Sigma Alpha Iota

PAN PIPES • SUMMER 2016 • sai-national.org 18 Q R S T U V W X Y Z By Kathleen Shimeta What 15 year old Canadian girl relocating to Chicago for study towards a music degree could imagine that her life would extend for another 80 years? At that young age, could she also imagine traveling to Europe to study piano with Rudolf Ganz and composition with Englebert Humperdinck? Would her dreams of becoming an accomplished composer include the possibility of being a conductor and leader of woman composers because of her dedication to women's clubs? rough the personal and financial ups and downs of life, Gena Branscombe persevered and accomplished each of those goals in an era where women composers were thought to be second class musical citizens at best. In 1999 when I began my research on Gena Branscombe, I read a doctoral dissertation about her where names of her colleagues and friends in the music business were frequently mentioned. My curiosity being piqued, I then wondered to what degree these women composers may have interacted with each other. I discovered that in fact many interactions were the foundation for networking, concerts of their music,and lectures about women's roles on the American music scene. Founded in 1897 by a trio of women writers who banded together in their belief that women must be paid for their professional writing, the National League of American Pen Women has been a mainstay support system for its members to this day. In 1924 at the biennial meeting of the Pen Women, the organization expanded to include a Composers Unit. Miss Branscombe became an active member along with her good friend, Mrs. Amy Beach, who was elected chair of that unit. 1 With the formation of that unit, a concert was presented for the Pen Women members that included the music of Mrs. Beach, Gena Branscombe, Pearl Curran, Mary Turner Salter, Lily Strickland, Harriet Ware, and Mana Zucca. A few days later at the Women's City Club in Washington, the following composers presented the American Women Composers First Festival of Music: violin and piano sonatas of Mary Howe and Gena Branscombe were performed; songs with violin, cello, and a piano by Mrs. Beach; a piano trio by Elizabeth Merz Butterfield, and more. To be taken seriously these women presented a program of sophisticated chamber music compositions. 2 In my opinion they stressed the point that in the English language the word composer is gender neutral. . Now active on the national level with the Pen Women, the composers returned to their state and local chapters to participate in meetings and give concerts of their works as well as those of their colleagues. ey were laying the groundwork to stop the marginalization of music written by women. Miss Branscombe and Mrs. Beach, known as Aunt Amy to her "nieces" or fellow composers, were the leaders of women composers of their day. eir friendship and professional lives intertwined until Mrs. Beach's death in 1944. Both women were honored by the Pen Women with Mrs. Beach receiving a medal of recognition for her work promoting the Composers Unit and Gena Branscombe winning the Best Composition award in 1928 for her dramatic oratorio, Pilgrims of Destiny. As an outgrowth of the Pen Women's Composers Unit, Amy Beach, Gena Branscombe and 18 other women, including Marion Bauer, Ulric Cole, Mabel Daniels, Mary Howe, Louise Souther and Lily Strickland, founded the Society of American Women Composers in the mid-1920s. Mrs. Beach proclaimed "is Society may come to mean much in the future of American music, if we go about the work in the right way." 3 In October 1925, Mrs. Beach was elected President with Gena Branscombe succeeding her as President in 1928. Setting high membership standards, women composers were recommended based on their personal and professional qualifications. Once a majority approval was made by the Board, an invitation for membership would be granted. Concerts of string quartets, song cycles, and solo instruments were presented at venues in Washington, D.C., as well as New York City at Chickering Hall and Steinway Hall. Due to financial constraints, the women's plan for concerts of orchestral and large choral works did not materialize. With the fallout from the Great Depression, the Society disbanded in 1932. During its seven short years of existence, the members' music was heard and reviews in the papers kept them in the forefront of the music world. 4 Gender issues faced journalist Jane Cunningham Croly when she attempted and was denied access to having dinner with an all-male press club honoring the great writer Charles POETRY IN SONG An Era of Dedicated Club Women – Passionate Women Composers Above, Gena Branscombe. Below, The Society of American Women Composers, c. 1925

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