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SignatureSignature WomenWomen inin MusicMusic Myra Hess Josephine Lang Myra Hess Bluebell Klean Josephine Lang Elinor Remick Warren Olga Samaroff Liza Lehmann Olga Samaroff Meira Warshauer Elinor Remick Warren Bluebell Klean Meira Warshauer Spring/Summer 2011 Signature: Women in Music Spring/Summer 2011, Vol. III, No. 2 Contents In This Issue: “How Many Words?”...………………………………………….……………………………. 3 Lest We Forget: Liza Lehmann — by Marion M. Scott....…..………………….………………………….. 4 Olga Samaroff: The Evolution of an Artist-Teacher — by Donna Kline ...………………………………6 Tales of a First-time Filmkaker — by Donna Kline..…………..……………….………………………….15 Josephine Lang and Her Women Poets — by Sharon Krebs……….……………..………..………….. 18 Hearing the Call from Within — by Meira Warshauer ………………...……………………….…………41 Myra Hess in America — by John K. Adams..………………………………………………………………44 Bluebell Klean: Composer, Pianist, Champion Angler — by John France.………..………………….49 A Lost Voice: Doreen Carwithen’s Film Music — A review ………………………………………...…. 54 Children’s Corner: Elinor Remick Warren — by Pamela Blevins………………………………………. 56 Profiles of Contributors …………………………………….…………………………………...……………70 John K. Adams John France Donna Kline Cover Background Photo: A pensive Elinor Remick Warren on the eve of her fifth birthday. Signature, Women in Music Spring/Summer 2011, Vol. III, No. 2 Pamela Blevins, Editor & Designer Karen A. Shaffer, Associate Editor Editorial Advisory Board: Anya Laurence (Canada), Katherine Copisarow (England), John France (Wales) , Jo Leighton (Scotland), Virginia Bortin, Leslie Holmes, Nora Sirbaugh, Elizabeth Reed Smith (USA) Signature, Women in Music is a quarterly publication of The Maud Powell Society for Music and Education, a United States non-profit, tax-exempt, educational organization. Publication is online only at www.maudpowell.org/signature with free access. In fulfillment of its educational purpose, The Maud Powell Society for Music and Education is making Signature’s content free and accessible to everyone. Publication is made possible by donations to The Maud Powell Society for Music and Education. Contents copyright 2011 by The Maud Powell Society for Music and Education. The contents may be quoted or used for educational purposes, provided proper credit is given. The Maud Powell Society for Music and Education 68 Grandview Avenue, Brevard, NC 28712 U.S.A. 828-884-8500 telephone/ 828-884-8501 facsimile Web site: www.maudpowell:org Email: [email protected] 2 Signature, Women in Music, Spring/Summer 2011 In this issue How many words? When writers query us about proposed articles, they artist. In addition to enlightening readers about Sama- inevitably ask “How many words?” Our reply is always roff’s background and her pioneering efforts as both a the same: “Whatever it takes to tell your story. We have pianist and visionary teacher, Donna tells us about the no word limits.” This kind of verbal freedom is unusual process of making her first film. in an era of sound bites. People have grown accustomed Pianist Myra Hess is still well known in Britain, par- to receiving their information in condensed doses that ticularly for her life-enhancing concerts during the dark don’t take much time to read but seem to run short on years of World War II, but she is not as well known today substance. in the United States. John K. Adams, who had the privi- So often we hear writers wondering how they can tell lege of knowing Hess, provides insights into her as an a life story or provide an account of a composer’s or per- artist and as a woman and recounts her experiences in former’s contributions to her art in a mere 1500 to 2000 America. words. Something is always lost when word counts be- Contemporary composer Meira Warshauer writes of come more important than substance. Consider the main- the experience of “hearing the call from within” as she stream music magazines, the few that exist, and it be- composed Tekeeyah (a call), her concerto for shofar, comes clear that space is at a premium even when it trombone and orchestra. I attended the premiere in Bre- comes to letters to the editor. Letters are usually limited vard, NC, and it was a profoundly moving experience. to 200 words or less. We recall a letter that a friend wrote The audience was held breathless by the beauty and quiet to one of these magazines about 20 years ago. Her letter contemplative power of this composition. covered a column and a half and was rich in substance Musicologist John France has a gift for uncovering and information. When this same person had another information about obscure or forgotten women in music. letter published recently in the same publication, it con- For this issue he tells us as much as possible about Blue- tained about 150 words. bell Klean mainly through accounts about performances