Sigma Alpha Iota

PAN PIPES • SPRING 2016 • sai-national.org 18 "American composers – living and dead – had last night's program of the Branscombe Choral in Town Hall all to themselves and nobody missed the three B's for a change. …among featured composers were Foster, MacDowell, Chadwick, Loeffler, A. Walter Kramer, David Stanley Smith, Charles Haubiel, Deems Taylor, Philip James and Howard Hanson. New entries were listed by Frances McCollin, Gardner Read, Stanley E. Saxton and Isidore Freed. …the program was a neat cross-section of the continental choir that is America. … one sensed the breaking away from classic moulds, the urge to find themes in the shiing American milieu. rough it all ran a tangy frankness typical of the American temper. … credit Gena Branscombe for conducting one of the brighter choral programs of the season." 3 is woman composer, wife, mother, and champion of American music set an example for women today. She was a strong leader who was willing to take chances and a self-promoter with heart. Her kindness and soul inspired her Branscombe Choral members to perform to heights they never knew possible. America's music became acceptable repertoire because she believed that our country's talent was special. Working and composing well into the 1970's, her final works were an "Introit," "Prayer Response," and "Amen" written for Frederick Swann, organist and Music Director of Riverside Church in New York City. She died quietly on Tuesday, July 26, 1977. Her funeral was held at Riverside Church where the playing of her music provided the mourners with an understanding of the musical legacy Gena Branscombe le to the world. In a 1920 interview with Musical America, Gena Branscombe eloquently described what became both her musical and her life's philosophy: "I believe that a beautiful snatch of melody, even if it happens to be a hymn-tune, may be a richer gi to the world than a learned symphony. Music is the most potent force making for spiritual liberation. e musician holds a trust so sacred that he cannot give expression to the more sinister emotions without in some measure betraying it. In my younger days I reveled in gore like most beginners in art. en a deep grief came to me, and I learned that I could take no lasting satisfaction in work which failed to carry a reminder of the highest possible conception of the destiny of the human race." 4 Mezzo-soprano and Epsilon Xi initiate Kathleen Shimeta celebrates musical and theatrical excellence in Life! Love! Song! A Visit with Gena Branscombe! POETRY IN SONG FOOTNOTES 1 Extract from a letter from Alexander von Fielitz, May 30, 1906. Among Gena Branscombe's personal papers. 2 Extract from a letter from composer Mabel Daniels, December 16, 1936. Branscombe Choral scrapbooks held in the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. 3 Louis Biancolli, "Old Home Night at Town Hall," The World Telegram, May 7, 1948. 4 "Pioneer Virtues Exalted in Gena Branscombe's Pilgrim Opera," Musical America, November 27, 1920, p. 29. BIBLIOGRAPHY Elkins-Marlow, Laurine, Gena Branscombe: American Composer and Conductor, A Study of Her Life and Works; Doctoral Dissertation – 1980. Laurence, Anya, "Gena Branscombe: She Followed Her Light," The Maud Powell Signature, Women In Music, Volume II, Number 3, Autumn 2008, pp. 23-30. Author Not Cited, "Golden Jubilee of General Federation of Women's Clubs," New York Herald Tribune, May 1941. Branscombe Choral Scrapbooks dated 1934-1944 and 1945-1954 – (New York Public Library for the Performing Arts). Personal discussions with Dr. Laurine Elkins-Marlow and Kathleen Shimeta, 2000- 2011. Personal discussions with Mrs. Gena Tenney Phenix, Gena Branscombe's eldest daughter, and Kathleen Shimeta, 2000-2006. Personal discussions with Gena Branscombe's grandsons Morgan Scott Phenix and Roger Branscombe Phenix and Kathleen Shimeta – 2002-2011. Personal discussions with Branscombe Choral members Mrs. Marie Zieres, Mrs. Agnes Conway, Diane Nagorka and Henrietta Pelta. BRANSCOMBE DISCOGRAPHY Le Souvenir, Centrediscs, 1997, Sally Diblee, Soprano; Russell Braun, Baritone; Carolyn Maule, Piano. Ah! Love, I Shall Find Thee: Songs of Gena Branscombe, Albany Records, 2003, Kathleen Shimeta, Mezzo Soprano and Martin Hennessy, Piano. When you and I were young, Maggie: 19th century Canadian Salon Music, AME, 2005, Lawrence House, Trumpet, and Aurora Dokken, Piano. Remembered Voices, Carleton Sound, 2008, Ralitsa Tcholakova, Violin, Elaine Keillor, Piano. To Music - Canadian Song Cycles, Independent Label, 2010, Wanda Procyshyn, Soprano, Elaine Keillor, Piano. FOR MORE INFORMATION visit kathleenshimeta.com/ branscombe.html BRANSCOMBE continued from page 17

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