Music Meets Drama

  “Composing is nothing, but writing letters is tedious business.   When you compose music your intentions are mostly understood, but when you write you are never sure how your meaning will be construed .”   (Christian Sinding, composer.   Musical America ,   March 25, 1910)     In that same March 1910 Musical America article with Sinding’s quote was a review of a salon concert presented by Gena Branscombe at the American Women’s Club of Berlin.   This was a well-reviewed concert of her songs performed by Belle Forbes and A.C. Jackson.   Christian August Sinding (1856-1941) is not well-known in today’s music world.   Born in Norway, he eventually studied and lived in Germany coming under the influence of Wagner and Liszt.   In his era, he was internationally acclaimed much like his fellow country man Edvard Grieg. His compositions included lyrical piano and chamber music works,  symphonies, violin concerti, songs and ch...

While in Berlin, Germany in 1909-1910, Gena Branscombe was studying piano, practicing five to six hours a day, composing, performing recitals of her works at the American Women’s Club of Berlin, gaining recognition for her talents with an article in the Musical America magazine in the United States and accompanying recitals for singers and instrumentalists.  One such recital was at a dinner party given by the American Ambassador to Berlin, David Hill and his wife, whose honored guests were President and Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt.   Gena accompanied her soprano friend, Belle Forbes.   Late afternoon of the dinner party, the two musicians were invited to perform with a car picking them up at 9 PM.   Even with this late notice, the two ladies were ready which Gena described in her Thursday, May 12, 1910, letter to her future husband, John Ferguson Tenney: “I was ready when the auto came, with Belle looking like a queen.   She had Harriet Illsey’s di...