Lalla Ryckoff


Clara Amely “Lala” Ryckoff was an American composer who wrote more than 200 vocal works, including spoken word performances with musical accompaniment, also known as pianologues or musical readings. She also composed works for children. She published under the name Lalla Ryckoff.
Ryckoff was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Julie Wolff Rindskopf and Samuel Rindskopf. The family name was later changed to Ryckoff. Little is known about Ryckoff’s education or personal life. She first performed as a pianist in Chicago when she was nine years old. She was active in women’s clubs, worked as a piano teacher in New York City in 1922, and in 1932 was living in Kansas City. The 1950 census lists her as divorced. She died in Newport Beach, California, in 1977.
Ryckoff’s works were published by Walter Anderson, Oliver Ditson, and Clayton F. Summy Company. They include:

Piano

  • Fairy Tales for Fairy Fingers
  • Hansel and Gretel
  • Ivan in Russia
  • Juvenile Scenes in Foreign Lands
  • Liesel
  • Our American Cousins
  • Our Little Cousins Abroad
  • Pepi and Mitzi
  • Street Scenes
  • ''Turkish Veil Dancers''

    Vocal

  • “Autumn Leaves”
  • “Grandma Pays the Bill”
  • “He Met Her in the Meadow”
  • “I Doubt It”
  • “Invy”
  • “It’s Just for You”
  • “Musical Campaign Speech”
  • “Poor Jane”
  • “Quarrelsome Glee Club”
  • “This World Seems a Great Old World to Me”
  • “Tit for Tat”
  • “To Marry or Not Marry”
  • “Why Don’t You Ask Me”
  • “Um-Hm”