Ryan Carter is an extremely talented young man who has been composing music since he was 10 years old. Throughout middle school and high school he won first place in the WSMA/DPI Student Composition Project twice, as well as winning second place, third place, and several honorable mentions. His work has been featured by the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra at Concerts on the Square, broadcast on Wisconsin Public Radio, and performed through the state and country. Ryan is a three-year veteran of the High School Honors Project where he played percussion in Orchestra twice, and in 1997, played vibes and auxiliary percussion in the Honors Jazz Ensemble. He’s also a most gifted pianist.

Since 1998, Ryan has been studying music composition at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, Ohio, and the Arnold Schoenberg Center in Vienna, Austria, where his teachers have included Pauline Oliveros and Richard Hoffmann. His musical interests range from experimental performance art to orchestral composition to independent pop music.

Sister Mary Amanda continued to teach piano for 18 more years with exceptional success at St. Clara College, Sinsinawa, WI; Edgewood Academy, Madison, WI; Rosary College, River Forest, IL; and Villa Fougeres in Fribourg, Switzer-land where she originally met the Dominican Sisters. Having spent the day teaching piano to the novices and pupils at St. Clara Academy, Sister died April 21, 1941 at the age of 82. Devotion to her musical art in which she was so highly gifted, was her way of thanking God for her long life and years of service to the congregation.

Marie Mathilde Courtaux was born October 27, 1859 in Port Louis, Mauritius Island (a British colony), when her father, Endore Courtaux, was stationed there as a representative of the French government. Her mother, Amanda Riviere, was a school teacher.

When the family returned to France, Mathilde received all her education in Paris at the gymnasium and a private music school of Mademoi-selle Fleur. She receiveed her Licencie; from the Paris Conservatory of Music in 1879, after four years of study with M. Rety M. LeCouppey. At the age of 19, Mlle Courtaux received the Third Medal for the Study of Piano at the Conservatory and the following year was awarded the First Medal, the highest award of the institution.

Even before she finished the Conservatory, Mlle Courtaux began teaching piano, and to compose music which drew the attention of a publisher, M. E. Costil who in 1905 and 1906 published her Marche Militaire for piano 6-hands, Ave Maria for voice and piano, Priere De Sainte Cecile for violin, cello, harp and organ, and Priere De Sainte Cecile, piano edition in 1906.

Priere was Mlle Courtaux's crowning compositional achievement. She loved to teach and perform it all her life. This demure five-foot, blue-eyed, dignified French woman composer was at the height of her creativity at age 51 when she was awarded the rosette of Officer of the Academy of Fine Arts. It was presented to her by the Minister of Public Instruction of the Fine Arts and Culture of the Republic of France a most auspicious decoration by the French Government .

During World War I, Mlle went to teach in Fribourg, Switzerland and lived with the Sinsinawa Dominicans at Villa des Fougeres, a residence for college students during their Junior Year Abroad and Sisters attending the University. Caught by their charism and lifestyle, she requested to become one of them. This thoroughly French woman met the challenges of American ways, cold winters, and a new language. She persevered through her zeal, love and affection toward the Sisters and students to whom she brought her artistic musical gifts. She was exacting and demanding as a teacher, but also expected the same of herself, practicing the piano daily.

Sister Amanda had a phenomenal memory and could play from a repertoire of some seventy compositions. On board the oceanliner Transatlantic, while traveling to Fribourg in 1929, she performed piano compositions by Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, Godard, and her own Priere.

A file of unpublished manuscripts in the Sinsinawa Dominican archives has now been brought to life through the editorial efforts of Anita Smisek, OP, a member of her community.

GAVOTTE AP-520 Piano Solo $3.

REGINA COELI, LAETARE AP-122 2-part Vocal/Organ $1.25 AP-210 Alto Rcdr Duet/Organ, opt. $3.50

SCHERZO - Piano Solo AP-521 $4.

SEVEN PIECES FOR CHILDREN - Piano Solo AP-523 $5.

SIX PIECES FOR FOUR HANDS - Piano Duets-intermediate AP-513 $3.

At the age of 26, he was sent to Assisi, Italy, to complete his theological studies. It is here that he became first organist at the Basilica of St. Francis. The Minorite Order, founded by St. Francis of Assisi, bequeathed to his spiritual sons, among other things, a devotion to singing and music, a legacy faithfully fulfilled. It was here for the Easter of 1712, that Friar Bohuslav composed the Marian antiphon, Regina Coeli, for 8 voices in double choir, organ and continuo. It is his only work written in single parts for immediate performance. Although premiered in Italy, he signed and dated this composition by his pen name, Bohemian Friar from Prague, Organist.

A decisive compositional characteristic of his is in the treatment of the basso continuo in the Regina Coeli, which is full of expressive tension. Utilizing the cello an octave above the bass viol along with the organ provides a unique color. It exhibits his technical ability, artistic maturity and creative potential in a special degree.

His last 5 years of life were served in Padua as first organist till August of 1741 when he departed for Bohemia. Illness, however, forced him to stop at Graz in Styria. Here he died, at age 58, in July of 1742.

Cernohorsky's pupils include Guiseppe Tartini, to whom he taught counterpoint between 1711-1714 in Assisi. Later on while in Prague, he taught Gluck, and organ to the young Josef Seger between 1723 and 1731. His close musical associates and friends included members of both the Brixi and Benda families, Frantsek Tuma, Jan Zach, and J. A. Sehling. From 1725-1727, he had a close association with the Italian opera company director, Andrea Denzio, while in Prague.

An excellent organist and composer, he is credited with founding the Prague School of composers that represented the culmination of the Baroque movement in Bohemia and prepared the way for early Classicism. Through his strong musical personality, he exercised a vast influence on the 18th century Bohemian musical rebirth as a guiding spirit and pioneer and leader with the utmost in dedication and determination.

REGINA COELI - Dbl SATB Choir, Cello, Stg Bass, Organ, edited by Joel Blahnik
AP-100 Sc Score and Instl Parts $12.
AP-100 V SATB Choir score $1.50