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...

Musical America – the mention of that publication to any classical musician means the holy grail of the international performing arts scene.   When the annual directory appears at the beginning of the year, artists from all avenues of the performing arts rush to see what artist management company their friends and colleagues may have, who ran ads promoting upcoming performances, what concert series are presenting for their upcoming season, what new music festivals listed by state and country are available, what music schools have run ads and much, much more.  It is the Holy Grail! Today’s editions of the directory feature “Musician of the Year” photos and an article about that person.  It’s an honor to be chosen for the cover of Musical America.  Recent honorees have included singer/actor Audra McDonald and conductor Gustavo Dudamel.  October 8, 1898 marked the debut of Musical America published by its founder, John Christian Freund....

The title of the December 11, 1909 article taken from the publication Musical America was “Women Composers of America – 28: A Versatile and Productive Muse is Gena Branscombe’s, Whose Songs Celebrities Sing” authored by Stella Reid Crothers. Imagine one hundred one years ago at the age of 28 Gena Branscombe was the featured interview in the prestigious magazine of the music world. At the time of the article Gena was studying piano and composition in Berlin yet back in America she was being hailed as an accomplished composer of art songs, orchestral and instrumental works. A well-known authority who remained nameless was quoted in the article, “In her brilliant handling of the harmonic material at her command she is ever mindful of the fact that a melody is meant to sing – that it is written for the voice, and that the richest resources a generous fancy and an artistic skill may lavish can never justify the creation of a song that is unvocal in character. A proof of the compo...