    Libby Larsen

    Rita Dove

    Margaret Songs

    Song Collection

    Libby Larsen

    Willa Cather

    Me (Brenda Ueland)

    Song Collection

    Libby Larsen

    My Letters!

    Libby Larsen

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning

    Song Collection: Sonnets From the Portuguese

    My Ántonia

    Song Collection

    Libby Larsen

    Willa Cather

    Oh, Yes!

    Libby Larsen

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning

    Song Collection: Sonnets From the Portuguese

    Out of Sight?

    Libby Larsen

    Emily Dickinson

    Song Collection: Chanting to Paradise

    Paterfamilias

    Libby Larsen

    Phyllis McGinley

    Song Collection: Saints Without Tears

    Perineo

    Libby Larsen

    Raspberry Island Dreaming

    Song Collection

    Libby Larsen

    Saints Without Tears

    Song Collection

    Libby Larsen

    Phyllis McGinley

    Sifting Through the Ruins

    Song Collection

    Libby Larsen

    Anonymous

    So Like Your Father's

    Libby Larsen

    Calamity Jane

    Song Collection: Songs From Letters

    So Little There

    Libby Larsen

    Willa Cather

    Song Collection: Margaret Songs

    Song

    Libby Larsen

    E. E. Cummings

    Songs From Letters

    Song Collection

    Libby Larsen

    Calamity Jane

    Songs of Light and Love

    Song Collection

    Libby Larsen

    Sonnet from Assisi

    Libby Larsen

    Phyllis McGinley

    Song Collection: Saints Without Tears

    Sonnets From the Portuguese

    Song Collection

    Libby Larsen

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning

    Take

    Libby Larsen

    The Apple's Song

    Libby Larsen

    The Giveaway

    Libby Larsen

    Phyllis McGinley

    Song Collection: Saints Without Tears

    The Hired Girls

    Libby Larsen

    Willa Cather

    Song Collection: My Ántonia

    The Temptations of St. Anthony

    Libby Larsen

    Phyllis McGinley

    Song Collection: Saints Without Tears

    Three Cowboy Songs

    Song Collection

    Libby Larsen

    Anonymous

    Robert Creeley

    Belle Starr

    Three Love Songs

    Song Collection

    Libby Larsen

    White World

    Libby Larsen

    H. D.

    Song Collection: Beloved, Thou Hast Brought Me Many Flowers

    With the Same Heart, I Said, I'll Answer Thee

    Libby Larsen

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning

    Song Collection: Sonnets From the Portuguese

    Videos

    Recordings

    Show Me the Way

    (Jasmine Barnes, Amy Marcy Beach, Margaret Bonds, Libby Larsen and Florence Price)

    2024

    In This Moment: Women and Their Songs

    (Juliana Hall, Lori Laitman and Libby Larsen)

    2013

    (In) Habitation

    (Tania León, Lori Laitman and Libby Larsen)

    2010

    American Art Song Today: Alive!

    (Daron Aric Hagen, Libby Larsen, John Musto and Joseph Turrin)

    2009

    The Unquiet Heart: American Song Cycles

    (Libby Larsen and Stephen Paulus)

    2007

    American Songs

    (H. Leslie Adams, Lee Hoiby, Lita Grier and Libby Larsen)

    2006

    New American Song Cycles

    (Tom Cipullo, Libby Larsen and Daron Aric Hagen)

    2002

    Dwell in Possibility: Dickinson in Song

    (Ernst Bacon, Aaron Copland, Celius Dougherty, John Woods Duke, Lee Hoiby, Richard Hundley, Jake Heggie, Lori Laitman, Libby Larsen, Etta Parker, Simon Sargon, Leo Smit and Richard Pearson Thomas)

    2004

    Vitality Begun

    (Gloria Coates, Lita Grier and Libby Larsen)

    2001

    Songs of Light and Love, et al.

    (Libby Larsen)

    2000

    Ah! Love, But A Day

    (Amy Marcy Beach, Margaret Bonds, Libby Larsen, Margaret Ruthven Lang, Undine Smith Moore, Florence Price, Gladys Rich and Gwyneth Van Anden Walker)

    1998

    Fabulous Femmes

    (Libby Larsen and Louise Talma)

    2000

    American Songbook - The American Music Collection, Vol. 3

    (Amy Marcy Beach, Leonard Bernstein, Marc Blitzstein, William Bolcom, Aaron Copland, Charles Ives, Betty Jackson King, Libby Larsen and Kurt Weill)

    1996

    Heartbeats: The AIDS Quilt Songbook

    (William Bolcom, Chris DeBlasio, John Harbison, Libby Larsen, John Musto and Donald Wheelock)

    1980

    Books

    Sheet Music

    Cowboy Songs

    Composer(s): Libby Larsen

    Song(s): 1. Bucking Bronco
    2. Lift Me Into Heaven Slowly
    3. Billy the Kid

    Buy via Sheet Music Plus

    Songs From Letters

    Composer(s): Libby Larsen

    Song(s): 1. So Like Your Father's
    2. He Never Misses
    3. A Man Can Love Two Women
    4. All I Have
    5. A Working Woman

    Buy via Good Music Publishing

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