Review

Reviewed Work(s): Amy Beach and Her Chamber Music: Biography, Documents, Style by
Jeanell Wise Brown; The Remarkable Mrs. Beach, American Composer: A Biographical
Account Based on Her Diaries, Letters, Newspaper Clippings, and Personal Reminiscences
by Walter S. Jenkins and John H. Baron
Review by: Adrienne Fried Block
Source: Notes, Second Series, Vol. 52, No. 3 (Mar., 1996), pp. 790-794
Published by: Music Library Association
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/898626
Accessed: 27-02-2019 00:17 UTC

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790 NOTES, March 1996

university
university campuses.
campuses. Still,
Still, it
it will
willhave
haveits
its to the American musical community?
community? WhatWhat
place as aa reference
reference for
for theorists
theoristswho
whohave
have effect has it had on the place of
of the
the com-
com-
a special
special interest
interest in
in serial
serial procedures
proceduresand and poser in society? What effect has has it
it had
had on
on
as a text
text for
for graduate
graduate seminars.
seminars. the place of academia within the
the musical
musical
The most
most important
important bookbook on on this
thissubject
subject community? What part has it played
played in
in sup-
sup-
remains to be written, and this is one that porting the creation and performance
performance of of aa
Mead, in his prologue, states his book is broad spectrum of new music? And, And, per-
per-
not. He says that he has not attempted "to haps most painfully, what part part has
has it
it had
had
place Babbitt in a historical context" (p. in fostering the prevailing attitudes attitudes of
of the
the
[3]). In fact, a consideration of this place- classical music public toward new new music?
music? A A
ment would be more than an interesting book with these themes would be, in a
exercise. It would be illuminating to con- broad sense, useful.
sider Babbitt's music and prose from a
broad cultural perspective and to ask ques-
tions such as: What is its significance to EDWARD HARSH
American culture? What is its significance Kurt Weill Center, New York

Amy
AmyBeach
Beachand
and
HerHer
Chamber
Chamber
Music:Music:
Biography,
Biography,
Documents,
Documents,
Style. Style.
By
By Jeanell
JeanellWise
WiseBrown.
Brown.
(Composers
(Composers
of North
of America,
North America,
16.) Metuchen,
16.) Metuchen,
N.
N. J.:
J.:The
TheScarecrow
Scarecrow
Press,
Press,
1994. 1994.
[xxxii,[xxxii,
407 p. ISBN
407 0-8108-2884-7.
p. ISBN 0-8108-2884-7.
$49.50.]
$49.50.]

The
TheRemarkable
Remarkable Mrs.
Mrs.
Beach,
Beach,
American
American
Composer:
Composer:
A Biographical
A Biographical
Ac- Ac-
count
countBased
Based
onon
HerHer
Diaries,
Diaries,
Letters,
Letters,
Newspaper
Newspaper
Clippings,Clippings,
and Per- and Per-
sonal
sonalReminiscences.
Reminiscences.
By Walter
By Walter
S. Jenkins.
S. Jenkins.
Edited by
Edited
John H.
byBaron.
John H. Baron.
(Detroit Monographs in Musicology/Studies in Music, 13.) Warren,
Mich.: Harmonie Park Press, 1994. [xiv, 226 p. ISBN 0-89990-069-0.
$35.00.]
In
In the
theintroduction
introductionto Amy
to Amy
BeachBeach
and Her
and Her scores and manuscripts at both the Library
Chamber
ChamberMusic:
Music:
Biography,
Biography,
Documents, Style, Style, of Congress and the University of New
Documents,
Jeanell Wise Brown lists the contributions Hampshire" (p. 4).
to Beach scholarship that she intends to This review will consider the book in the
make with this volume (originally a D.M.A. light of these goals. But first, against what
thesis, University of Maryland, College is Brown measuring herself? Better, more
Park, 1993). They are, in "Part I: The Life complete, more accurate than what? These
of Amy Beach": are pertinent questions, since Brown writes
1. To offer "a more complete and ac- as if little scholarly work has been done in
curate biography using original sources" the recent past. Her bibliography lists only
(p. 2). Myrna Garvey Eden's dissertation (pub-
2. To document Beach's "professional lished as Energy and Individuality in the
and personal affiliations" giving not only Art of Anna Huntington, Sculptor and Amy
"additional insight into her business and Beach, Composer [Metuchen, N. J.: Scare-
personal life, but a better understanding of crow Press, 1987]). She mentions E. Lind-
Beach's personality" (p. 4). say Merrill and Judith Tick, but does
In "Part II: Compositions and Compo- not cite their dissertations (Merrill, "Mrs.
sitional Style," there are: H. H. A. Beach: Her Life and Work"
3. "definitions of her musical signature [Ph.D. diss., University of Rochester, 1963]
and descriptions of specific aspects of mel- and Tick, published as American Women
ody, rhythm, texture, and form" (p. 4). Composers Before 1870 [Ann Arbor: UMI
4. "a more complete listing of composi- Research Press, 1979]). There are in ad-
tions, compiled from a thorough search of dition several other dissertations and the-

