Cornelia Townsend (born 11 August 1851)[1] was an American song composer who published most of her music under the name Kate Vanderpoel.[2][3]
Biography
Townsend was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Horace Gilbert and Eliza Ann Thornton Townsend, one of nine children. Her siblings included her twin brother George who built the Kansas City, Clay County & St. Joseph Railway, and her brother Edward, a writer, journalist, and U.S. Congressman.[4] She studied with Achille Errani in New York.[5] In 1891 she moved to Chicago, Illinois and lived on Calumet Ave.[6][7] By 1912 she lived in Milwaukee (as did her sister Anna); several of her publications have ended up in Milwaukee Public Library's Historical Sheet Music Collection.[8][9][10]
Her music was published by S. Brainard Sons, Orpheus Publishing Company, Clayton F. Summy Company, and herself.[14][15][16] She took a particular interest in the frontispiece design of her published music, going so far as to commission a cover for her Florimella Waltz from J. C. Lyndecker.[5][17] Several of her songs were transcribed for organ, some made it into Clarence Eddy's repertoire.[5] Several of her compositions were also transcribed and recorded for some of the earliest player pianos and organs for the Aeolian Company,[18] Wilcox & White Company,[19] and Melvin Clark Piano Company[20]
Compositions
Her works include:
Opera
Peronella[21] (1893[22]), libretto by Mrs. O. L. Fox[23]
Book of Songs[24][25] published in 1911 by Orpheus which included:
Asleep, Adream, Awake (1898?), lyrics by Edmund Vance Cooke. Transcriptions for organ (made by Henry S. Sawyer) and solo piano (made by Nellie Bangs Skelton) were published in her lifetime.[26][27]
La Miniature (1898), lyrics by Ancella Fox, dedicated either to soprano Genevra Johnstone Bishop[5] or Amelia Küssner.[28] A transcription for organ was made by Albert F. McCarrell.[27]
Darling, Darling (1904), lyrics by Katrina Trask, epigraph by Elizabeth K. Reynolds
Golden Poppies (1897), lyrics by Ancella Fox, dedicated to soprano Genevra Johnstone Bishop[29]
When Apple Blossoms Give Their Fragrance Rare (1891), lyrics by Jane Thornton
Where Love Is (1894), lyrics by Cornelia Townsend (copyright originally held by Clayton F. Summy)[30]
When Love Is Young (1911), lyrics by Elizabeth K. Reynolds
Eyes of Blue (1911), lyrics by Elizabeth K. Reynolds
Chimmie Fadden of de Bow'ry,[32] lyrics by her brother Edward Townsend.[33] Henry S. Sawyer also made an arrangement of this song.[34]Dan W. Quinn made an early 1896 phonograph recording of this song for Columbia.[35]
Entrée de cortège.[39] This work was also arranged for band by George D. Barnard,[40] and transcribed for organ by Harrison M. Wild (transcription dedicated to Clarence Dickinson.[27][41]
Supplication. This song was transcribed for organ by John A. West, transcription dedicated to Clarence Eddy.[27][46]
By 1901, Florimella Waltz, Philomella Waltz, Golden Poppies, La Miniature, and Supplication were all recorded for Aeolian piano rolls.[18] Several years later, these same five works were available for Wilcox & White and Melvin Clark reproducing pianos and organs.[19][20]
External Sites
Scores by Vanderpoel at the New York Public Library Digital Collections
References
^Townsend, Cornelia. "ancestry.com". Retrieved 6 April 2021.
^Laurence, Anya (1978). Women of Notes: 1,000 Women Composers Born Before 1900. 9780823904631: Richards Rosen Press Inc. p. 32.((cite book)): CS1 maint: location (link)