Valentina Ramm

Valentina Yosifovna Mandelstam Ramm was a Ukrainian author, composer, coloratura soprano, translator and violinist. She composed over 100 songs and several string quartets.

Life and work

Ramm was born in Kharkov, Ukraine. She graduated from the Leipzig Conservatory in 1908. Her teachers included B. Heidiger, S. Krell, K. Zitt, as well as Mikhail Gnessin in Moscow.
Ramm worked in several areas related to music:

after 1908: sang and taught singing in Rostov-on-the-Don, Russia;
1928-29 secretary of the Association of Chamber Music and voice teacher at the Alexander Scriabin music school;
1930-32 editor for Muzgiz and director of a society for young composers;
1938-40 editor at a record company; and
1941-43 lecturer at the Kirov Music School.

Ramm wrote articles on the history of song and song in civil strife. She composed over 100 songs on texts by Soviet poets such as Aleksandr Aleksandrov, Alexander Blok, Mikhail Lermontov, Alexander Pushkin, Ovady Savich and Fyodor Tyutchev.
Fluent in German, Russian and Yiddish, Ramm translated two Bach cantatas into Russian, and translated works by Joel Engel, Mikhail Gnessin, Aleksandr Krein, and Aleksandr Veprik into German.

Works

Ramm’s works were published by Universal.

Printed works

International Collection of Revolutionary Songs
Schubert v Massovoi Auditorii 1928
''Zapadnoyevrodeiskaya Khudozhestvennaya Pesnya 1929''

Ballets

Caliph-Stork
Sleeping Beauty
''Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Knights''

Chamber works

Sonata
String Quartet No. 1, opus 16
String Quartet No. 2
''Wind Quartet''

Orchestral works

Five Nights and Days: Funeral Stanzas, opus 7
Nike
Santa Ursula Cantata
Slavyanski Marsh
Torzhestvennie Marsh
Udarnitzy Metalla Cantata
V Stepnykh Aulakh Cantata

Piano works

From the World of Animals, opus 10
Intermezzo, opus 5
''Suite''

Vocal works

Dni Voiny: Five Cycles
Four Folk Songs
O Voine, Eight Children’s Songs
Penthesilea: Triptych of Sofia Parnok, opus 9
Rodina Cycle
Triptych, Penthesilea
Two Children’s Songs, opus 4