Music Meets Drama

  In today’s world it is difficult to observe the number of pianos that are left on the curb for pick-up that will then be destroyed.  Yes, there is a video online of a large furniture hauler hoisting a spinet piano into the back of a garbage truck which then crushes the instrument into pieces.  There are also countless pianos listed on E-bay.  From concert and baby grands, to spinets, uprights, old and new, electronic and more, they are for sale or offered for free if you come get them.  Are pianos becoming a musical instrument of the past? How painful it is to watch that beautiful piano be destroyed.  Maybe that piano had been in a family for a generation or two.  Maybe that piano was purchased by parents who saved for years to buy it for their children hoping they would learn to play.  Maybe they practiced every day, maybe not willingly,  but they practiced under the watchful eye of their parents.  Maybe those children would love ma...

  At age 92 Gena Branscombe received what would be her final commission.   Frederick Swann, organist of the Riverside Church in New York City, requested she compose an “Introit” and “Prayer Response” for a morning church service to be held on Mother’s Day in May 1973.     Not to be deterred by her failing eyesight, Gena began writing her own poems then set them to music she quietly held within herself.   Daughter Gena Phenix provided the staff paper and pencils as well as offering to help, but, Gena’s intention was these final pieces would be entirely her own.   By the end of March 1973, the “Introit” was complete followed in April by the “Prayer Response.”   She added a concluding “Amen” to finalize the Mother’s Day Service.     On Sunday, May 13, 1973 accompanied to Riverside Church by daughter Gena and her husband Philip, Gena Branscombe listened to the choir sing her “Introit,” ”Prayer Response” and the closing “Amen.”   Her fina...

  Binghamton musicians added to the value of events musical in this city yesterday when the Harmony Club presented a program of Gena Branscombe compositions at a musicale in the Monday Afternoon club. With this popular composer as conductor and honor guest, with an audience that taxed the capacity of the clubroom auditorium, and with a well balanced and artistically presented musical menu, the event proved one of those pleasant, artistic hours of music such as gladden the hearts and find instant response in the minds of music lovers. Proof that American music has made marked strides during the last few years is evidenced by the artistry of the Branscombe compositions, full of color and of charm. Vocal and instrumental numbers were interpretated in an interesting manner.   The Binghamton Press, Tuesday evening, February 28, 1928   Among Gena Branscombe’s 1928 letters to her publisher, Mr. Austin, at Arthur P. Schmidt Publishing, is the original newspaper article fro...