Kathleen Shimeta
Gena Branscombe (1881-1977) was a Canadian/American composer and conductor. Her wide ranging career included studying with Englebert Humperdinck, teaching, and conducting choruses and orchestras across the United States. Her art songs were frequently performed by famous singers of the early to mid 20th century.
To have in my possession Gena Branscombe’s baton is to have a precious piece of a woman conductor’s life and career—a life and career forgotten over many years, but now found. The baton has a slender cork bulb that has scratches on it. The shaft of the baton is wood with a small chip missing on the tip. It is a baton that she held in her hand, part of her being and emotions. With this baton Gena inspired her Branscombe Choral to higher realms of music-making.
Gena gave her conductor’s baton and some of her published sheet music to two young children, Pierre and Peggy, in the 1940s. You can see in the photo below that she provided a loving inscription to the wonderfully titled music. Pierre and Peggy’s mother and two aunts had been members of Branscombe’s women’s chorus, The Branscombe Choral, who performed at Town Hall, the Broadway Tabernacle Church, and on the radio in New York City from 1934 to 1954. Their mother was not only a member of the Branscombe Choral, but also Miss Branscombe’s friend.
So treasured were these items that Pierre and Peggy kept them for over seventy years until they found me in 2012. After a few telephone conversations, I was gifted them. I have been working on the life and music of Gena since 1998. Recording a CD of her songs, co-authoring and performing a one-woman show about her life and career and now promoting #BringingBackBranscombe to the 21st century are only a few things we have done to bring awareness of her.
Oh ---- three of the songs from the autographed sheet music are on my CD, Ah! Love, I Shall Find Thee: Songs of Gena Branscombe. As for the baton: in April 2019, Dan Ryan, then Director of Choral Activities at Clark University in Worcester, MA, conducted a performance of Branscombe’s dramatic oratorio, Pilgrims of Destiny. Turning to the audience Dan explained that he would use Miss Branscombe’s baton to conduct the final movement of this work. The baton, once held in Miss Branscombe’s hand, brought her musical spirit to the stage.
The baton awaits future performances of Pilgrims of Destiny, and the sheet music awaits another singer to perform these beautiful songs.
