music.wikisort.org - Composer

Mary Eliza Watson Weaver (January 16, 1903 – November 16, 1990) was an American composer, pianist,[1] and poet who was born in Kansas City, Missouri.[2]

Life

Mary received B.A. and B. M. degrees from Smith College (Massachusetts) and Ottawa University (Kansas).[3] She continued to study music with Rosario Scalero and Deems Taylor at the Curtis Institute of Music[4] (Philadelphia), and privately in New York and France.

Mary married composer and organist Powell Weaver on March 24, 1938,[5] and they had one son (Thomas Watson Weaver).[6] She gave lectures and recitals, and taught piano at the Kansas City Conservatory, the Curtis Institute, the University of Missouri–Kansas City (1946 – 1957), the Manhattan School of Music (New York; 1957 – 1970), and the Henry Street School of Music (New York).

Compositions

Mary's compositions were published by Belwin-Mills, G. Schirmer Inc., Galaxy Music Corporation, and Shawnee Press. She collaborated with her husband on some compositions (noted below), and he set some of her poems to music.[7] Her musical compositions, all for voice, include:

• All Weary Men (with Powell Weaver; mixed chorus; 1949)[8]
• Confess Jehovah (mixed chorus; 1951)
• "Cradle Song" (text by Padraic Colum; soprano and piano; 1940)[9]
• Enchanted Islands (women's chorus; 1952)[10]
• God's Love Enfold (mixed chorus; 1952)
• Hail, Jesu Bambino (mixed chorus; 1967)
• "Heart of Heaven" (soprano or alto and piano; 1952)
• Kneel Down (unspecified chorus)[11]
• Like Doves Descending (with Powell Weaver; mixed chorus; 1952)
• Like the Young Sheep (mixed chorus; 1950)
• New Mexican Lullaby (women's chorus; 1953)
• O Holy Child (women's chorus; 1952)
• On the Eve of the First Christmas (with Powell Weaver; mixed chorus; 1948)
• Rise Up All Men (mixed chorus; 1953)
• When Jesus Lay by Mary's Side (with Powell Weaver; mixed chorus; 1951)
• Wild Swans[12]

References

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