“Am only just back from my
trip to the coast – have had a simply marvelous time, hospitality –
friendliness, two concerts, speeches – interviews – my honorary degree –
(Marion Bauer also received one) – and such scenery from the southern desert to
the Canadian Rockies.”
July 12, 1932….a letter to Mr. Austin at the Arthur P
Schmidt Company in Boston – her publisher.
Gena Branscombe recounts the
honorary degree conferred on her from Whitman College in Walla Walla,
Washington. She was proud and thankful to
be given a Master of Music degree alongside fellow composer and colleague,
Marion Bauer.
Gena joined the faculty of
Whitman College as Head of the Piano Department in 1907. During her two year tenure at the college, she
taught piano, theory and composition. Concerts
of her music were performed there. Metropolitan Opera soprano, Lillian Nordica
was on concert tour in Seattle and performed Gena’s song “Hail Bounteous May.” She met her future husband, John Ferguson
Tenney, while teaching at Whitman.
Miss Branscombe’s career went
on to include studying in Germany, becoming a recognized composer whose music
was often performed, being a conductor and a promoter of American women
composers. The honorary Master’s degree
was well deserved.
Composer Marion Bauer was a
native of Walla Walla, Washington, who taught at New York University and
Juilliard. Her promotion of American
music helped to found the American Music Guild, American Music Center and the
American Composer’s Alliance. The
honorary Master’s degree was well deserved.
During an interview Miss Bauer
mentioned that Gena Branscombe, Amy Beach and she are known to be “the triad of
American women composers……the “three B’s of music.” She admitted that Amy Beach was America’s
outstanding woman composer and Gena was a close second. What a great colleague Marion Bauer was.
In 1932, the “three B’s of
music” usually referred to Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. Marion Bauer meant three living American women
composer B’s!
It may seem strange that only
a Master’s degree was conferred. In the
early 1900s, a Bachelor’s degree was required to teach in college. Today, colleges require a doctorate and it is
an honorary doctorate that is given to an individual for outstanding
contributions in their given field.
A little background - the
first honorary degrees were given in the Middle Ages. The first recorded degree was awarded by the
University of Oxford to Lionel Woodville in the 1470s. He became the Bishop of Salisbury. The same university conferred a doctorate on
Franz Joseph Haydn in July 1791.
#BringingBackBranscombe
