With my recent and ongoing
research about Miss Branscombe’s life, I have had the pleasure of making new
friends in Canada. Little is known about Gena’s younger years as
she did not keep diaries. There are no records
of her activities in the local school.
When I began making contacts
in Picton, I found people who would then give me other names, phone numbers and
e-mail addresses of someone who might have information. One surprise was being in touch with one of
Gena’s relatives! All of these people were
more than willing to help me in my quest for information from over 100 years
ago.
One individual, who has been
generous beyond what words can express, was willing to make trips to historical
societies where their records are not online.
I have received copies of pictures, newspaper articles, family lineage
charts, letters and much more. One
cannot offer enough “thank yous” to my new found Picton friends for their help.
At the same time, Gena’s
grandson, Roger Phenix, has also been digging through the family archives
trying to find physical items that may answer my myriad of questions. Over the years, Roger has provided me with a
treasure trove of items, many of which have appeared in my blog postings.
Two days ago, Roger sent me a
copy of a page from a diary. According
to Roger, the book contains quotes from poems, speeches by royalty and
hymns. This particular page is dated
Sunday, July 13, 1919.
In January of 1919, Gena and
her family suffered the death of their third daughter, Betty. She died of the influenza outbreak of that
year. June 1919, Gena gave birth to her fourth
daughter, Beatrice. One could say that
the year 1919 had extreme lows and highs for the composer.
What may be surmised as a meditative
mood or reflection, Miss Branscombe wrote on the top of the diary page:
“My Artistic Creed”
“It is – to be ever constant
in my endeavor to express thru music a firm faith in the joy, beauty, and
harmony underlying life, the certainty of a loving and sustaining Higher Power
which helps us in all our undertakings, & the value of a high courage. Music is to me the most beautiful &
instantaneous road to God. I feel it to
be one of the most potent forces for regeneration operating on the earth.”
An “Artistic Creed” written at
a time of loss and new life. Great creativity was in her soul at this time for Miss Branscombe began composing her largest
work ever, “The Pilgrims of Destiny”, a dramatic oratorio which would win her
numerous national composition awards. Working
through grief, attending to her three daughters......composing was her “…..potent
force(s) for regeneration operating on the earth.”
