Tui St. George Tucker
Photo of Tucker taken atCamp Catawba,North Carolina (c. 1967)
Born	25 November 1924 (1924-11-25) Fullerton, California, U.S.
Died	21 April 2004 (2004-04-22) (aged 79) nearBlowing Rock, North Carolina, U.S.
Alma mater	Occidental College (1941-44)
Occupations	Composer conductor recorder player music theorist
Partner	Vera Lachmann (1947-85) (her death)
Signature

Tui St. George Tucker^{[n 1]} (bornLorraine St. George Tucker; November 25, 1924 – April 21, 2004) was an American modernistcomposer,conductor,recorder virtuoso and creator of unique musical instruments. Her compositions often featuremicrotonality and are strongly influenced byjazz,Buddhism,the music of Medieval Europe, and more. She developed special recorders with extra holes, in addition to unique fingerings for modern recorders to allow for the playing ofquarter tones, typically in 24-tone equal temperament.

Her avant-garde disposition and unique compositional language made her a staple in the 1940s New York scene, being encouraged by musicians such asJohn Cage andLarry Polansky. After relocating toNorth Carolina in 1947, however, she fell into obscurity – but continued to write a large number of works for various ensembles. The exact size ofheroeuvre is debated, but is believed to comprise around one hundred works, a few being unfinished.

Tucker was born inFullerton, California, the daughter of an English father and a mother fromNew Zealand. Her family often referred to her as "Tui"; named for theeponymous bird native toNew Zealand, where her mother was born. She attendedEagle Rock High School in northeastLos Angeles, California, graduating in 1941. She then attendedOccidental College in Los Angeles from 1941 to 1944.^[1]

Tucker relocated to centralNew York City in 1946, working as a composer, conductor, and recorder player, and spending most of her professional life inGreenwich Village. She had become a member of a circle of avant-garde composers living in the city, includingJohn Cage,Lou Harrison,Virgil Thomson, and others. HerIndian Summer: Three Microtonal Antiphons on Psalm Texts written during this era, for twobaritones andchamber ensemble, was among the first of her pieces to explore the use ofquarter tones. Tucker met the German-American poet and scholarVera Lachmann (1904-1985) in 1946, with whom she had a lifelong relationship.

From 1947 onward, she spent her summers atCamp Catawba, located near theBlue Ridge Parkway on the Boone side ofBlowing Rock,North Carolina.^[2] Lachmann founded the camp two years prior, and Tucker worked as the camp's music director at Lachmann's request. Under her guidance, the campers performed music ranging from medievalplainsong andorganum to works by contemporary American composers. PianistGrete Sultan also worked there during several summers.^[3]

Many of her best known compositions date from this era, including thePeyote Sonata (1956), which experiments withpolyrhythms and experimental subdivisions, including a phrase in 15:16; a chamber piece dedicated to Polish composerKrzysztof Penderecki, and thecantataDrum Taps (1973) in eight movements, set to alibretto byWalt Whitman.

In 1985, Tui inherited the camp grounds of Catawba from Lachmann after she died the same year. In accordance with Lachmann'swill, Tucker sold the grounds to theBlue Ridge Parkway Foundation, while retaining a life estate and maintaining a residence on the grounds from 1985 until her death in 2004, continuing to conduct and compose for local instrumental ensembles.^[4][5]

Her works have been performed by people and ensembles including the Kohon Quartet, pianistsGrete Sultan and Loretta Goldberg, andrecorder playerPete Rose. HerLittle Pieces for Quartertone Piano is a standard work in the instrument's repertoire.

Sorted chronologically:

• Indian Summer: Three Microtonal Antiphons on Psalm Texts. LP. Greenville, Maine: Opus One, [1984?].
• String Quartet No. 1. LP. Greenville, Maine: Opus One, [1986?].
• Herzliebster Jesu. CD. Harriman, New York: Spectrum, 1988. (Title of disc:Buxtehude, Moondog & Co., performed by Paul Jordan,Schuke organ.)
• Piano Sonata No, 2, "The Peyote". CD. Greenville, Maine: Opus One, [1991?]. (Title of disc:Soundbridge, performed by pianist Loretta Goldberg.)
• The Music of Tui St. George Tucker (1998). Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Centaur.

• Leedy, Douglas; Reinhard, Johnny (1994). "Tucker, Tui St George".The Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers. W.W. Norton: 494.

• Bredow, Moritz von. 2012.Rebellische Pianistin. Das Leben der Grete Sultan zwischen Berlin und New York. Mainz:Schott Music.ISBN 978-3-7957-0800-9 (This book contains many aspects of the lives and the art of Tui St George Tucker, Vera Lachmann and Grete Sultan).

• The official Tui St. George Tucker website (launched in 2005) - includes her scores for download, contact information for the use of her scores, biography, photo gallery, and other memorabilia
• Free scores by Tui St. George Tucker at theInternational Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
• "High Country Loses Artist, Composer Tui St. George Tucker 1924–2004" by Jay Brown,The Mountain Times (Boone, North Carolina), April 29, 2004
• "Tui St. George Tucker’s Requiem To Premiere April 30: Blue Ridge Composer Honored with Concert at ASU", Jeff Eason, fromThe Mountain Times (Boone, North Carolina), April 14, 2005

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