Some might say that because we publish online, we of her music. As well as being a composer and pianist, have an advantage and while this is true to a degree, we Klean was a champion angler. We always hope that arti- would still tell writers “no word limit” even if Signature cles like this one will prompt others to come forward were a print publication. We believe that quality and sub- with information. John is now searching for scores of her stance are more important than quantity. As a result we music. believe that Signature offers rich, diverse and rewarding Our Children’s Corner focuses on American com- content that allows writers to expand our knowledge poser Elinor Remick Warren, who like Amy Beach, through their research. showed remarkable gifts at an early age. She began com- In this issue we are moving forward through time, posing at the age of five and continued to write music starting with song composer Josephine Lang in the 19th until six months before her death at the age of 91. Her century to Olga Samaroff, Myra Hess and Elinor Remick first composition was published when she was 18 and the Warren in the 20th century and Meira Warshauer in the 1940 premiere of her choral symphony Legend of King 21st century. Each woman made or is making significant Arthur caused a sensation. Elinor serves as a wonderful contributions to music. Some like the little-known Blue- role model for children. bell Klean fell into obscurity while others like Liza Leh- Musicologist and critic Marion Scott (1877-1953) who mann enjoyed success in more than one field of music. knew composer-singer Liza Lehmann provides a look at Josephine Lang scholar Sharon Krebs has made an her through a review of Lehmann’s autobiography. A important contribution to our knowledge not only about new CD of film music by English composer Doreen Car- Lang but she has also opened a window into the lives and withen raises the question “what might have been?” had work of the women poets whose texts she chose to set to Carwithen be given the opportunities of her male contem- music. Sharon did extensive new work to shed light on poraries in the film industry. Although her contribution these poets, many of them obscure or forgotten. Not only did not contain any well-known films, she had the stuff of did she unearth important information about each of them greatness as her music reveals. she also managed, against considerable odds, to find il- One final note. We welcome your ideas and sugges- lustrations. tions for articles so don’t hesitate to share them with us. Donna Kline’s interest in pianist and teacher Olga Samaroff led her to write a biography but then she went Pamela Blevins on to produce a documentary film about this gifted Editor 3 Signature, Women in Music, Spring/Summer 2011 Lest we forget... Liza Lehmann and Her Work Ed. Note: Marion Scott’s review of Liza Lehmann’s autobiog- raphy appeared in the Christian Science Monitor on April 10, 1920. Scott knew Lehmann personally and had worked closely with her when Lehmann served as president of the Society of Women Musicians, an organization Scott co-founded in 1911. Scott was the London music critic for the Monitor from 1919 to 1934. ew artists have had happier conditions of work, or put F them to a better use than Liza Lehmann. The autobiogra- phy of this distinguished composer, published by Fisher Un- win, is a very agreeably written book and shows that she had other gifts and graces besides those of the vocalist and the com- poser.1 Her literary talent she probably inherited from her mother, who was a daughter of Robert Chambers, the Scottish publisher and author of the ‘Vestiges of Creation.’2 On her father’s side she came of a very mixed strain. Rudolph Leh- mann was a famous portrait painter, though not quite of the first rank, much of whose work may be seen in the London National Portrait Gallery.3 He, though a naturalized English- man, was of German and Italian origin, with a certain English admixture. At the time of his daughter’s birth, Rudolph Leh- mann had a studio in Rome and was one of the famous colony of English and American artists who in the middle of the last century flourished exceedingly in that city. Notable Childhood Friends Liza – pronounced Leeza, as she is very careful to point out – although actually born in London, was soon transported to Italy, and spent all her early years in that sunny land, the lan- Composer-singer Liza Lehmann guage of which came earliest to her lips. Here as a child she made the acquaintance of the first batch of that gifted and somewhat Bohemian set of artists and musicians in whose soci- ety it was her happy lot to spend most of her days. These early years naturally play a small part in the recollection of maturity, but she still has a vivid remembrance of Franz Liszt, then also In Italy, the young Liza Lehmann met living in Rome.