Madame Margaret Matzenauer

 

Carnegie Hall sits on the corner of 57^th Street and 7^th Avenue in New York City.  Built 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 contralto,Margaret Matzenauer, was giving a recital.  Why all the war advertising during her recital?  World War I had been raging for nearly four years and the call for citizen’s patriotism was at its height.  

 

Madame Matzenauer presented songs in English, French, Italian, Russian and Norwegian.  Not to leave out American composers, she sang songs by Marion Bauer, John Carpenter, Gena Branscombe and her pianist/composer Frank La Forge.  Half way through her recital, Matzenauer paused her program to sing the war song “Dear Lad o’Mine” followed by our Star Spangled Banner.  I am sure her audience was moved by her commitment to the American war effort.

“Had such a nice surprise Friday when Madame Matzenauer sang “Dear Lad” for an encore at the Carnegie Hall recital.  It’s a joy to hear a voice like that, do one’s things”  (Gena Branscombe’s letter to Arthur P. Schmidt, April 7, 1918 held at the Library of Congress).  Whether Gena Branscombe was at that Carnegie Hall recital is not known, yet, she knew Margaret Matzenauer performed her World War I song with poetry by Katherine Hale. 

 

Madame Matzenauer went on to perform “Dear Lad o’Mine” on a concert tour which included performances in Brooklyn and Denver. 

 

Collaborating with Canadian poet Katherine Hale, the two artists tell the dramatic story of a mother fearing for her young son at war.  All profits from the sale of this song were donated to the Canadian Red Cross World War I effort. 

 

Katherine Hale’s poem:

War gods have descended:

The world burns up, in fine.

Warm your hands by the trenches fire,

Dear lad o’mine.

Sometimes bullets cease at night,

Only songs are heard.

When you feel a phantom step,

Was my heart that stirred.

 If you see a dreamy light,

 ‘Tis the Christ Child’s eyes;

I believe he watches us,

Wonderful and wise.

Let me come to say good night;

Through the campfires shine;

Warm your hands at the trenches fire,

They still hold mine.

Dear lad,

Dear lad o’mine. 

 

For the Love of Two Countries

Please click on the link below to read a recently published article I wrote for the Association of Canadian Women Composers Fall/Winter Journal.  

Entitled, "For the Love of Two Countries", the article focuses on the music Gena Branscombe wrote for her country of birth, Canada, and her adopted country, the United States.  

Her song settings and her oratorio, Pilgrims of Destiny allow her to share her dedication to and love of both countries.  

When the journal opens in your browser, scroll down to page 5.  Enjoy!

https://acwcweb.files.wordpress.com/2018/12/acwc-afcc-journal-fall-winter-issue-2018.pdf

Composer Gena Branscombe

#BringingBackBranscombe

Dear Lad O'Mine

Just four days after the events of September 11, 2001, Martin and I had a recording session.  It was an arduous two hours as we were changing microphones, repositioning microphones as well as changing where I would stand.  Then we dealt with various other technical glitches that had to be fixed.  As the session drew to a close we had not recorded what had been planned for the day.  David Smith, our recording engineer, called up from the booth to suggest we record one more song before calling it a day.

Looking through our prepared songs, I chose the shortest one, “Dear Lad O’Mine.”  Martin found his copy, I positioned my sheet music on the music stand preparing to begin recording, when we heard David say from the booth, “oh, my.”  David had read the first line of the poetry, “War gods have descended, the world burns up in fine.”  Oh, my, indeed. 

Strong words, strong musical setting and an emotional connection to what had forever changed our city and world four days earlier gave us the strength to record the song in one take. 

To clarify the use of the word, “fine,” Webster’s Dictionary’s seventh usage of the word is “awful” used in the most intensive way possible. 

Canadian Poet Katherine Hale collaborated with Gena Branscombe on this song.  The two women donated the proceeds from the publication of this work to the Canadian Red Cross World War I effort.  In a letter to her publisher, Arthur Schmidt, Miss Branscombe stated she was not happy about working with Miss Hale. 

