Ruth Schönthal

Ruth Esther Hadassah Schonthal (June 27, 1924 – July 10, 2006) was an acclaimed classical composer, pianist, and teacher. Born in Germany, she lived in the U.S. for most of her life. After she moved to the U.S. she dropped the umlaut from the name Schönthal. She came to study composition at Yale University in 1946. After her marriage in 1950 she lived first in New York City and then in New Rochelle. Biography Ruth Schonthal was born in Hamburg of Viennese parents. At the age of five she began composing and became the youngest student ever accepted at the Stern’sche Konservatorium in Berlin. In 1935, Schonthal and her family were forced to leave Nazi Germany for Stockholm on account of her Jewish heritage. At the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in Stockholm, she studied composition with Ingemar Liljefors and piano with Olaf Wibergh. At the age of fourteen, she had her first sonatina published. In March 1941, three months before she would have been able to graduate, the family was once again forced to flee as a result of the rising political tension. They traveled to a variety of places—Moscow USSR, then Japan—and finally to Mexico City. In 1942 she married Oscar Manuel Ochoa. Their s