HEINRICH, Adel Verna

Adel Verna Heinrich was an American composer, organist, and university teacher. She taught music at Colby College until her retirement in 1988.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Heinrich graduated from Flora Stone Mather College with a Bachelor of Arts in 1951 and a master's degree in sacred music from the Union Theological Seminary in 1954. She studied the organ with Hugh Porter, John Harvey, E. Power Biggs, Andre Marchal, and Jean Langlais, the harpsichord with Eugenia Earle, and composition with Norman Coke-Jephcott. In 1976, she received a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin–Madison based on her thesis Bach's Die Kunst der Fuge: a living compendium of fugal procedures. Her book Organ and Harpsichord Music by Women Composers was published in 1991. Her compositions for organ include A Carol is Born (a music drama for two sopranos, alto, flute, organ) and the oratorio The Nazarene.

Heinrich taught at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, from 1964 to 1988, where she was associate professor of music and director of chapel music.

Heinrich died on August 10, 2022, at the age of 96.