An Annotated Catalog of the Music of Eusebia Simpson Hunkins in the Music and Dance
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An Annotated Catalog of the Music of Eusebia Simpson Hunkins in the Music and Dance Library Special Collections Room and the Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections of Ohio University A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Fine Arts of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Music Alexandra R. Taliani May 2020 © 2020 Alexandra R. Taliani. All Rights Reserved. 2 This thesis titled An Annotated Catalog of the Music of Eusebia Simpson Hunkins in the Music and Dance Library Special Collections Room and the Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections of Ohio University by ALEXANDRA R. TALIANI has been approved for the School of Music and the College of Fine Arts by Richard D. Wetzel Professor of Music History and Literature Matthew R. Shaftel Dean, College of Fine Arts 3 ABSTRACT TALIANI, ALEXANDRA R, M.M., May 2020, Music History An Annotated Catalog of the Music of Eusebia Simpson Hunkins in the Music and Dance Library Special Collections Room and the Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections of Ohio University Director of Thesis: Richard D. Wetzel Eusebia Simpson Hunkins (1902-1980) was an American musician and composer known most widely for her compositions based upon Appalachian music. She composed in the genres of opera, solo vocal music, choral music, piano music, and instrumental music. Her operas and choral music were performed in Athens, Ohio and across the country, and were published by Carl Fischer and the Lorenz Publishing Corporation, among others. Many of her works are preserved in manuscript. This thesis is an annotated catalog of the published and manuscript music of Eusebia Simpson Hunkins located in the Music and Dance Library Special Collections Room and the Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections of Ohio University. It describes the system of cataloging developed in consultation with Dr. Carla Williams, librarian of the Music and Dance Library. The thesis is organized into an introduction and three sections including a brief biography of Eusebia Simpson Hunkins, the annotated catalog and a general summary of her compositional style in the genres of piano and instrumental ensemble music, choral music, solo vocal music, and opera. 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank Dr. Richard Wetzel for trusting me with this project and guiding me through this process. I am grateful for his infinite wisdom and knowledge, and I could not have asked for a better advisor and professor. I wish to thank Professor Debra Rentz for being a phenomenal teacher and source of encouragement throughout graduate school, and for fostering my interest in women composers, which led me to this thesis. I wish to thank Carla Williams for assisting me in the cataloging of this music, and for being incredibly supportive of this project. Finally, I would like to thank Dr. Ciro Scotto for his guidance and for serving on my thesis committee. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgments............................................................................................................... 4 Introduction and Explanation of Cataloging System .......................................................... 6 Biography ............................................................................................................................ 8 Catalog of Music ............................................................................................................... 11 Piano Music in the Music and Dance Library Special Collections ............................ 11 Instrumental Ensemble Music in the Music and Dance Library Special Collections . 11 Choral Music in the Music and Dance Library Special Collections ........................... 12 Choral Music in the Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections ................... 16 Solo Vocal Music in the Music and Dance Library Special Collections .................... 17 Solo Vocal Music in the Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections ............ 19 Operas in the Music and Dance Library Special Collections ..................................... 19 Operas in the Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections ............................. 20 Summary of Eusebia Simpson Hunkins’ Style ................................................................. 22 General Characteristics ............................................................................................... 22 Characteristics of Piano Music ................................................................................... 22 Characteristics of Instrumental Ensemble Music ....................................................... 23 Characteristics of Choral Music.................................................................................. 23 Characteristics of Solo Vocal Music........................................................................... 24 Characteristics of Operas ............................................................................................ 25 References ......................................................................................................................... 28 6 INTRODUCTION AND EXPLANATION OF CATALOGING SYSTEM Eusebia Simpson Hunkins (1902-1980) was an American musician and composer known most widely for her compositions based upon Appalachian music. She composed in the genres of opera, solo vocal music, choral music, piano music, and instrumental ensemble music. Her operas and choral music were performed in Athens, Ohio and across the country, and were published by Carl Fischer and the Lorenz Publishing Corporation, among others. Many of her works are preserved in manuscript. Her music is preserved in two collections: in the Richard D. Wetzel Collection located in the Music and Dance Library Special Collections Room, and in the Eusebia Simpson Hunkins Papers located in the Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections of Ohio University. The music in this catalog was written between 1928 and 1980. There are sixty-four entries in this catalog, which includes fifty-five individual pieces of music, some appearing in both collections. This catalog includes almost thirty published and manuscript choral works and choral dramas, nine manuscript piano and instrumental ensemble pieces, over ten published and manuscript songs, and ten published and manuscript operas. Some pieces are arrangements in different voicings and instrumentations. In consultation with Dr. Carla Williams, Music and Special Projects Librarian and Dr. Richard Wetzel, Professor of Music History in the School of Music, I developed a cataloging system for Hunkins’ published and manuscript music. The catalog is organized by genre and collection location. Each composition within the genre is listed alphabetically and contains the following information: title, composer, folder number, 7 location, performing forces, number of pages, dimensions, publisher and plate number if applicable, place of publication if applicable, year of creation, the librettist or poet if applicable, other collaborators if applicable, and general comments about the composition. All of the available information for each composition is included in this thesis. A spreadsheet of the catalog, which includes the folder numbers for each composition, is available online. The music located in the Music and Dance Library and the music located in the Mahn Center are in two separate collections and could not be physically combined. This catalog provides locations for all the music held in both collections. The folder numbers are of two types. For the music located in the Music and Dance Library, the number of each folder is made up of the first letter of the composition’s genre (O for opera, V for solo vocal music, C for choral music, P for piano music, and I for instrumental ensemble music) followed by a number according to the alphabetical order. For example, the first piece in the choral genre, Americana, is listed as A1. For the music located in the Mahn Center, the box and folder number of each composition is included according to the Mahn Center’s filing system. 8 BIOGRAPHY Eusebia Simpson Hunkins (1902-1980) was an American musician and composer. She was born in Troy, Ohio on June 20, 1902 (Royster, 2003, p. 147). She studied piano and music theory in Dayton until she received a fellowship to the Juilliard School. At Juilliard, she studied piano, theory and composition, and conducting; her teachers were James Friskin, Rubin Goldmark, and Albert Stoessel, respectively (James, 1974). While she was studying at Juilliard, Hunkins traveled to Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa as a Juilliard Foundation representative, where she taught piano and composition. After her time at Cornell College, Hunkins worked in composition with Darius Milhaud, Ernest Hutcheson, and Ernst von Dohnányi. She continued to study composition after Juilliard, studying at Aspen, Chautauqua and Tanglewood, as well as Salzburg, Austria (“Eusebia Hunkins obituary,” 1980). She met her husband Maurel Hunkins in Chautauqua in 1930. He was the assistant conductor of the Chautauqua Symphony and Opera, and she was a piano soloist with the orchestra. (Royster, 2003, p. 147). They married the following year, and stayed in New York until 1946, where Hunkins composed, taught, and conducted choral groups. They had two children, Arthur and Nancy Jean, who later became musicians