How true the words of the poem ring out in our world today.  War is war that starts with an evil act against innocent people.  Our dear soldiers are remembered every second they are parted from their loved ones, prayers are raised for their protection and we wish them a speedy, safe return home.   These soldiers are our cherished fathers, brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces, husbands, wives and friends who have given of themselves and their lives to protect us. 

Recently a copy of the original 1915 edition of the song came up for sale on Amazon.  It now has a home in my collection of Gena Branscombe's sheet music.

The poem:

War gods have descended

The world burns up in fine.

Warm your hands at the trenches fire, dear lad o’mine.

Sometime bullets cease at night,

Only songs are heard.

When you feel a phantom step

‘Twas my heart that stirred.

If you see a dreamy light,

‘Tis the Christ-Child’s eyes;

I believe he watches us,

Wonderful and wise.

Let me come to say goodnight,

Through the camplights shine;

Warm your hands at the trenches fire,

They still hold mine.

Dear lad, dear lad o’mine. 

(Reprinted with permission from Katherine Hale’s niece.)

The CD Becomes Reality

Now we return to the history of my Gena Branscombe Project. With a few fantastic diversions for performances in Texas and Georgia, plus the purchase of Gena’s sheet music, we revisit the development of my CD and one-woman show.

Martin and I continued recording throughout mid to late 2001. Sessions were intense yet with the support of wonderful Martin and our recording engineer David Smith we continued to make progress. One session during this time comes to mind. Just four days after the events of 9/11 here in New York City, we were scheduled to record. I seriously thought about cancelling our reserved time in the studio yet thought better of it as we needed to move forward.

Saturday, September 15, 2001 was a particularly arduous recording session. We were trying new microphone placements in relation to the piano to get a better balance and sound. Maybe a small piece of carpet under my feet would help, maybe the piano needed to be closer, maybe a different microphone would work better - stop and start, stop and start. We only succeeded in laying down two songs. Nearing the end of our time, David Smith called up from the sound booth and offered to give us an additional half hour to compensate for all the technical adjustments. How great, we could do one more short song.

I quickly looked through the songs we had planned to record that day and decided on “Dear Lad O’Mine.” From the sound booth I heard David paging through the music he had for the session, then heard him say, “Oh” and from Martin just a slight gasp. Not realizing the words of the song at the time of my decision, I had surprised myself and found the opening line of the poem appropriate for what had happened in our beautiful city. The line - ”War gods have descended, the world burns up in fine!” Those words written by Canadian poet Katherine Hale could not have been more true. In our fervor we recorded the song in one take feeling the devastation that had happened to us all four days earlier.

The word “fine” is correct and having gone to the dictionary to make sure I understood what the poet meant, I found one of the extended definitions to be “ominous and in darkness.” How true.

Martin agreed to record four of Gena’s piano pieces that were written for her daughters. Several sessions later I sat back and listened to Martin imbue these charming works with his beautiful playing, tone color and sensitivity! What a gift to this recording. I know Gena Branscombe would have been pleased.

By June 2002 we had our final recording session laying down four songs. I was thrilled to be finished recording as it is an arduous task. Recording is nothing like performing as there is no audience, mistakes and glitches are stopped and you can re-record with as many takes as you like. In the editing process one can cut and paste cuts together until you have a product that satisfies the music, the performers and the record company. The technical recording process at times seemed cold and clinical all the while I was pouring my heart and soul into making Gena Branscombe’s music come alive for the 21st century audience.

With extensive editing, discussions of song order, program notes written by Dr. Marlow, cover art, photographs for the booklet and many other details, our finished product, “Ah! Love, I Shall Find Thee: Songs of Gena Branscombe” was sent off to Albany Records and released in November 2003. We celebrated the release that November with Martin, his partner Tom, my sister Judy to whom I dedicated my CD, my voice teacher Stephanie Samaras and of course, wonderful husband Dan. Champagne was opened and we toasted the newly released CD.

Now it was time for me to continue my Gena project and figure out how I was going to create a one-woman show!