Montague Ring

British composer Amanda Ira Aldridge composed piano music under the pseudonym Montague Ring. Her mother, Amanda Brandt, was a Swedish opera singer. Her father, Ira Aldridge, was the only African-American actor honored at the Shakespeare Memorial Theater. Aldridge’s sister Luranah sang to great acclaim throughout Europe as one of the first black opera singers.

Aldridge studied at the Royal College of Music in London, then worked as a concert singer, accompanist, and voice teacher. After her singing career was cut short by laryngitis, she turned to composition. Under the pseudonym, Montague Ring, Aldridge gained recognition for her many voice and piano pieces. She composed love songs, suites, sambas and light orchestral pieces.

The Walker-Hill Collection at the University of Colorado-Boulder holds several dozen of Aldridge’s compositions, which were widely published in the early 20th century but now are difficult to find and access.