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Book Reviews 791

Brown further insists that Beach's record

ses, a number of journal and encyclopedia
articles, none of which are cited or includedas a performer justifies the conclusion that
in the bibliography. she continued as a professional performer
Beginning on page 1, the book suffers (p. 35). A survey of Beach's performances
from neglect of the extant literature. For from 1885 to 1910, the years of her mar-
example, in the brief historical survey that riage, shows, however, that she averaged
opens chapter 1 (p. 12), Brown refers to 1.5 concerts per year, fewer than in the two
George Upton's discussion in Women in Mu- years 1883-85, and many fewer than the
sic (Boston: Osgood, 1880) without noting usual average of concert pianists.
that it was previously discussed by Tick in There is also the statement that in 1905
a probing landmark essay on music and Beach soloed with the Theodore Thomas
gender ("Passed Away Is the Piano Girl," inOrchestra. The Theodore Thomas Orches-
Women Making Music, ed. Jane Bowers and tra ceased to exist in 1891 when Thomas
Judith Tick, [Champaign, Ill.: University of(d. 1905) became conductor of the Chicago
Illinois Press, 1980], 325-48). In that essaySymphony Orchestra. That year Beach
Tick also discusses Beach's achievements in played with the Pittsburgh Symphony Or-
the light of the gender controversy. chestra.
Concerning the question of sources men- Names and places are misread or mis-
tioned in point 4, the two collections shespelled in many instances, although refer-
uses are the most important Beach collec-ences are easily available that would give
tions, but there are others, beginning with authoritative spellings. See, for example,
the extensive collection at the University ofher mention of Margaret Ruth (recte
Missouri in Kansas City. Additional source"Ruthven") Lang (p. 33) or the misspelling,
materials, some of them especially impor- or lack of recognition of Oscar Sonneck's
tant, are scattered in public and university name (given as "Soureck" on p. 44). A mis-
libraries and historical societies in the reading of Beach's address at the Pension
United States and Europe. Moreover, she Pfanner, Finkenstrasse 2, Miinchen, ap-
has consulted no archival sources, crucial to as "Pension Pfauupr, Finkenstrasse 1,
pears
correcting received information. Finally, Muuchen" (p. 49). The biography has
she has not done the ancillary research many such errors.
needed to place in perspective significant Concerning "Part II," which deals with
figures and events in Beach's life. In her the music, the discussions are often accu-
defense it is only fair to point out that rate, although more descriptive than ana-
Brown's study is not a full-scale biography, lytical. Some are confusing and contradic-
but rather has as its main focus a study tory, and some, like the following, are dead
of the chamber music. Given her limited wrong. In "Chapter Nine-Elements of
source work, Brown was ill-advised to make Style" under the subheading "Harmony"
such sweeping claims as: "There are no the following statement appears:
known sources that document Beach's
elementary or secondary education"Beach's
(p. formal study of harmony fo-
20), when, in fact, such sources exist. cussed on the translation of a treatise on
There are other incautious statements. harmony [sic] by Berlioz, a composer
For example, Brown makes much of her whose relatively non-chromatic and con-
claim that Beach did not give up her career servative harmony avoids fundamental,
as a pianist after marriage (pp. 2, 32). In obvious chord progressions. Berlioz,
fact she quotes contemporary evidence to like Beach, was not interested in strong
the contrary in newspaper reviews that la- dissonance, but at the same time he
ment the public loss of Beach as a pro- wanted to avoid harmonic predictability.
fessional pianist after marriage, only to (P. 147) (!)
deny the validity of their statements. (pp.
32, 35). Brown does not know how tight Brown denigrates Beach's songs: "Apart
was that little world of Boston musicians, from their keyboard accompaniments, [her
a world that embraced the very same music songs] do not present memorable tunes ...
critics whose words she quotes. Their even though they were quite popular" (p.
sources of information were hardly limited128). But famous singers from Adelina
to what they heard in the concert hall. Patti to Arleen Auger have found her songs

