Estelle Ricketts
Estelle Ricketts (1871–?) was an American composer.
Personal life
[edit]Ricketts lived in Darby, Pennsylvania, which is now a suburb of Philadelphia.[1] She lived with her mother, her younger brother, and her father, who operated a boarding stable.[1] Her father was born into slavery in Maryland and self emancipated about age 11. He ended up in Darby Pennsylvania, taken in by Quakers John and Rachel Hunt. There he was educated at the Darby Friends School. He graduated and became a farmer at the Sharon Boarding Academy. About age 27, he is tricked and kidnapped and taken to Baltimore to be sold into slavery. Because he was literate, he was able to get a letter to Friends in Darby who rescued him.
Career
[edit]Estelle Ricketts's 1893 parlor piano piece Rippling Spring Waltz is the earliest known piano solo written by a black woman.[1] Rickets is mentioned in a book entitled "The Work of the Afro-American Woman" written by Gertrude Bustill Mossell. This book highlights the achievements of African-American women in all different disciplines, and was published in 1908.[2]
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- Walker-Hill, Helen. "Music by Black Women Composers at the American Music Research Center." American Music Research Center Journal. 2.1 (1992): 23-52.
- Mossell, N. F. "The Work of the Afro-American Woman." Philadelphia: Geo. S. Ferguson Company, 1908.
External links
[edit]- Rippling Spring Waltz is included in the Anthology Loud and Clear: A Guide to Levelled Piano Music by Women Composers in the 20th and 21st Centuries https://debrawanlessmusic.com/en-us/products/loud-and-clear?_pos=1&_sid=f0f0268d5&_ss=r