Sigma Alpha Iota

PAN PIPES • SPRING 2016 • sai-national.org 16 POETRY IN SONG Gena held national office for the General Federation of Women's Clubs, National League of American Pen Women, National Federation of Music Clubs, and American Society of Composers, Authors, and Poets. Her many talents as a speaker, leader, and educator were utilized. She travelled across the country encouraging members to recommend our country's music be performed by choruses, opera companies, symphony orchestras, and chamber music societies at the local level. Her closest friend and colleague in these clubs was Mrs. Amy Beach. Together they founded the Society of American Women Composers, where in 1929 Gena followed Mrs. Beach as president of the Society. At age 40, Gena Branscombe's music career took on a new dimension when she began taking conducting lessons with Dr. Frank Damrosch, Albert Stoessel, and Chalmers Clion. Up to this point she had been known as a pianist and composer. She became the conductor of the MacDowell Choral Club in Mountain Lakes, NJ, and guest conducted choirs for women's clubs, colleges, and the American Women's Association. e Golden Jubilee Convention of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, held in 1941 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, featured a mass chorus of one thousand members from across the United States conducted by Miss Branscombe. Imagine - 1000 women on one stage! Working over a year in advance, Miss Branscombe created a concert program featuring works by herself, Mabel Daniels, Harriet Ware, Mozart, and others. She detailed a list of instructions for the music's preparation and sent these to the conductors of the club choruses nationwide. With only one rehearsal of the full chorus, the concert was considered a stirring performance. One thousand women raising their voices to American music ... 1,000 women! Miss Branscombe's largest work, the oratorio Pilgrims of Destiny, based on the Mayflower pilgrims' arrival in November 1620, was a personal triumph. e National League of American Pen Women awarded this work their national Best Composition award in 1928. Conducting from her own score, Gena led the premiere performance at the Plymouth Memorial Building in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Because of the patriotic subject matter of the oratorio and the many awards presented to her for it, in 1960 the music department of the Library of Congress requested Miss Branscombe's original orchestral score and orchestra parts for Pilgrims of Destiny. Gena was one of the first women to be honored with such a request. Her pride and joy was the creation of her own chorus, the Branscombe Choral, with members from New Jersey, New York City's five boroughs, and Connecticut. She conducted women from all walks of life, from professionally trained musicians to amateurs who could not read music. She served her chorus as conductor, composer, promoter, and fundraiser. From 1934- 1954 the Branscombe Choral was a mainstay of New York City's musical life. Christmas concerts were performed at the Broadway Tabernacle Church and Christmas carols were sung for the commuters at Grand Central Station and Pennsylvania Station. Spring concerts were performed at Town Hall. e Choral was broadcast live throughout the country and Canada on radio stations WJZ and WNYC. Over the past ten years, I have been contacted by a few of the surviving members of the Branscombe Choral. While interviewing them, these women mentioned having in their possession music, their Choral folder, pictures, programs, recordings, and letters from Miss BRANSCOMBE continued from page 15

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