Music Meets Drama

  Carnegie Hall sits on the corner of 57 th Street and 7 th Avenue in New York City.   B uilt in 1891 the hall continues to be a center piece of the city’s musical life to this day.   There are a myriad of great classical musicians’ spirits hovering around that venerable stage where they once performed.     Only classical musicians?  NO!  Carnegie Hall has hosted fund raisers for orphans, peace concerts, Broadway shows done in concert format, jazz concerts, international peace and political action lectures.    On April 5, 1918 the outer lobby of this revered space was decked out with banners and a poster of Uncle Sam.   Over the stage hung posters for the national war savings campaign and a picture of large guns and fighting men which stated, “These boys are giving their lives will you lend your quarters?” Another poster encouraged women of America to save their country.   What was the occasion?   The world famous cont...

  Festival March/Festival Prelude   Should the title be “Festival Prelude” or “Festival March” or “March Prelude” or simply “March,” should it be called “Festival Overture” or maybe just “Prelude?”  Is the work to be scored for full orchestra, smaller orchestra or arranged for organ, piano and violin?  These are the unnerving tasks of assigning a title and deciding what instrumentation works best for the music you are hearing in your mind.    Eventually Gena Branscombe used the titles “Festival Prelude” and “Festival March” interchangeably.   Writing to her publisher, Arthur Schmidt, on August 11, 1913, she reveals that she is busy orchestrating her “Festival March” and wonders, “How can one ever write well for orchestra - if one never can hear what one has written?”   Nearly a month later she tells Mr. Schmidt that her “Festival March” for orchestra was completed.   As a self-promoter, Miss Branscombe dined with a Mr. Reinald Werrenrat...