Music Meets Drama

Wm. H. R. Drake, elegantly written on the top right hand corner of “Love in a Life” and “A Lute of Jade,” song cycles by Gena Branscombe. Published in 1907 by G. Schirmer of New York, “Love in a Life,” is six song settings selected from Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “Sonnets From the Portuguese” poetry. This very song cycle drew me to Miss Branscombe’s songs for the third song in the collection is “How Do I Love Thee?” and the one I performed on a Valentine’s Day recital in Florida. Now I own the original published work. Though I have no idea what year Mr. Wm H. R. Drake purchased the music, it cost him a total of $1.25. Softly stamped on the title page is Chandler-Ebel Music Company, 22 Livingston Street, Brooklyn, New York. Owning my second original publication of the “A Lute of Jade,” I now have one for Soprano/Tenor and one for Alto/Bass. Soft green lettering on a brown cover held together with the maroon cord. Mr. Drake paid $1.00 for the song cycle. I have no i...

A husband in the early 1900’s …..the social mores of the day seem to tell us that he would have been head of the family, the sole bread winner, what he said was the word of the household, and family life revolved around him at his beck and call. Household duties such as cleaning, meals, entertaining and the raising of children would have been his wife’s duties. Imagine my surprise when I first met and interviewed Gena Tenney Phenix and her husband, Phillip, and asked Mr. Phenix what his father-in-law was like. His answer was straightforward, “My father–in-law was a saint.” Not quite expecting that answer, I hesitated before asking him to explain himself. Mr. Phenix proceeded to inform me that his father-in-law, John Ferguson Tenney, Gena Branscombe’s husband, was a man ahead of his time and one who fiercely believed his wife’s career was as important as his own. Gena and John’s marriage was one of equality. So who was John Ferguson Tenney and how 100 years ago did he become a...