Mildred Weston

Mildred Weston

Mildred Weston Rogers (May 1892 - February 6, 1975) was an American composer ^[1] best known for a number of children's pedagogical piano suites.

Not to be confused with American poet Mildred Weston (1905-1998)

Biography

Weston was born in Gallitzin, Pennsylvania, to William and Anna Weston. She graduated from the Pennsylvania College for Women (now Chatham University) in Pittsburgh in 1913, ^[2] studying under T. Carl Whitmer. ^[3] She pursued further studies at the New England Conservatory of Music. ^[4]

After college, Weston taught music to kindergarteners at Miss Simonson's School in Pittsburgh. This experience informed the composition of a number of programmatic and pedagogical suites for piano, many of which were published by the Arthur P. Schmidt company (now Summy Birchard). ^{[5] [3]}

Weston married William G. Rogers, an author and newspaper editor, on Oct 5, 1934 in Springfield. ^[6]

Selected works

Her works include:

Piano

• Ten Fingers At the Zoo (1919) ^[7]
• Under the Christmas Tree (1920, Theodore Presser Co) ^[8]
• About Fairies (1922, Arthur P. Schmidt) ^[3]
• In an Apple Orchard (seven piece suite) ^[9]
• Slumber Song: Pyrenees Folk Tune (1923, published by Carl Fischer) ^[10]
• Sandman (1925) ^[11]
• Toys: A Suite for the Piano (1923, published by John Church) ^[12] This suite was in the first grade of the New England Conservatory's piano teaching curriculum in 1929. ^[13]
• Red Riding Hood (published by John Church)
• Under an April Sky (seven piece suite) ^[14]
• Under the Christmas Tree (1922) ^[8] The eleven pieces are: Hobby Horse, A Doll That Goes to Sleep,The Tinkle-Tinkle Box, In a Little White Cradle, The Big Red Drum, Wooden Soldiers, Taps, The Little Pop-Gun, Jumping Jack, Candle Lighting Time, and Twinkle, Twinkle, Christmas Tree.
• Goldilocks (1927, published by Arthur P. Schmidt) ^[15]
• The Village Green (1930, Arthur P. Schmidt) ^[16]
• Cinderella: A Fairy Tale (1931, Carl Fischer)
• Swaying Willows: Novelty Dance on Black Keys (1934, Carl Fischer)

Prose

• Carnival Crossroads: The Story of Times Square (with her husband William G. Rogers) ^[17]
• music criticism for New Yorker magazine (1945) ^[18]

Vocal

• Carol to the Child (1971) ^[19]
• Holy Family Carol (SATB; 1941) ^[20]

References

1. Cohen, Aaron I. (1987). International encyclopedia of women composers (Second edition, revised and enlarged ed.). New York. ISBN   0-9617485-2-4. OCLC   16714846.
2. Jeffery, Ruth; Kim, Carrie E.; Coburn, Elvira Estep; Paul, Josephine B., eds. (June 1920). Pennsylvania College for Women Alumnae Recorder. Pennsylvania College for Women. p. 50.
3. Kempf, Paul, ed. (February 1925). "Worth-While American Composers (No. 15 in a Series of Biographical Sketches) - Mildred Weston". The Musician. Vol. XXX, no. 2. 34.
4. "Obituary: Mildred Weston". Altoona Mirror Newspaper. February 8, 1975. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
5. "Special Collections in Music:Music Division". memory.loc.gov. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
6. "Mildred Weston a Bride". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-12-19.
7. The Musician. Hatch Music Company. 1921.
8. The Etude Music Magazine. T. Presser Company. 1922.
9. "27 Apr 1929, Page 15 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
10. "Slumber song : Pyrenees folk tune : for piano | WorldCat.org". search.worldcat.org. Retrieved 2023-12-19.
11. Office, Library of Congress Copyright (1952). Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series.
12. Music Trades. Music Trades Corporation. 1923.
13. New England Conservatory of Music (1929). New England Conservatory of Music concert programs. New England Conservatory Library. New England Conservatory of Music. p. 280.
14. "7 Mar 1926, Page 65 - Pittsburgh Daily Post at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
15. Earhart, Will (1928). "Review of The Witmark Classic Chorales" . Music Supervisors' Journal. 15 (2): 93–94. doi:10.2307/3382545. ISSN   1559-2472. JSTOR   3382545. S2CID   145794177.
16. Lockhart, Lee M. (1931). "Review of The Moore Band Course" . Music Supervisors' Journal. 17 (3): 72. doi:10.2307/3383521. ISSN   1559-2472. JSTOR   3383521. S2CID   221046398.
17. Rogers, William Garland; Weston, Mildred (1960). Carnival Crossroads: The Story of Times Square. Doubleday.
18. The New Yorker. F-R Publishing Corporation. 1945.
19. Office, Library of Congress Copyright (1971). Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series.
20. Orchestra, Boston Symphony (1941). Programme. The Orchestra.