Rebecca Clarke (composer)
Rebecca Helferich Clarke (27 August 1886 – 13 October 1979) was a British composer and violist who became one of the first great female professional players in London. She was known worldwide for her viola playing and for her careful, expressive music.
Clarke was born in Harrow, England, to a German mother and an American father. She grew up in a musical family and played in a family string quartet. Her father was strict, and Clarke faced difficult times at home. She started studying at the Royal Academy of Music in 1903 as a violin student, but she did not enjoy the strict teaching style. She later studied at the Royal College of Music, where she became Sir Charles Villiers Stanford’s first female pupil of composition.
Encouraged by Stanford, Clarke switched from violin to viola, studying with the noted violist Lionel Tertis. She composed early works and performed in London’s music scene. In 1913 she became one of the first women to hold a professional orchestral post in London, joining the Queen’s Hall Orchestra. She also worked with chamber groups and sang in ensembles organized by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Clarke’s time in the United States began in 1916, and she met major patrons there, including Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. In 1918 she premiered Morpheus, a piece for viola and piano, and in 1919 her Viola Sonata tied for first place in a Coolidge competition, a high point in her career. In the early 1920s she toured and continued composing, creating works for string ensembles and piano.
Her most ambitious music was written with the support of Coolidge, including a 23-minute Rhapsody for cello and piano. Clarke also helped form important musical groups in London and performed with many famous musicians. She had a long relationship with the baritone John Goss, and her song collection includes many settings of classic texts.
In 1936 Clarke sold a treasured Stradivarius she had received as a bequest. When World War II began, she was in the United States and could not easily return to Britain. She stayed in the U.S., working at times as a governess and continuing to compose and perform a little. She married James Friskin, a fellow musician and Juilliard teacher, in 1944 in New York City.
After marriage, Clarke slowed down her composing and stopped performing publicly, though she kept arranging music. In the 1960s and 1970s, renewed interest in her work grew. A radio program in 1976 helped revived attention to her music. The Rebecca Clarke Society was founded in 2000 to promote performance and study of her works.
Clarke’s output includes many songs, chamber pieces, and instrumental works, with a strong emphasis on the viola. Her music has been praised for its lyrical beauty, strong structure, and rich colors. Notable works include the Viola Sonata (1919), Morpheus (1918), the Passacaglia on an Old English Tune (1941), and later pieces like Dumka (1941) for violin, viola, and piano. Some works remained unpublished for years, but recent publications have helped bring more of her music to light, including new editions published in the 2000s and beyond, and performances and recordings continue to raise her profile.
Rebecca Clarke died in New York City in 1979 at the age of 93. Today she is regarded as an important figure in 20th-century music, a pioneer for women composers and performers, and a lasting influence on viola literature.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 10:15 (CET).