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792 NOTES, March 1996

wonderfully vocal as well as of outstanding "Dearie"); at least twenty works are missing
musical quality. in both. Since most of Beach's works have
Brown further states that her "songs ... opus numbers, the need for "Brown num-
never changed in their character nor ma- bers" is questionable.
tured into a more modern style" (p. 112). One entry in the catalogues has both
Yet she implies such a change of style when gaps and errors: Brown's listing for Beach's
she states, "By 1900 ... the melodic style Variations on Balkan Themes, op. 60, contains
in the songs . .. [is] disjunct with frequent the statement, "revised in 1934 and 1936"
change of direction, extremely chromatic, (p. 350). In fact, there was no revision in
and when heard without its harmonization, 1934, simply a reassignment of the copy-
tonally ambiguous" (p. 141). In fact, by right to Beach. The 1936 date is correct,
1900 Beach had composed and published but missing from the catalogue is the ar-
over fifty songs, almost half of her total rangement for orchestra (ca. 1906) and an
output in that genre, several of which made indication that the 1937 arrangement for
her famous. two pianos was further revised and pub-
To illustrate her point that Beach's songs lished in two parts in 1942. That the two-
have disjunct melodic lines, Brown chooses piano version is not discussed among the
"Dark Garden," op. 131, composed in 1931 chamber works is a serious omission.
and thus one of her late songs. It is somberIn both of the catalogues and in the dis-
and intensely expressive and, yes, the me- cussion of the Suite for Two Pianos Founded
lodic line is occasionally disjunct. Beach upon Old Irish Melodies, op. 104, Brown
has written several lines with beautifully states that Beach's lost work for two pianos,
conceived implied counterpoint, however. "Iverniana," op. 70, is identical with Op.
Brown states that accompaniments do not104. If she has located the missing score of
support the vocal lines (p. 142). But in "Iverniana," she does not say so. Nowhere
"Dark Garden" Beach regularly prefigures does she explain how she came to this con-
in the piano part the more dissonant vocalclusion. Could she have heard about my
shifts, and outlines the harmonies in sup-unpublished paper, given at meetings of
port of the voice. the American Musicological Society and the
Brown believes that Beach's "composi- Sonneck Society, in which I offered an hy-
tional style is inseparable from her mechani- pothesis of identity based on circumstantial
cal skills at the piano" (p. 128), yet goes on evidence? To my knowledge, this was the
to quote Beach, "I always compose away only study provisionally linking the two
from the piano-unless it be an accompa- works.
niment that I may want to try with the voice Walter S. Jenkins (1909-1990) made no
part" (p. 129). Had she read the more scholarly claims for his book. He was, like
recently published studies, Brown would Brown, not a musicologist, but rather a
have discovered that a significant number composer and theorist. He wrote his bi-
of solo instrumental, chamber, and orches- ography out of respect and affection forj
tral works are recompositions of her own Amy Beach, whom he knew, and a feeling
songs. Adding these to the many works in of "awe" for her reputation as a composer
which she uses folk songs as themes, a good and pianist (p. xii). The section entitled
case can be made that songs, not keyboard "Some Recollections of Mrs. H. H. A.
music, were at the root of her composi- Beach" (pp. 169-70) is particularly touch-
tional impulse. ing. Also significant are his recollections of
There are not one but two catalogues of life at the MacDowell Colony in Peterbor-
Beach's works in the book, the first, which ough, New Hampshire, the artists' retreat
opens "Part II," is organized by opus num- which he shared with Beach in 1935, 1937,
ber (pp. 112-27). "Part III" consists of a and 1938. Jenkins, who owed his introduc-
second catalogue, arranged by genre withtion to the Colony to Beach, also writes
Brown's numbers superseding the opus about Marian MacDowell, the director of
numbers (pp. 337-62). Both catalogues arethe Colony, and other colonist friends of
minimally informative. Twelve entries in Beach.
both have the same errors, for example, He also provides much new information
"The Thrust" (p. 113, recte "Thrush"), and about Beach's friends and relations in Hills-
"Wilt thou be my Desire" (p. 113, recte borough, New Hampshire, where she spent

