Jeanne Boyd
{{short description|American composer}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Jeanne Boyd
| image = JeanneBoyd1927.png
| alt = A woman with light skin and wavy dark hair cut short, wearing a menswear-style jacket, shirt, and tie
| caption = Jeanne Boyd, from a 1927 publication
| birth_name = Jeanne Margaret Boyd
| birth_date = February 25, 1890
| birth_place = Mount Carroll, Illinois, U.S.
| death_date = August 8, 1968 (age 78)
| death_place = Jonesboro, Arkansas, U.S.
| other_names =
| occupation = Composer, pianist, music educator, musical arranger
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse(s) =
| relatives =
}}
Jeanne Margaret Boyd (February 25, 1890 – August 8, 1968) was an American pianist, composer, arranger, and music educator, based in Chicago.
Early life and education
Boyd was born in Mount Carroll, Illinois, and raised in Fremont, Nebraska,{{Cite news |date=1930-05-21 |title=Miss Jeanne Boyd Continues to Gain Fame as Musician |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/fremont-tribune-miss-jeanne-boyd-continu/162534988/ |access-date=2025-01-08 |work=Fremont Tribune |pages=4 |via=Newspapers.com}} the daughter of James P. W. Boyd and Jane Hughes Boyd (later known as Mrs. A. F. Plambeck).{{Cite news |date=1924-05-19 |title=Jeanne Boyd Will Appear in Concert in City Tuesday |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/fremont-tribune-jeanne-boyd-will-appear/162534787/ |access-date=2025-01-08 |work=Fremont Tribune |pages=3 |via=Newspapers.com}} She attended the Frances Shimer School,{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xIhjmiURol4C&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=Jeanne%20Margaret%20Boyd&pg=RA3-PA58#v=onepage&q=Jeanne%20Margaret%20Boyd&f=false |title=The Frances Shimer Record ... |date=1922 |publisher=Frances Shimer School |pages=58 |language=en}} and studied music with Emil Liebling, Lyravine Votaw, and Edgar A. Brazelton.{{Cite book |last=Saerchinger |first=César |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Spo3AQAAMAAJ&lpg=PA75&dq=Jeanne%20Margaret%20Boyd%20composer&pg=PA75#v=onepage&q&f=false |title=International Who's who in Music and Musical Gazetteer: A Contemporary Biographical Dictionary and a Record of the World's Musical Activity |date=1918|page=75 |publisher=Current Literature Publishing Company |language=en}}Cohen, Aaron I. [https://rme.rilm.org/article?id=iew10725&v=1.0&rs=iew10725 "Jeanne Margaret Boyd"] International Encyclopedia of Women Composers (1997), via RILM Music Encyclopedias.
Career
Boyd taught at the Frances Shimer School from 1909 to 1914, and at the Lyceum Arts Conservatory from 1914 to 1917. In 1922 she spent two months in residence at the MacDowell Colony.{{Cite journal |date=March 4, 1927 |title=Two Hundred Seventh Graders to Sing Cantata at 'Biennial' |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RDv3lp04x8gC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=Jeanne%20Boyd%20music&pg=RA1-PA18#v=onepage&q=Jeanne%20Boyd%20music&f=false |journal=Musicians' Magazine |volume=2 |pages=18}} She taught at the Bush Conservatory of Music in the 1920s.{{Cite journal |date=April 6, 1928 |title=Bush Conservatory |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OokU50Pk-04C&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=Jeanne%20Boyd%20music&pg=RA19-PA32#v=onepage&q=Jeanne%20Boyd%20&f=false |journal=Music News |volume=20 |pages=34b}}{{Cite journal |date=March 2, 1928 |title=Bush Conservatory Summer Master School |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OokU50Pk-04C&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=Jeanne%20Boyd%20music&pg=RA12-PA11#v=onepage&q=Jeanne%20Boyd%20music&f=false |journal=Music News |volume=20 |pages=11}}{{Cite journal |date=October 4, 1928 |title=Bush Conservatory Faculty Members Entertained |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vWuoRnWvKGwC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=Jeanne%20Boyd%20music&pg=RA13-PA15#v=onepage&q=Jeanne%20Boyd%20music&f=false |journal=The Musical Leader |volume=55 |pages=15}} She also led workshops for piano accompanists.