Naples, 13 Oct 1856 - New York, 27 Oct 1932

Italian pianist, composer and singer.

She studied with her father, then with Liszt in Rome and became one of the most distinguished pianists of the 19thn century Neapolitan school.
Francesco Florimo mentions her as a singer in 1876.
After an early début in Naples, she embarked on a period of intense activity as a concert pianist, eventually performing in New York where she settled in 1896 and devoted herself to teaching the piano and composing.
Her works include a Piano Concerto, Bolero and Andante rondò for piano and strings, a Violin Sonata, pieces for solo piano and songs.
Some instrumental compositions show the influence of Classical style; in others the melodic vein is reminiscent of Chopin (in the Allegro appassionato for piano; Milan, 1884) and in keeping with the trend followed by pianists of the Neapolitan school.
The simpler style of the late 19th-century Italian romanza and canzone is apparent in songs such as Alle stelle, Canzone marinaresca and Voglio guarire.
Ruta was awarded a gold medal at the 1890 international exhibition of Florence for her vocal and orchestral works.
Some of her piano pieces were published by Lucca and Ricordi and were favourably reviewed by Filippo Filippi, music critic of La perseveranza in Milan.
Ruta’s mother, Emilia Sutton, was an English singer; her father, Michele Ruta (Caserta, 7 Feb 1816 - Naples, 24 Jan 1896), was a composer and director of the Naples Conservatory.
From 1850 he was music critic of the Corriere del mattino of Naples and in 1855 founder of the journal La musica.
Among his compositions are the operas Leonilda (1854), Maria la fioraia (1859), Diana di Vitry (1859), L’impresario in progetto (1873), Marco Bozzari and Caterina (both unperformed), a cantata, songs, two masses, a requiem and a Te Deum.
He also wrote a number of pedagogical works and in 1877 published Storia critica delle condizioni della musica in Italia e del Conservatorio di S Pietro a Majella di Napoli.

Bibliography:

Dizionario enciclopedico universale della musica e dei musicisti
F. Florimo: La scuola musicale di Napoli e i suoi conservatorii (Naples, 1880- 83/R)
J. Fétis: Biographie universelle des musiciens
SchmidlD C. Schmidl: Dizionario universale dei musicisti
'Gilda Ruta’, Gazzetta musicale di Milano, XXXIX (1884)
F. Filippi: ‘Bibliografia musicale’
A. de Angelis: L’Italia musicale d’oggi: Dizionario dei musicisti (Rome, 1918, 3/1928)
A. Bonaventura: ‘Le donne italiane e la musica’, Rivista musicale italiana, XXXII (1925)
P. Adkins Chiti: Donne in musica (Rome, 1982)
V. Vitale: Il pianoforte a Napoli nell’Ottocento (Naples, 1983)
Grove Music Online: www.oxfordmusiconline.com

Author:

Francesca Perruccio Sica