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Book Reviews 793

part of almost every year from 1916 to The

her Biographical History of Massachusetts, vol.
death. He apparently interviewed a num- 3 [Boston, 1911, unpag.]).
ber of the people she knew in Hillsbor- The one archival document Jenkins
ough, and in the neighboring towns of found, a bill of sale for the house on Com-
Henniker and Concord, although interview monwealth Avenue in Boston, he misun-
notes survive for only one person. derstood and misidentified. His claim that
A considerable amount of information Beach sold the house for $30,000 (p. 84,
about performances of Beach's works, n. of-
147) is not supported by the deed of sale,
ten complete with dates, is new with which
this has affixed only a United States rev-
book. For most of this new data, however,enue stamp for $30.00. He gives the lo-
documentation is missing. Accordingcation to of the document as Suffolk County
John Baron, who edited the book for Registry
pub- of Deeds, Bk. 1449, page 62. This
lication after Jenkins's death in 1991,location,
Jen- however, is for the deed of pur-
kins left the manuscript totally withoutchase
doc- made in 1879. The deed of sale,
umentation. Baron added footnotes where dated 27 December 1924, is located in Bk.
he could, but for the most part the reader
4644, page 93. Jenkins also states that
is left to retrace Jenkins's research paths
Beach signed her final will on 20 November
where possible in order to check on accu-1926 (p. 89). There is a will dated 27 Feb-
racy. For, like the Brown book, there are ruary 1936, however, which he does not
enough errors to make one question the mention, and to which two codicils were
accuracy of each and every undocumented added, only one of which Jenkins mentions
statement, and even some of the docu- (p. 84, n. 148). In addition, there are many
mented ones. instances of misspellings of names of peo-
Baron reports that Jenkins talked withple and places, for example, the conductor
Beach about her past (p. xii), but the au-
Leon Bargin (recte Barzin, p. 145).
thor's research materials, now at the Uni- Much new information contained in the
versity of New Hampshire, include no book comes from Beach's diaries from
notes from his informal interviews with
1926 to 1941, part of a large collection of
Beach. How then do we know which are materials that were closely held by Jenkins
Beach's statements, which his interpretive
and his heirs for some forty-five years until
remarks, which his conjectures, or indeed
January of 1995. At that time his research
whether his recollections of Beach's state- collection was given to the University of
ments are accurate? New Hampshire Library, and is now in-
The book is called a "biographical ac- tegrated with Collection 51, Special Col-
count" in the title. That is an accurate de- lections. There is rich material there. For
scription, for it is a detailed list or enu- example, Jenkins tells of a session with
meration of events that occurred during a friends at which Beach made "contact"
life, not a true biography. In the recount- through the ouija board with her deceased
ing of her life there are significant gaps -in mother (pp. 101-2). Jenkins found this in-
the early life, and in the years from 1918 formation in Beach's diary entry for 12 De-
to 1925. Like Brown, he neglected to do cember 1930. To this he added a first hand
archival research, crucial to separating account of another session he, Beach, and
myth from fact, especially about family his- friends at the Colony had with a ouija
tory. One example must stand for many: board.
Henry Beach was not "the scion of one of Much of Jenkins's book is devoted to list-
the socially elite families of Boston" (p. 14). ings of performances of Beach's works,
The census for 1870, which includes fi- some accompanied by quotations from
nancial information, states that Henry's fa- reviews, most simply listed with dates and
ther, Elijah Beach, was a merchant tailorwithout documentation, and many in no
who had $10,000 in real estate holdings perceptible order. As a result, Jenkins
and a personal estate of $5000. These fig-
leaves to the reader the job of seeing the
ures would include his home and business larger picture and placing events in per-
assets. It helps to understand the signifi-
spective. For example, there were two
cance of these figures to know that Henryevents involving Nadia Boulanger and
had-of necessity to work his way through Beach during the famous teacher's 1938
Harvard Medical School (see his entry in visit to the United States. On 21 February