[https://books.google.com/books?id=SqGTi4fXSlMC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=Agnes%20Leist%20Beebe&pg=RA9-PA39#v=onepage&q&f=false "The Interesting Interpretation Class of Jeanne Boyd and Poul Bai"] Music News 19(February 18, 1927): 39. Boyd gave recitals of her own works and those of other composers.{{Cite journal |date=October 1925 |title=Jeanne Boyd Noted Music Critic Writes of Artist |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=38zwKXtzwdUC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=Jeanne%20Boyd%20music&pg=PA341#v=onepage&q=Jeanne%20Boyd%20music&f=false |journal=The Pan Pipes of Sigma Alpha Iota |volume=16 |issue=4 |pages=341}} She was a member of the Society of American Musicians. In the 1940s and 1950s she taught at the American Conservatory of Music.{{Cite news |date=1943-05-08 |title=Jeanne Boyd, Composer, Sees Own Presentation |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/fremont-tribune-jeanne-boyd-composer-s/162536294/ |access-date=2025-01-08 |work=Fremont Tribune |pages=2 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1951-10-27 |title=Gladys Evans, Soprano, Plans Concert Thursday in Fremont |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/fremont-tribune-gladys-evans-soprano-p/162536476/ |access-date=2025-01-08 |work=Fremont Tribune |pages=3 |via=Newspapers.com}}
Compositions
=Instrumental=
- Symphonic suite (1922)
- Song against Ease (1940s, symphonic poem){{Citation |title=Symphonic poem ("Song against ease") |date= |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003058019?type%5B%5D=subject&lookfor%5B%5D=%22%20Boyd,%20Jeanne,%22&ft= |access-date=2025-01-08}}
- Eleventurous dances (1943, 1951; suite){{Citation |last=Boyd |first=Jeanne |title=Eleventurous dances |date=1943 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001544425?type%5B%5D=author&lookfor%5B%5D=%22Boyd,%20Jeanne%201890-1968.%22&ft= |access-date=2025-01-08 |place= |publisher=Hathi Trust}}{{Citation |title=Eleventurous dances: suite for orchestra |date=1951 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003057991 |access-date=2025-01-08}}
- Introduction and fugue (1949)
- Sonatine for Piano (1950s){{Citation |title=Sonatine for piano: beginning in the Dorian mode of d (?): (Incomplete). |date= |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003060044?type%5B%5D=subject&lookfor%5B%5D=%22%20Boyd,%20Jeanne,%22&ft= |access-date=2025-01-08}}
- Andante lamentoso
=Vocal=
Boyd set the works of several poets to music, including poems by Sharmel Iris, Wilbur D. Nesbit, and Alan Seeger. She wrote somgs for school use, including a children's cantata, and patriotic songs.{{Cite news |date=1933-04-03 |title=Many Fremonters Hear Broadcast; Song by Jeanne Boyd on Sunday Program |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/fremont-tribune-many-fremonters-hear-bro/162536058/ |access-date=2025-01-08 |work=Fremont Tribune |pages=7 |via=Newspapers.com}} Several of Boyd's songs were compiled in a book, Songs (1960).{{Cite book |last=Boyd |first=Jeanne |url=https://books.google.com/books/about/Songs.html?id=5aUaCVDeNgYC |title=Songs |date=1960 |language=en}}
- "In Italy" (1915, lyrics by Sharmel Iris)
- "Canzonetta" (1915, lyrics by Sharmel Iris){{Citation |title=Canzonetta |date=1915 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003051157?type%5B%5D=subject&lookfor%5B%5D=%22%20Boyd,%20Jeanne,%22&ft= |access-date=2025-01-08}}
- "Your Flag and My Flag" (1916, lyrics by Wilbur D. Nesbit){{Citation |title=Your flag and my flag |date=1916 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003053653?type%5B%5D=subject&lookfor%5B%5D=%22%20Boyd,%20Jeanne,%22&ft= |access-date=2025-01-08}}
- "At morning" (1916, lyrics by Sharmel Iris){{Citation |title=At morning |date=1916 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003051148 |access-date=2025-01-08 |place=New York |publisher=G. Schirmer}}
- "The Lost Road" (1916, lyrics by Sharmel Iris){{Citation |title=The lost road ; The light ; The fairy pool |date=1916 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003053642?type%5B%5D=subject&lookfor%5B%5D=%22%20Boyd,%20Jeanne,%22&ft= |access-date=2025-01-08}}
- "The Light" and "The Fairy Pool" (1916, lyrics by Veta Thorpe)
