Matthew Paris interviews Miriam Gideon, composer.

Paris writes:

Born and raised in Colorado, Miriam Gideon was one few the few female composers in American classical music and very much like her music. She was a woman of substance, with an intellectual focus, and serious intent. She lived in a comfortable apartment on Central Park West with her husband, Frederick Ewen, the historian. She didn't invent any new ways to make music as much a took found ideas and invested them with a personal take on known varieties of style. She wrote a lot of Jewish religious music under the aegis of Lazar Saminsky.

Both she and her husband were snagged in the 50s by the McCarthy committee. She and her mate had to resign their posts at Brooklyn College.

I didn't get to know either Miriam Gideon or Frederick Ewen well, but they had a formality about them that didn't particularity invite casual conversation. They were both brilliant and slightly iconic. One had to like and honor their political courage.

WNYC archives id: 85439