Howe, Mary, 1882-1964

For a slightly different version with 2 pianos, see callno.: U-2127.--Cf. Fleisher Collection.

Composed 1936.--Cf. Fleisher Collection.

For a slightly different version with 2 pianos, see callno.: U-2128.--Cf. Fleisher Collection.

For a small orchestra version without pianos, see callno.: U-4136.--Cf. Fleisher Collection.

Mary Howe was an American composer.

Composed 1940.--Cf. Fleisher Collection.

This composition is no. 3 of: Three scores for orchestra.--Cf. Fleisher Collection.

Originally composed 1933. First performance Chautauqua, New York, 26 July 1933, Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Albert Stoessel conductor. Revised 1940. First performance of this version Washington, D.C. 10 July 1941, National Symphony Orchestra, Antonia Brico conductor.--Cf. Fleisher Collection.

This composition is no. 2 of: Three scores for orchestra.--Cf. Fleisher Collection.

For a small orchestra version without pianos, see callno.: U-4135.--Cf. Fleisher Collection.

This composition is no. 1 of: Three scores for orchestra.--Cf. Fleisher Collection.

Originally composed for 2 pianos, 1930. Orchestrated 1935. First performance Washington, D.C., 13 January 1935, National Symphony Orchestra, Hans Kindler conductor, Ethel Bartlett and Rae Robertson soloists.--Cf. Fleisher Collection.

Mary Howe was an American pianist and composer.

She studied composition under Nadia Boulanger, and received an honorary doctorate from George Washington University.

Mary Howe (1882-1964) was an American composer, pianist, and patron of music in Washington, D.C.

Born Mary Carlisle, she studied piano in Germany and the United States and received a degree in composition from the Peabody Conservatory in 1922. As a pianist, she toured in a two-piano team with Anne Hull from 1917-1935. A prolific composer, Howe worked in many genres and often reorchestrated the same composition for multiple settings. She also created many song settings for poems, in addition to her other orchestral work. Howe and her husband, Walter Bruce Howe, were prominent Washington socialites and were among the co-founders in 1931 of the National Symphony Orchestra. Howe was close friends with the orchestra's first music director, Hans Kindler and also had a significant working relationship with the conductor, William Strickland. She was active in numerous local and national organizations, including the National Federation of Music Clubs and she was also a fellow of the MacDowell Colony and the Huntington Hartford Foundation. Towards the end of her life, Howe was on the board of the National Cultural Center (later renamed the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts).

Mary Howe (1882-1964) was an American pianist and composer. She studied music, both in Europe, and in the United States. At the Peabody Conservatory of Music, she studied composition with Gustav Strube and piano with Ernest Hutcheson. She also studied with Nadia Boulanger, Harold Randolph, and Richard Burmeister.

Howe began her career by giving piano recitals and went on to become very active in the Washington D.C. musical scene. She collaborated with Friends of Music at the Library of Congress, and was a member of the board of directors of the National Symphony Orchestra, the National Federation of Music Clubs, and the National Association of Composers and Conductors. She was also one of the founders of the Association of American Women Composers.

Mary Howe composed music for the piano, piano and voice, and chamber ensembles as well as for symphonic orchestra. As an active musician she often performed her own compositions as well as works by classical composers.

Mary Howe (b Richmond, VA, 4 April 1882; d Washington, DC, 14 Sept. 1964) was an American composer, pianist, and patron of music in Washington D.C., where she grew up and lived all her life. Born Mary Carlisle, she studied piano with Richard Burmeister in Germany and Ernest Hutcheson and Harold Randolph in the United States. She also studied composition with Gustav Strube and graduated with an Artist Diploma in composition from the Peabody Conservatory in 1922. Howe had already begun raising children when she attended Peabody, and she continued to pursue her career while meeting family obligations. She toured in a two-piano team with Anne Hull from 1917 - 1935 and studied with Nadia Boulanger in 1933.

A prolific composer as well as a pianist, Howe worked in many genres: songs for voice and piano, solo piano, piano duo, organ, carillon, violin, cello, flute, chamber music, chorus, ballet, chamber orchestra, and full orchestra, in addition to various combinations of all these; she often reorchestrated the same composition for multiple settings. Her ballet Cards (1936), for example, was set for two pianos, two pianos and orchestra, and chamber orchestra, and her song Le Jongleur de Notre Dame (1959) has scores for two pianos and for orchestra.

Howe created many song settings for poems, including cycles by Goethe ( Sieben Goetheliedchen, 1931-1940) and Rilke ( Four Poems By Rainer Maria Rilke . Her compositions for orchestra include Stars (1927), Sand (1928), Rock (1954), the suite Potomac River (1940), Agreeable Overture (1948), American Piece (1933) and Castellana (1930). Her orchestral work was performed by the National Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, the NBC and BBC orchestras, and many other orchestras in the United States, Europe and South America. Her compositions were recorded and issued by RCA, Columbia, CRI and the Washington radio station WCFM. Howe’s music was published by Schirmer, Carl Fischer, Composers Press Inc., Galaxy Corporation and Oxford University Press, among others.

Howe and her husband, Walter Bruce Howe, a lawyer, were prominent Washington socialites and were among the co-founders in 1931 of the National Symphony Orchestra; they were close friends of the orchestra’s first music director, Hans Kindler. Howe also helped found the Chamber Music Society of Washington (later the Friends of Music of the Library of Congress) and the Society of American Women Composers. She was active in the National Federation of Music Clubs, the League of Composers and the National Association of American Composers and Conductors. She was also a fellow of the MacDowell Colony and the Huntington Hartford Foundation. Toward the end of her life she was on the board of the National Cultural Center (later renamed the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts).

Sources:

Goss, Madeline. Modern Music-Makers . New York: Dutton, 1952, pp. 71 - 77.

Indenbaum, Dorothy and Carol J. Oja. “Howe, Mary”, Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 18 Apr. 2005), http://www.grovemusic.com