- "To a Child" (1917, lyrics by Sharmel Iris){{Citation |title=To a child: for medium voice and piano |date=1917 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003053646?type%5B%5D=subject&lookfor%5B%5D=%22%20Boyd,%20Jeanne,%22&ft= |access-date=2025-01-08}}
- "Mist of the Night" (1917){{Cite journal |date=April 1917 |title=Jeanne Boyd's Composition Praised |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G3NFAQAAMAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=Jeanne%20Boyd%20music&pg=PA393#v=onepage&q=Jeanne%20Boyd%20&f=false |journal=The Musical Monitor |volume=6 |issue=8 |pages=393}}
- "I Have a Rendezvous with Death" (1918, words by Alan Seeger){{Cite web |title=I Have a Rendezvous with Death (Boyd, Jeanne Margaret) - IMSLP |url=https://imslp.org/wiki/I_Have_a_Rendezvous_with_Death_(Boyd,_Jeanne_Margaret) |access-date=2025-01-07 |website=IMSLP}}
- "La Tarantella" (1920, lyrics by Sharmel Iris){{Citation |title=La tarantella: song for soprano with orchestral accompaniment |date=1920 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003053644?type%5B%5D=subject&lookfor%5B%5D=%22%20Boyd,%20Jeanne,%22&ft= |access-date=2025-01-08}}
- The Hunting of the Snark (1929, a children's cantata based on the Lewis Carroll poem)
- "Flag of my Land" (1933)
- "Wind from the South" (1941, lyrics by Boyd){{Citation |title=Wind from the South |date=1941 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003053652?type%5B%5D=subject&lookfor%5B%5D=%22%20Boyd,%20Jeanne,%22&ft= |access-date=2025-01-08}}
- "When the Bobolink Sings"
- "Psalm CXXXII" (1957, with Joseph Lukewicz)
- "The Lord's Prayer" (1962, with Arline Ellison)
= Arrangements and descants =
In addition to her original compositions, Boyd arranged familiar European music (sometimes for publication with English lyrics), and wrote descants for popular hymns, including works by Charles T. Griffes,{{Citation |title=By a lonely forest pathway: S.S.A. |date=1939 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003072142?type%5B%5D=subject&lookfor%5B%5D=%22%20Boyd,%20Jeanne,%22&ft= |access-date=2025-01-08}} Cyril Scott,{{Citation |title=Summer is acumen in: (old English air) |date=1939 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003072148?type%5B%5D=subject&lookfor%5B%5D=%22%20Boyd,%20Jeanne,%22&ft= |access-date=2025-01-08}} John Liptrot Hatton,{{Citation |title=Jesus shall reign where'er the sun: Duke Street |date=1943 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003072146?type%5B%5D=subject&lookfor%5B%5D=%22%20Boyd,%20Jeanne,%22&ft= |access-date=2025-01-08}} Henry Smart,{{Citation |title=Angels from the realms of glory: Regent Square |date=1943 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003072147?type%5B%5D=subject&lookfor%5B%5D=%22%20Boyd,%20Jeanne,%22&ft= |access-date=2025-01-08}} Edvard Grieg,{{Citation |title=Ragna: (three-part song for women's voices) |date=1949 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003072138?type%5B%5D=subject&lookfor%5B%5D=%22%20Boyd,%20Jeanne,%22&ft= |access-date=2025-01-08}} Frederic Hymen Cowen,{{Citation |title=Bridal chorus: 'Tis thy wedding morning: from Rose maiden |date=1950 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003072136?type%5B%5D=subject&lookfor%5B%5D=%22%20Boyd,%20Jeanne,%22&ft= |access-date=2025-01-08}} Joseph Barnby,{{Citation |title=Now our work is over: Merrial |date=1949 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003072145?type%5B%5D=subject&lookfor%5B%5D=%22%20Boyd,%20Jeanne,%22&ft= |access-date=2025-01-08}} Sergei Rachmaninoff,{{Citation |title=Lilacs |date=1950 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003072144?type%5B%5D=subject&lookfor%5B%5D=%22%20Boyd,%20Jeanne,%22&ft= |access-date=2025-01-08}} and Émile Paladilhe.{{Citation |title=Psyché: (T.T.B.B.) |date=1951 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003072143?type%5B%5D=subject&lookfor%5B%5D=%22%20Boyd,%20Jeanne,%22&ft= |access-date=2025-01-08}}
Personal life
Boyd died in 1968, at the age of 78, at a rest home in Jonesboro, Arkansas.{{Cite news |date=1968-08-22 |title=Death Comes to Composer, Who is Former Fremonter |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/fremont-tribune-death-comes-to-composer/162536692/ |access-date=2025-01-08 |work=Fremont Tribune |pages=6 |via=Newspapers.com}}
References
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