Williametta Spencer (born August 15, 1927) is an American composer, musicologist, and teacher who plays harpsichord, organ, and piano. She is best known for her award-winning choral work At the Round EarthâÂÂs Imagined Corners.
Spencer was born in Marion, Illinois, to Viva Jewell and Samuel Joseph Spencer. The family moved to Paducah, Kentucky, where her father was a minister of music at several different Baptist churches during her childhood. Spencer earned a B.A. at Whittier College and a M.Mus. and Ph.D. at the University of Southern California. Her dissertation was entitled The Influence and Stylistic Heritage of André Caplet. In 1953, she received a Fulbright scholarship to study in Paris. Her teachers included Pauline Alderman, Tony Aubin, Alfred Cortot, Ingolf Dahl, Ernst Kanitz, and Halsey Stevens.
Spencer has won several awards, including the Southern California Vocal Association National Composition Award for At the Round EarthâÂÂs Imagined Corners; Alumni Achievement Awards from Whittier College in 1995 and 2008; and the Amy Beach Award for her orchestral overture. I Cantori commissioned and premiered her choral work, And the White Rose is a Dove. She is a member of Mu Phi Epsilon and the International Alliance for Women in Music.
SpencerâÂÂs works have been published by Associated Music Publishers Inc., Mark Foster Music Co., Orpheus Publications, Shawnee Press, and Western International Music Co. Her publications include: