Getting Published
In 1899 at the ripe age of 18 while in college, Gena Branscombe’s song “For Love’s Abroad in Springtime Eves” was published by the Hatch Music Company of Philadelphia. Imagine….over one hundred years ago, a woman composer had found a publisher to release her song. I try to comprehend that idea and often wonder how she managed to get published for the first time, then, just two years later in 1901, four of her piano pieces were published by the Canadian firm Whaley, Royce and Company. Two different music publishers in two years. It is difficult to grasp how hard it was for composers, even more so, women composers to be published. Composers submitted their compositions to music publishers who looked at the marketability of the piece, took into consideration the cost of type setting the music, printing, distribution, hopefully it would sell and the composer would earn royalties. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries people purchased sheet music with fancy colorful engaging art wor...