Christian Sinding, Kirsten Flagstad, Gena Branscombe

 

“Composing is nothing, but writing letters is tedious business.  When you compose music your intentions are mostly understood, but when you write you are never sure how your meaning will be construed.”  (Christian Sinding, composer.  Musical America,  March 25, 1910) 

 

In that same March 1910 Musical America article with Sinding’s quote was a review of a salon concert presented by Gena Branscombe at the American Women’s Club of Berlin.  This was a well-reviewed concert of her songs performed by Belle Forbes and A.C. Jackson.

 

Christian August Sinding (1856-1941) is not well-known in today’s music world.  Born in Norway, he eventually studied and lived in Germany coming under the influence of Wagner and Liszt.  In his era, he was internationally acclaimed much like his fellow country man Edvard Grieg. His compositions included lyrical piano and chamber music works,  symphonies, violin concerti, songs and choral works. 

 

Branscombe and Sinding were residing in Berlin in March 1910.  Did they know each other or met one another in the small music circle of Berlin?  Maybe Sinding was in the audience for Gena’s concert.  Both composers would be leaving Berlin within a few months – Sinding traveling to experience, once again, Norway’s beautiful Spring and Gena to return to the United States.

 

Twenty eight years later Gena wrote of Sinding in her November 11, 1938 letter to her publisher, Arthur P. Schmidt Company of Boston:

“Last Sunday evening, (which was November 6, 1938), on the Ford Hour, Mme. Flagstad sang my arrangement for solo and chorus of Sinding’s “Sylvelin” and made a great hit with it.  People who didn’t know it was mine, said they had enjoyed that number – particularly.”  (Arthur P. Schmidt Collection held at the Library of Congress)

 

This Ford Hour performance of her arrangement came as a surprise to Gena, then, to have Madame Kirsten Flagstad, the great Wagnerian soprano, perform it was quite the honor.  Though not given credit in the program, Gena knew it was her arrangement!

 

The Ford Sunday Evening Hour was a radio program sponsored by Ford.  From 1934-1942 and from 1945-1946 audiences heard the Detroit Symphony Orchestra/Ford Symphony Orchestra perform with guest stars and singers.  The show was broadcast live nation-wide on CBS.   

 

How small the music world is.  Gena Branscombe knew Edwin McArthur, Madame Flagstad’s accompanist.  Gena understood Sinding’s musical intention for his song “Sylvelin” and created an arrangement.  Maybe Gena showed the piece to McArthur who then brought the arrangement to Flagstad’s attention who suggested it to the conductor, Jose Iturbi!  All of this is surmising, yet, Madame Flagstad performed Gena’s arrangement of Sinding’s “Sylvelin” on the Ford Hour!

With thanks to the Ford Archives for a copy of the November 6, 1938 program. 

#BringingBackBranscombe

Musical America

Musical America – the mention of that publication to any classical musician means the holy grail of the international performing arts scene.   When the annual directory appears at the beginning of the year, artists from all avenues of the performing arts rush to see what artist management company their friends and colleagues may have, who ran ads promoting upcoming performances, what concert series are presenting for their upcoming season, what new music festivals listed by state and country are available, what music schools have run ads and much, much more.  It is the Holy Grail!

Today’s editions of the directory feature “Musician of the Year” photos and an article about that person.  It’s an honor to be chosen for the cover of Musical America.  Recent honorees have included singer/actor Audra McDonald and conductor Gustavo Dudamel. 

October 8, 1898 marked the debut of Musical America published by its founder, John Christian Freund.  The original format was a weekly newspaper for the classical music aficionados featuring articles about conductors, singers, composers, concerts being presented and interviews with various artists.  Singers, teachers and instrumentalists would place ads in the magazine to promote upcoming concerts, their availability for work or their fame as a guru to the great musicians of the day. 

Reaching the one-year mark for the publication, Mr. Freund took a six year hiatus from the publishing of Musical America and then returned to publishing the weekly newspaper for distribution in 1905.  For 25 years musicians, audience members and fans of classical music purchased the paper to stay up-to-date on what was happening in concert halls and to read about the featured artist in the informative articles. 

By 1921, John Freund began publishing the Guide which was the forerunner of the present day directory. 

Occasionally old issues of the Musical America newspaper come up for sale on E-bay or one page of the publication featuring an artist’s interview with the paper will be sold.  One such page came up for sale featuring Felix Borowski, who taught music theory and composition at the Chicago Musical College, and who was Gena Branscombe’s teacher.  He was featured in an interview in the June 29, 1912 edition.   Mr. Borowski was quoted as saying the future of American music had to be cultivated in the home.  Music was to be performed on the local level not necessarily in concert halls but in private playing the great masterworks.  Maybe this would happen in the era of the article and until after World War II, yet sadly, I think this rarely happens now.  His perception was right….music education begins at home.

In the March 28, 1910 edition of the newspaper, Gena Branscombe was featured and a review written about a concert of her works in Berlin.  Soprano Belle Forbes performed songs that, “are original and of melodic and dramatic effect.”  Also presented was a violin with piano accompaniment piece.  What a wonderful boost to her career as she was about to conclude her one year study with Englebert Humperdinck in Germany and return to the United States to continue composing and performing.

The second time Gena was featured in Musical America was in November 1920 when the publication praised the composer for the choral arrangements she had written for Arthur P Schmidt, music publisher.  In a philosophical way Miss Branscombe explained to the interviewer her own musical beliefs:

“I believe that a beautiful snatch of melody, even if it happens to be a hymn-tune, may be a richer gift to the world than a learned symphony.  Music is the most potent force making for spiritual liberation.  The musician holds a trust so sacred that he cannot give expression to the more sinister emotions without in some measure betraying it.  In my younger days I reveled in gore like most beginners in art.  Then a deep grief came to me, and I learned that I could take no lasting satisfaction in work which failed to carry a reminder of the highest possible conception of the destiny of the human race.”

Musical America continues to promote musicians worldwide.  Now on the internet, on a weekly basis there are interviews and articles about artists, orchestras, opera companies, and concert halls around the world.  Our holy grail continues to inspire.  

Women Composers of America – 28

The title of the December 11, 1909 article taken from the publication Musical America was “Women Composers of America – 28: A Versatile and Productive Muse is Gena Branscombe’s, Whose Songs Celebrities Sing” authored by Stella Reid Crothers. Imagine one hundred one years ago at the age of 28 Gena Branscombe was the featured interview in the prestigious magazine of the music world.

At the time of the article Gena was studying piano and composition in Berlin yet back in America she was being hailed as an accomplished composer of art songs, orchestral and instrumental works. A well-known authority who remained nameless was quoted in the article, “In her brilliant handling of the harmonic material at her command she is ever mindful of the fact that a melody is meant to sing – that it is written for the voice, and that the richest resources a generous fancy and an artistic skill may lavish can never justify the creation of a song that is unvocal in character. A proof of the composer’s nice discrimination in every detail of her art work is in the taste and judgment that mark her selection of the lyrics she has set to music.” Herbert Witherspoon, David Bispham, George Hamlin and Madame Lillian Nordica were a few of the great singers of the era who performed her songs in concert.

Indeed her songs are melodic with an undercurrent of late German romantic harmony bubbling below the singer which dictates the interpretation of the poetry. Complex songs with the attention she gave to tempi and dynamic markings might be called obsessive today yet if the interpreter follows them, her passionate songs come alive and soar.

Being featured and promoted in this magazine while studying abroad helped Gena's career move forward and kept her in the public eye upon her return home. What a fine tribute to a woman composer struggling to get her music heard!

This 101 year old article came to me through EBAY!