Williametta Spencer (born August 15, 1927)[1] is an American composer,[2] musicologist, and teacher[3] who plays harpsichord, organ, and piano. She is best known for her award-winning choral work At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners.[4]
Spencer was born in Marion, Illinois, to Viva Jewell and Samuel Joseph Spencer. The family moved to Paducah, Kentucky, where her father was a minister of music at several different Baptist churches during her childhood.[5] Spencer earned a B.A. at Whittier College and a M.Mus. and Ph.D. at the University of Southern California. Her dissertation was entitled The Influence and Stylistic Heritage of André Caplet.[6] In 1953, she received a Fulbright scholarship to study in Paris. Her teachers included Pauline Alderman, Tony Aubin, Alfred Cortot, Ingolf Dahl, Ernst Kanitz, and Halsey Stevens.[4][7]
Spencer has won several awards, including the Southern California Vocal Association National Composition Award for At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners; Alumni Achievement Awards from Whittier College in 1995 and 2008;[8] and the Amy Beach Award for her orchestral overture.[4] I Cantori commissioned and premiered her choral work, And the White Rose is a Dove. She is a member of Mu Phi Epsilon and the International Alliance for Women in Music.[9]
Spencer’s works have been published by Associated Music Publishers Inc.,[10] Mark Foster Music Co.,[11] Orpheus Publications,[12] Shawnee Press,[13] and Western International Music Co.[4] Her publications include: