The compositional roots of Ruth Zechlin - composer, harpsichordist, organist and teacher in the former East German Republic - were nourished by the musical atmosphere of Leipzig, the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and, surreptitously, by Hindemith, Bartok and Stravinsky. She has ever declined to follow the dictates of a particular school or to adhere to the doctrine of a specifique technique, no matter which one.