Sara Opal Search

Sara Opal Piontkowski Heron Search{{Cite book |last=Butterworth |first=Neil |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uAGaDwAAQBAJ&dq=sara+opal+search&pg=PA1992 |title=The American Symphony |date=2019-05-23 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-429-78944-1 |language=en}} (14 July 1890 – 3 September 1961){{Cite web |last=Search |first=Sara Opal |title=Sara Opal Search |url=https://www.ancestry.com/search/?name=sara+opal_Sarah+Opal+Piontkowski&event=_Fort+Worth+Texas&birth=1890&location=2&priority=usa |access-date=2022-10-26 |website=www.ancestry.com}} was an American composer{{Cite book |last=Hixon |first=Donald L. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/28889156 |title=Women in music : an encyclopedic biobibliography |date=1993 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |others=Don A. Hennessee |isbn=0-8108-2769-7 |edition=2nd |location=Metuchen, N.J. |oclc=28889156}} who wrote chamber music as well as works for orchestra,{{Cite book |last=Stern |first=Susan |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/3844725 |title=Women composers : a handbook |date=1978 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=0-8108-1138-3 |location=Metuchen, N.J. |oclc=3844725}} concert band, and voice{{Cite book |last=Stewart-Green |first=Miriam |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/6815939 |title=Women composers : a checklist of works for the solo voice |date=1980 |publisher=G.K. Hall |isbn=0-8161-8498-4 |location=Boston, Mass. |oclc=6815939}} under the names Opal Heron and Sara Opal Search.

Search was born in Fort Worth, Texas.{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Aaron I. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5VsYAAAAIAAJ&q=strantz+louise |title=International Encyclopedia of Women Composers |date=1987 |publisher=Books & Music (USA) |isbn=978-0-9617485-2-4 |language=en}} Her mother was Countess Dolly von Piontkowski.{{Cite news |last=Piontkowski |first=Dolly von |date=19 Jan 1906 |title=Actor Wins Pretty Bride |pages=7 |work=Los Angeles Herald |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/78263265/?article=82edd108-3608-42c8-8b8b-e0fe295844f7&focus=0.5640229,0.6388494,0.7034758,0.80021155&xid=3398&_gl=1*7as6ww*_ga*NjcxNTE4NzI2LjE2NjU1MjEzMDA.*_ga_4QT8FMEX30*MTY2Njc0NDI0MS44LjEuMTY2Njc0NDUzMi4zNS4wLjA.&_ga=2.123457035.1805371321.1666744242-671518726.1665521300}} Little is known about her education. She married Herbert Heron in 1905 or 1906, and they had two children, Billie and Constance. In 1923, she divorced Heron and married cellist and composer Frederick Preston Search,{{Cite book |last=Wier |first=Albert E. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/861908 |title=The Macmillan encyclopedia of music and musicians : in one volume |date=1938 |publisher=The Macmillan Company |oclc=861908}} who was an orchestra leader at the Hotel del Monte in Carmel, California, at the time.{{Cite web |last=Search |first=Frederick Preston |date=27 Feb 1923 |title=Carmel Couple Wed Here at Early Hour by Justice of Peace |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/528370416/?article=a67266cb-6c4c-40d5-87a7-9478ab398bac&focus=0.451439,0.22141749,0.5786101,0.5981017&xid=3398&_gl=1*1cosn12*_ga*NjcxNTE4NzI2LjE2NjU1MjEzMDA.*_ga_4QT8FMEX30*MTY2Njc0NDI0MS44LjEuMTY2Njc0NTA5NS4xMS4wLjA.&_ga=2.113470215.1805371321.1666744242-671518726.1665521300 |access-date=2022-10-26 |website=The Californian |language=en}}

Search’s first composition, Symphony in c minor, was copyrighted in 1941.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ai9jAAAAIAAJ&dq=sara+opal+search&pg=PA1896 |title=Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical compositions |date=1941 |publisher=Library of Congress, Copyright Office. |language=en}} In a letter to Howes Norris Jr., who had requested her autograph, she noted that. . .  "my Symphony in c minor is my first composition; Mr. Wallenstine [probably Alfred Wellenstein] is the first conductor to read it and conduct it; and you are the first person to ask me for my autograph!"{{Cite web |title=Autograph Letter Signed by SEARCH, Sara Opal (?-?): Signed by Author(s) {{!}} Main Street Fine Books & Mss, ABAA |url=https://www.abebooks.com/signed/Autograph-Letter-Signed-SEARCH-Opal/1502837990/bd |access-date=2022-10-26 |website=www.abebooks.com |language=en}}

Search’s works are archived at the University of California, Berkeley’s Hargrove Music Library.{{Cite web |title=Inventory of the Sara Opal Search musical compositions, [19--] |url=https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf287002zh/entire_text/ |access-date=2022-10-26 |website=oac.cdlib.org}} Her compositions include: