Ruth Gipps, child prodigy

We invited Dr. Victoria Rowe, custodian of the Ruth Gipps Archive, to provide us with a profile of the composer and the inspiration for her work, Seascape, which features in our concert on 29th November 2025.

Although an active composer for over 70 years, Ruth Gipps has only recently begun to gain recognition for her wide range of compositions. She wrote 5 symphonies, 7 concertos, many shorter orchestral works, chamber pieces such as Seascape, songs and choral works. Gipps was to some extent a victim of the discrimination experienced by many female composers in the 20th Century. However, her lyrical pastoral style and classical mindset also brought her into conflict with prevailing trends. She held trenchant views about the avant-garde music which was promoted by the BBC from the 1960s onwards.

Born into a family of musicians in Bexhill, Gipps grew up loving the sea and several of her early compositions have seaside themes. When she was eight, her piano piece, 'The Fairy Shoemaker' was published. Gipps' mother was a strong promoter of her daughter's pianistic and compositional talents, partly, no doubt, as her successes could reflect some kudos on the family music-school business. At sixteen, Gipps began studying at the Royal College of Music. The metamorphosis from child prodigy to adult music student was a difficult one and there were several changes of piano teacher in the early stages. However, her composition studies with the much-loved Gordon Jacob established a strong foundation in orchestration, and her later move to Ralph Vaughan Williams was for her, a dream come true. She valued VW's wisdom and remained a friend for the rest of his life. His influence can often be heard in Gipps' orchestral music, even while her harmonic world is her own.

Seascape was written after a lecturing visit to Broadstairs. Gipps stayed in a hotel right on the beach and could hear the sound of the sea from her room. The piece is written for double wind quintet, with a cor anglais instead of 2nd oboe. As well as a composer, conductor, pianist and lecturer, Gipps was a fine oboist and cor player. While she wrote sympathetically for all wind instruments, she usually made sure that 'her' instruments had key roles to play! The work opens with flowing watery patterns, leading to a yearning melody for oboe. A cor melody leads into a rhythmic middle section, and the flowing patterns return with added force to end the work. The piece was written in 1958 for the Portia Wind Ensemble, an all-women group, who first performed it in the Arts Council Drawing Room in 1960.

Dr Victoria Rowe. PhD, MA, GRSM, TESOL

The Ruth Gipps Archive, 2 Cavendish Road, Woking, GU22 0EP