Music Meets Drama

  “To Miss Lucielle Browning – With all good wishes – of Gena Branscombe”   inscribed on a piece of Gena Branscombe’s sheet music.   Who was Lucielle Browning?   An internet search offered information about Miss Browning.    Lucielle was born Lucielle Raynor Brown on February 19, 1913, in Jacksonville, NC and died on August 8, 2011 in Florida.      A number of my blog posts have been about discovering Miss Branscombe’s compositions either on E-bay or Amazon.  On occasion the works found are ones that I own yet I will buy them because they are autographed or inscribed to someone.  On other occasions a piece not in my collection appears for sale and obviously I purchase it.  This blog posting will be about these very reasons for a recent purchase of Gena’s music.  With friend and poet, Arthur Stringer, the two New York based Canadians collaborated on a patriotic hymn written for the Royal Canadian Navy.  “Our Canada...

With 150 art songs in her compositional output, Gena Branscombe set the words of famous and not-so-famous poets to music.   Her mother's poetry became song and her own poems set to music were dedicated to her mother and her daughters.   One often wonders why a specific poem catches the attention of a composer.   When reading a poem that touches their inner feelings, does a melody form in their mind?   Maybe the poet approached the composer with their own works suggesting a collaboration. Whatever Gena Branscombe felt about the poems she set, her songs beautifully imbue the words with melody, complex harmony and quivering emotion that grasps not only the performers but the audience as well.   The poets must have been pleased. As a young ambitious music student, Canadian Katherine Hale (1878-1956) foresaw herself on the operatic stage with a career that took her around the world to perform in all the major opera houses.   Her singing career tra...

Aross America in the early part of the 20 th century planned communities were being created to satisfy the need for urban areas and new housing.  Rural lands were forfeited to development.  Imagine Mountain Lakes, New Jersey in 1910;  a woodland locale with pristine terrain, rolling hills, woods and boulders and then a mere 10 years later in the 1920s, it was a full-fledged and developed community.  New residents were escaping from New York City and learning to commute to their jobs in the city on the newly completed train line. What has Mountain Lakes , New Jersey got to do with Gena Branscombe?  Well, I’m glad you asked. Leaving their residence at 1 West 82 nd Street in Manhattan in the summer of 1922, Gena Branscombe and her husband John Ferguson Tenney moved their family of three girls to Mountain Lakes , New Jersey .   Eldest daughter Gena had developed asthma which made the move necessary. For two years the fam...

Over the past 11 years I have been fortunate enough to purchase some of Gena Branscombe’s sheet music found on either Ebay or Amazon. Sheet music covers from her era could be works of art. It is easy to see that most of her covers were rather subdued which may be have been her choice or that of the publisher. Enjoy a look at some of her sheet music. With a photo of the St. Lawrence river, this song features poetry by the composer who was ever dedicated to her beloved Canada. Schmidt published this song in 1921. As poet and composer Gena's song "Autumn Wind so Wistful" was published in 1911 and republished in 1914 by Arthur Schmidt. Published by Schmidt in 1917, Gena set the poetry of Katherine Tynan. Gena teamed with her friend,fellow Canadian and poet Arthur Stringer to compose this song. Published in 1945 by Arthur Stringer. This is dedicated to the World War II Canadian soldiers. "Songs of the Unafraid" and ...