Gena Branscombe facts for kids

Gena Branscombe was a talented musician.

Gena Branscombe (born November 4, 1881 – died July 26, 1977) was a Canadian pianist, composer, music teacher, and choir leader. She lived and worked in the United States for most of her life.

Gena Branscombe's Early Life and Musical Training

Gena Branscombe was born in Picton, Ontario, on November 4, 1881. Her musical talent showed up very early. She learned piano and music theory from local teachers. Gena was also good at making up music on the spot and reading music quickly. She finished high school by age fourteen. Because of her musical skills, her family decided to send her to college for a music degree.

In 1896, Gena moved to Chicago with her mother for support. She was accepted into the Chicago Musical College. Chicago became her home for the next eleven years. She earned money by playing piano for others, teaching private lessons, and getting her songs published. In 1900 and 1901, she won gold medals for her compositions from the college. After graduating, she became a teacher at the Chicago Musical College.

Three important teachers greatly influenced her life and how she wrote music. Rudolph Ganz, a pianist, composer, and conductor from Switzerland, taught Gena piano. She also took private lessons in composing from Felix Borowski. His love for rich and complex German Romantic music likely shaped Gena's own compositions. Her music often had detailed harmonies. She understood how different sounds could help tell a story in her songs and instrumental pieces. Gena also studied songwriting with Alexander von Fielitz, who was from Germany. He might have taught her how to set words to music.

Gena Branscombe's Music Career

In 1907, Gena left her job at the Chicago Musical College. She became the head of the piano department at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. She made this move to grow her career, challenge herself musically, and earn more money. There, she met her future husband, John Ferguson Tenney. After teaching at Whitman for two years, she left the United States in 1909. She spent a year in Berlin, Germany, taking intense piano and composition lessons. Whitman College later gave her an honorary Master of Arts degree in 1932.

In Berlin, Rudolf Ganz was again her piano teacher. The famous composer and teacher, Engelbert Humperdinck, taught her composition during her year in Berlin. Gena did not often talk about her lessons with this master teacher. Before she left Berlin, Humperdinck hosted a special "garden evening" for her. She was one of only a few women guests, along with many male students. At this party, some music was played. Humperdinck and her fellow students asked her to perform, but she did not. This party showed how much they respected her.

While in Berlin, Gena and another student, Belle Forbes, performed at a private dinner party. This party was for President Theodore Roosevelt and his wife. Gena was also featured in a Musical America magazine article called "Women Composers of America." Her music was also played at a concert in New York by the Women's Philharmonic Society. This concert featured works by other American women composers.

Marriage and Major Works

After returning home in the summer of 1910, Gena got ready to marry John Ferguson Tenney. They married on October 5 in Picton. Soon after, they moved to New York City, where they lived for the rest of their lives. They raised four daughters in the city while both continued their careers.

In 1920, Miss Branscombe finished her biggest work, an oratorio called Pilgrims of Destiny. An oratorio is a large musical work for voices and orchestra. This piece was about the Mayflower pilgrims arriving in November 1620. In 1928, the National League of American Pen Women gave this work their national Best Composition award. A big performance of it happened in Plymouth, Massachusetts. In 1960, the Library of Congress asked for Gena Branscombe's original music for Pilgrims of Destiny. This was because of the patriotic topic and the many awards she received.

The oratorio was a family effort. Gena wrote the words for the music. Her husband, John, helped by researching the names of people on the ships sailing to America. He also checked her work. They worked together to finish Pilgrims of Destiny and get it ready for its first performance.

The Branscombe Choral and Performances

Gena Branscombe started her own women's choir, called the Branscombe Choral (1934-1954). Members came from New Jersey, New York City, and Connecticut. The choir included women from all walks of life. Some were trained musicians, while others were amateurs who could not read music. Gena kept everyone together as the conductor, composer, promoter, and fundraiser. They gave yearly concerts at Town Hall and the Broadway Tabernacle Church. The Choral also performed at the first United Nations meeting. They sang on nationwide radio shows and performed Christmas carols for people at Pennsylvania Station and Grand Central Station.

