Music Meets Drama

  On Monday, February 12 th , the Colleges of the Fenway Orchestra rehearsed Gena Branscombe’s 1914 piece, “Festival Prelude/Festival March.”     What made this rehearsal special?   It is the first rehearsal and soon to be first performance of the original orchestration of this piece in over 100 years.   And, to add more to this explanation, the original orchestral work is in Miss Branscombe’s manuscript at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.   From scanned photos of the manuscript, the piece was transcribed into Finale, note by note by note, for the rehearsal to happen!     Damali Willingham, The Gena Branscombe Project’s 2020 Composer scholarship winner, took on the task of re-creating the score from its original instrumentation.  When a student at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Damali arranged this same piece for wind ensemble and conducted the performance in Spring 2022.  Damali is one talented musician and ...

  With thanks to Matt Spangler for inviting me to be interviewed for his podcast “ The Ladies Speak .”   Speaking about Gena Branscombe for over 3 hours was a new one for me.   Guided by Matt, it was easy.   Damali Willingham, The Gena Branscombe Project 2020 Composer scholarship winner, joined the session to speak about the experience of arranging and conducting Gena’s “Festival Prelude.”   What a pro Damali is! Thanks to Dave at Pod617 studio who made me feel comfortable and at ease. Forgive my poor photographs of Dave’s wrist band advertising, but, it is very creative and I had to share it. The podcast will be posted on “The Ladies Speak” website in early 2023.   Of course, we will post it as soon as it is available. In the meantime, the recording session is “A WRAP!”

  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...