Roberta Bitgood was an American organist, choir director, and composer. She was a pioneer of 20th-century American church music, and the first woman to serve as national president of the American Guild of Organists.
Early life and education
Roberta Bitgood was born in New London, Connecticut, to Grace Robinson Prentis and Robert A.T. Bitgood. She showed an early talent for music, and started violin lessons at the age five. From 1920-1924, she studied at the Williams Memorial Institute. While at Williams, she served as concert master and assistant conductor for her school orchestra. At age fifteen she began taking organ lessons over the summers, and subsequently started performing at local churches. Bitgood attended Connecticut College for Women, studying music with a major focused in violin and organ performance. She graduated with honors in 1928, and continued her studies in New York City at the Guilmant Organ School. Bitgood won a $500 scholarship to attend the school, and, while there, worked with the founder. During her time at Guilmant, she also completed her Associate and Fellowship exams with the American Guild of Organists. Bitgood earned the highest mark in the country that year on her Fellowship exam, and graduated with a Gold Medal for top honors from Guilmant that spring in 1930. She went on to receive a master's degree in music education from the Teacher's College at Columbia University in 1932, and a master's and doctoral degree in sacred music from Union Theological Seminary in 1935 and 1945 after studying with Clarence Dickinson and David Williams. Bitgood was the first woman, and twelfth individual in America to receive a doctorate in sacred music.
Career
After finishing her education, she married Jacob Gijsbert Wiersma, and later had a daughter Grace. Bitgood's career started out of Bloomfield, New Jersey, where she lived from 1932 to 1947. She played organ for a number of churches and synagogs, worked at the Bloomfield College and Seminary, served as the Director of Music for the official chorus of the State Federation of Women's Clubs, and formed Glee Clubs at the local YMCA and YWCA. From 1947 to 1952 she worked as the organist and music director for the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Buffalo, New York. After leaving Holy Trinity, Bitgood and her family moved to Riverside, California, where she was the music director for Calvary Presbyterian Church. In 1964, she relocated to Michigan, where she played viola with the Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra and worked as the organist for the First Congregational Church, also in Battle Creek. While in Michigan, she also maintained membership on both the National Council of the AGO and the National Board of Directors of the Choristers Guild. In 1975, she was elected by write-in to serve as the President of the AGO. Bitgood became the first female President of the AGO, and was elected alongside Vice President Ruth Milliken of Norwalk, Connecticut and Secretary Barbara F. Mount of Freehold Township, New Jersey. As a result, 1975 saw the largest number of women to serve in top positions for the AGO, as well as the first three non-New York based members elected to national leadership.
Retirement
Officially retiring in 1976, Bitgood returned to Connecticut, where she continued to work as an organist in local churches and synagogues. By 1981, she was living in the village of Quaker Hill, Connecticut, and worked for the United Methodist Church of New London. She accepted the position of organist, choir and music director for Waterford United Presbyterian in 1984. The church ran out of Mary Harkness Chapel on the Connecticut College campus until 1989, when it moved to its own location in Waterford, Connecticut. She continued work in the area until her death in 2007.
Awards and recognition
The Roberta Bitgood Organ Scholarship was created in 1993 by the American Guild of Organists, New London County Chapter.Roberta Bitgood#cite note-4| Bitgood received the William C. Carl Medal in 1930, and the Connecticut College Medal in 1974, becoming the first graduate with a music degree to do so.
Works
Bitgood was known for sacred music, anthems, cantatas and hymns. She studied composition throughout her entire secondary education career. First published in 1935, many of her works were published by H.W. Grey & Co., for whom she was also a publishing editor. From 1966 to 1975 Bitgood was nominated annually for an American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers award. A selection of her works include:
