{{Short description|American composer and pianist (1916–1990)}} {{use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} '''Beatrice Braverman Witkin''' (May 13, 1916 – February 7, 1990)<ref>https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=3693&h=68402156&queryId=9759aa94194cbd82c6006169240b40f2&usePUB=true&_phsrc=ArZ1&_phstart=successSource&requr=2550866976735232&ur=0&gsfn=&gsln=&h=68402156 {{title missing|date=July 2024}}{{subscription}}</ref> was an American composer and pianist who was best known for her electronic music, especially the theme she composed for the TV show ''Wild, Wild World of Animals'' in 1973.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hinkle-Turner|first=Elizabeth|title=Women Composers and Music Technology in the United States: Crossing the Line|date=2006|publisher=Ashgate|isbn=0-7546-0461-6|location=Aldershot, Hants, England|oclc=60393911}}</ref>
==Career== Witkin studied piano with Eduard Steuermann and composition with Roger Sessions, Mark Brunswick and Stefan Wolpe. She received a B.A. from Hunter College and a master's degree from New York University.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Breaking News, World News & Multimedia|newspaper=The New York Times}}{{full citation needed|date=July 2024|reason=At minimum, a title is needed, but the NYT has an excellent archive, that should yield a URL.}}</ref> She married Louis Witkin in 1938 and they had one daughter (Judy) and one son (Steve).
Witkin received grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Hebrew Arts Music School.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YzNLAAAAYAAJ&q=beatrice+witkin+logo+music|title=Newsletter|date=1983|publisher=The Center.|language=en}}</ref> She released two LPs of chamber music,<ref>{{Discogs artist|2081686|Beatrice Witkin}}</ref> and received the Creative Arts Public Service Grant and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) Standard Award.
In 1963, Witkin helped establish the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, a performing group that commissioned new works. She was a guest composer at the MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire as well as a longtime member of the Women's Composers Forum and ASCAP. In 1968, she was invited to work at the Electronic Music Studio at the New York University School of the Arts. Two years later, her electronic composition ''Glissines'' was a winner in ''High Fidelity'' magazine's Electronic Music Contest.
Witkin's papers are archived at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Welcome to Wesleyan University|url=https://archives.wesleyan.edu/repositories/sca/resources/beatrice_witkin_papers|access-date=2024-07-21|publisher=Wesleyan University}}</ref>
Her compositions include:<ref>{{Cite book|last=Cohen, Aaron I.|title=International Encyclopedia of Women Composers|volume=2|year=1987|isbn=0-9617485-2-4|edition=2nd, revised and enlarged|location=New York|publisher=Books & Music|oclc=16714846}} {{page needed|date=July 2024}} {{Internet Archive|id=internationalenc0002cohe|name=Online|url-access=registration}}</ref>
== Concert band == *''Stephen Foster Revisited'' (1980)
== Chamber == *Cantillations I (two clarinets and piano; 1982) *Cantillations II (two clarinets; 1983) *Cantillations III (two violins) *Cantillations of the Bible (string quartet; 1985) *Chiaroscuro (cello and piano; 1968) *Combinations for 13 Instruments (1965) *Contour (piano; 1964) *Duo (violin and piano; 1960–61) *Interludes for Flute (1960) *Nocturne for Solo Cello *Parameters for Eight Instruments (1964) *Serenade *Sonata, Opus 2 *Treble Trio *Triads and Things (brass quintet) *Work for Two B-flat Clarinets (1981)
== Electronic == *Beethoven Piano Sonata *Breath and Sounds (tuba and tape; 1972) *Echologie (flute and tape; 1972) *Electronic (1971) *Electronic Mother Goose *Glissines *Homage to Handel *Oboe Trio *Pendulum *Reports from the Planet Mars (orchestra and tape) *Time Machine (1971) *Wild, Wild World of Animals (for television; 1973)
== Orchestra == *Fanfare in B and E-flat (1968) *Stephen Foster Variations for Orchestra *Swingeroo (1938) *Twelve Tone Variations Derived from the Beatles
== Theatre == *''Crisis: A Play'' (script by Gloria Goldsmith; music by Beatrice Witkin) *''Does Poppy Live Here?'' (based on the book by Arthur Gregor; music by Beatrice Witkin; 1957)<ref>{{Cite book|publisher=Library of Congress Copyright Office|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9zEhAQAAIAAJ|title=Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series|date=1953}}{{page needed|date=July 2024}}</ref> *''Iliad of Indian Creek'' (1979)
== Vocal == *Emerson Songs (1987–88) *Kitchen Music Songs (1949–50) *Prose Poem (words by J. F. Farrell; music by Beatrice Within; soprano, narrator, cello, horn and percussion; 1963–64) *Ya Wanna Be Friends? (words by Belle Goldstine; music by Beatrice Witkin)<ref>{{Cite book|publisher=Library of Congress Copyright Office|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6TAhAQAAIAAJ|title=Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series|date=1958}}{{page needed|date=July 2024}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist|30em}}
== External links == * {{YouTube |1a5zl96448k |''Hear the Wild, Wild World of Animals'' theme by Beatrice Witkin}}
{{Portal bar|Biography|Classical music}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Witkin, Beatrice}} Category:1916 births Category:1990 deaths Category:Place of birth missing Category:Place of death missing Category:20th-century American women composers Category:American women classical composers Category:American electronic musicians Category:ASCAP composers and authors Category:New York University alumni Category:American string quartet composers Category:Soundtracks by American artists