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794 NOTES, March 1996

there was a luncheon at the Hotel Ven- script

script for
for publication
publicationafter
afterJenkins's
Jenkins'sdeath
death
d6me, Boston, with Boulanger and Beach and out of respect and affection for a
the honored guests (p. 145). The luncheon former colleague.
was a prelude to the concert on the fol- Of particular interest is the publication
lowing night, held at the same hotel. The of the "Analysis of the Gaelic Symphony by
first half of the program featured works by the Composer" (pp. [173]-76), which, con-
European composers including Lili Bou- trary to Jenkins's statement (p. [173]), has
langer's song, "Reflets," and the second not one but two sets of music examples in
half was devoted to Beach's songs and pi- the Beach collection at the University of
ano compositions. But Jenkins reports on New Hampshire. Baron also has added a
the concert several pages ahead of the bibliography that includes recent publica-
luncheon, and does not connect the two. tions, a list of recent editions, and a dis-
Nor does he explain the significance of the cography. All three are helpful. So also are
two events, that the Music Guild of Boston his indexes, although they repeat errors-
chose to present to the world's greatest not of Baron's making-found in the book.
teacher of composers the music of Amer- A word about photos. Jenkins includes a
ica's greatest woman composer. good number, most of them accurate as to
Because Jenkins was a composer and the-subject and date. Exceptions include the
orist, the reader might assume, quite rea-photo at the top of page 4 identified as
sonably, that he would offer insight into Beach's father, Charles A. Cheney. It prob-
her compositional processes and discuss ably is Beach's uncle, Lyman Clement. The
outstanding works. But to this reader's sur-woman whose picture appears below on
prise, not a word is said about the music. page 4 is identified as Beach's mother Clara
Indeed, with the exception of two para- Imogene Marcy Cheney. It may, however,
graphs (pp. 169-70) this book could have be Beach's aunt, Emma Frances Marcy
been written without ever examining a Clement, Amy Beach's "Aunt Franc."
score or hearing a note of Beach's music. The group photo on page 73 is dated 1912,
Included is a statement of Jenkins's that but was, in fact, taken in California's San
bears so directly on Brown's misreadings Gabriel Mission in 1915.
that it begs quotation: "Mrs. Beach con- Errors and misstatements in the book
sidered her instrumental works simply an raise the question about the reliability of
extension of her melodic and harmonic firsthand evidence in the book. Were his
sense as found in her vocal writings" (p.
recollections accurate, considering the lack
170). Would that that statement were doc- of documented interviews with Beach, and
umented! the years that elapsed before the book was
There are a number of references to written? The reader needs to go back to the
compositions that are given in Beach's sources, a monumental job unless the
shortened titles or even nicknames, usuallysources are familiar, and their information
taken from the diaries or from correspon-catalogued and indexed. The loss, for those
dence, and not explained. Two lists of interested in the life and works of Amy
works, no doubt added by John Baron, Beach, of what might have been invaluable
provide answers to only some of these firsthand witness is a significant one.
problems. It should be noted that Baron is
not a Beach specialist, but rather took on ADRIENNE FRIED BLOCK
the difficult task of preparing the manu- City University of New York

Music
Music Publishing
Publishing&&Collecting:
Collecting:Essays
Essaysinin
Honor
Honor
ofof
Donald
Donald
W.W.
Krum-
Krum-
mel.
mel. Edited
Edited by
by David
DavidHunter.
Hunter.Urbana-Champaign:
Urbana-Champaign: Graduate
Graduate
School
School
of of
Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign, 1994. [xv, 252 p. ISBN 0-87845-095-5. $45.00.]
This collection of nine essays honors the Krummel's
Krummel'sownownmany
manydistinguished
distinguishedstudies
studies
sixty-fifth birthday of Don Krummel and are are recorded
recordedin
ina abibliography
bibliography ofof
hishis
writ-
writ-
a career devoted to music bibliography. ings at the end of the volume, and the

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