Famous opera and concert singers of that time performed her art songs. Art songs are pieces for a singer and piano. These were performed in recitals across the United States and in Europe. In 1908, Lillian Nordica, a singer from the Metropolitan Opera, performed Gena's song "Hail Bounteous May." Many other well-known singers, like David Bispham and George Hamlin, regularly performed her songs. In 1947, the famous singer Mary Bothwell gave a recital in The Hague that featured Branscombe's songs. Classical trumpeter Edna White, who was the first person to give a solo trumpet recital at Carnegie Hall, performed Miss Branscombe's "Procession" from her Quebec Suite.

Professional Organizations and Publications

Miss Branscombe was part of several professional groups outside of just music. She held national positions for the General Federation of Women's Clubs, National League of American Pen Women, and other important organizations.

Her long involvement with the General Federation of Women's Clubs made her a mentor and conductor. From 1930 to 1935, she led the American Music and Folksong Committee. She was also on the executive board until 1945.

In 1941, the Golden Jubilee Convention of the General Federation of Women's Clubs took place. This event in Atlantic City, New Jersey, featured a huge choir of one thousand members from all over the United States. Gena Branscombe conducted this choir. She worked for over a year to create a concert program. It included her own works and pieces by other composers. She sent detailed instructions to the conductors of club choirs nationwide. In Atlantic City, after only one rehearsal with all one thousand singers, the concert was a great success. One thousand women sang American music together.

During Gena Branscombe's lifetime, 22 different music companies published her works. These included 74 choral compositions, 150 art songs, 13 piano pieces, and 8 instrumental works. Her publishers included Arthur P. Schmidt, Oliver Ditson, and Boosey-Hawkes.

Gena Branscombe's Personal Life

Gena Branscombe's father was Henry William Branscombe, a dentist, eye doctor, and pharmacist. Her mother, Sara Elizabeth Allison Branscombe, was a poet and newspaper writer. Gena had two older brothers. One died as a baby, and the other, Clarence Henry, was ten years older than her. Her family came from the village of Branscombe in England, and also had Scottish, Dutch, and Swedish roots.

Gena Branscombe married John Ferguson Tenney from Methuen, Massachusetts. They met in December 1908 in Walla Walla, Washington. At that time, John was a lawyer in Seattle. By spring 1909, they were engaged. They understood that Gena would go to Berlin for a year of study. They married in the fall of 1910 and moved to New York City. There, they both continued their careers.

Their daughters were Gena (born 1911, died 2007), Vivian (born 1913, died 1990), Betty (born 1916, died 1919), and Beatrice (born 1919). Her husband, John, died in 1949. Branscombe continued to compose music until shortly before her death in New York City on July 26, 1977. After she passed away, her original music papers were given to the Music Division of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Selected Works by Gena Branscombe

• The Bells of Circumstance, Unfinished opera, 1928
• Festival Prelude for orchestra, 1913
• Quebec Suite (excerpt from Bells of Circumstance) 1928
• Ten (in Prologue) for orchestra
• Baladine for chamber orchestra, 1930
• Procession for orchestra, 1930
• Elegie for orchestra, 1937
• Just in the Hush before the Dawn, 1946
• The Morning Wind (Banning) for female voices, orchestra, 1912
• The Sun Dial: a Cycle of Love Songs of the Open Road (Banning) for solo voice, piano, 1913
• Dear Lad O'Mine (Hale) for female voices, orchestra, 1915
• Spirit of Motherhood (Driscoll) for female voices, orchestra, 1923
• A Wind from the Sea (Longfellow) for female voices, orchestra, 1924
• The Dancer of Fjaard (Branscombe) for soli, female voices, orchestra, 1926
• The Phantom Caravan (Banning) for male voices, orchestra, 1925
• At the Postern Gate (Banning) for male voices, orchestra, 1918
• Pilgrims of Destiny (Branscombe) for soli, SATB, orchestra, 1919

Branscombe also wrote articles, including:

• "The sound of trumpets", Showcase, vol 61, no. 3, 1962

See also

In Spanish: Gena Branscombe para niños