Music Meets Drama

Please click on the link below to read a recently published article I wrote for the Association of Canadian Women Composers Fall/Winter Journal.   Entitled, "For the Love of Two Countries", the article focuses on the music Gena Branscombe wrote for her country of birth, Canada, and her adopted country, the United States.   Her song settings and her oratorio, Pilgrims of Destiny  allow her to share her dedication to and love of both countries.   When the journal opens in your browser, scroll down to page 5.  Enjoy! https://acwcweb.files.wordpress.com/2018/12/acwc-afcc-journal-fall-winter-issue-2018.pdf Composer Gena Branscombe #BringingBackBranscombe

Destruction of cemeteries is a painful process for the family members whose relatives’ grave markers have been harmed.   Is the thrill of doing something bad and maybe never getting caught what gives the perpetrators the right to cause this harm?   Does being disrespectful of other people’s property ever cross their minds?   In June of this year, the 140 year old Glenwood Cemetery in Picton, Ontario was vandalized with headstones and monuments nearly being destroyed and 150 of them being toppled off their foundations.   The cemetery estimated it would cost $150,000 to make all the repairs.   Fund raising has begun.   Fortunately, my friend and helpful research colleague in Picton, John D. Lyons, went to the cemetery to inquire about Branscombe family records only to find out that their headstone had been harmed.   Buried in this cemetery are Gena Branscombe’s father - Henry William Branscombe, her mother – Sara Elizabeth Allison Bransco...

Every other blog entry I make seems to be about Gena Branscombe items that have been given to me or that I purchased from E-bay or Amazon websites.  This past week two people sent me Branscombe items.  From the daughter of Agnes Conway, a Branscombe Choral member, I received 45 rpm records of the December 1953, Spring and December 1954 performances the Choral gave at the Broadway Tabernacle Church and Town Hall.  Thank you to Mary Conway for these recordings.  Agnes Conway passed away on December 31, 2017.  I am fairly sure she was the last Branscombe Choral member.   From the grandson of  Branscombe Choral member, Marie Zieres, I received her choral folder.   Covered in red fabric, the folder matched the robes and hats the women wore for their concerts.   Neatly tucked inside the folder were the programs from the Choral’s December 1949 and May 1950 concerts.   The small treasure inside the folder was a receipt made ou...

In May 2015, I wrote a blog entry about Gena Branscombe’s dramatic oratorio, Pilgrims of Destiny .   There was a detailed description of what was happening in Miss Branscombe’s and her family’s life at the time.   Also, I had found an original 1929 piano/vocal score online and purchased it.   Please go back and read the posting. This blog is about Pilgrims of Destiny and wonderful news to share with you.   Pilgrims of Destiny will be performed Saturday, April 27, 2019 at Clark University in Worcester, MA.  Dan Ryan, Director of Choral Activities at Clark University, will conduct this work which has not been performed since 1940.   When I began work on my Gena Branscombe Project, it was always my dream to see that Pilgrims of Destiny be performed once again. Last year I received an e-mail from conductor Dan Ryan telling me had found the score and was interested in performing the work.  Several weeks later we spoke by ph...

Recently I had the pleasure of reading Mary Sharratt's new book, Ecstasy .  A fiction based on fact  book about composer, Alma Mahler, who was the wife of composer Gustav Mahler.  Many thanks to her publisher for sending me the book.    Below is my review of  Ecstasy   with hopes that you the readers of my blog will read the book.   The late 19 th century was witness to three women composers of renown – Clara Wieck Schumann, Fanny Mendelsohn Hensel and Alma Schindler Mahler.  All three had their compositional talents repressed by the men in their lives - Clara’s husband, Robert, and Fanny by both her brother Felix and father.  Alma Mahler’s pianistic skills, as well as her intuitive and subtle understanding of music, portray a woman of musical talent beyond the norm.  Her career was stifled by not only her mother but her composition teachers and future husband.  Clara and Alma’s husbands were over-achievin...

Recently a CD of turn of the century symphonic works was released on the Naxos label.  Entitled American Romantics III ,  the CD includes works by Carl Busch, Edward MacDowell, Charles Wakefield Cadman, Cecil Burleigh, Ludwig Bonvin, David Stanley Smith and Gena Branscombe.  The music is performed by the Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra conducted by Reuben Blundell .  All the music on the CD was provided by the Edwin A. Fleisher Collection of Orchestral Music at the Free Library of Philadelphia .  Edwin Fleisher (1877-1959) did not intend to have an orchestral library but rather a Symphony Club that trained students interested in playing orchestral music.  One of the first employees of the Symphony Club was William Happich (1884-1959), a teacher and conductor.  For his students, Happich would arrange works from the collection.  Miss Branscombe’s violin and piano work, “A Memory” was arranged for harp and strings.  The work is beautiful...

Arriving in New York City in late February 1980, finding a voice teacher was a top priority for me.  Through recommendations of friends and colleagues, I called Miss Ellen Repp who lived near Lincoln Center.  Her resonant and warm voice answered the phone, “Hello, Repp here!”  That was a bit of a surprise way to answer the phone.  I quickly learned she always answered her phone calls with, “Repp here” or if she called me she would say, “Kathy? Repp here”.  Amusing and quite telling of her humorous warm personality. Our conversation proceeded when I introduced myself, explained who recommended her as a teacher and then asked if I may please audition for her voice studio.  A time was agreed upon for a week later and I was assured she would have a pianist on hand to play for me.  I arrived at Miss Repp’s apartment, knocked on the door and was greeted by a woman in her 70s with red hair beautifully arranged on the top of her head, dressed elegan...

Earlier today the funeral of former Branscombe Choral member, Agnes Conway, was held in East Rockaway, New York.  She died at the age of 95 on December 31 st .  I send her daughter, Mary, and extended family my sincerest sympathy for their loss. When Martin Hennessy and I performed, Life! Love! Song!  A Visit with Gena Branscombe, at Hofstra University in 2008, Agnes attended the performance.  An ad for our concert appeared in her local newspaper.  She ordered tickets for herself and her daughter.  Days before seeing the ad, she had been sorting through her possessions trying to decide what to keep and what to throw out.  When she came across her Branscombe Choral memorabilia, she chose not to throw any of it away.  After making the arrangements to attend our concert and much to our surprise, she gathered her Branscombe Choral pictures, programs, letters and more, cross-stitched book covers, put the items in binders and gave me...