Howe, Mary (Carlisle)
Howe, Mary (Carlisle)
Howe, Mary (Carlisle), American pianist and composer; b. Richmond, Va., April 4, 1882; d. Washington, D.C., Sept. 14, 1964. She received training in piano from Richard Burmeister in Germany and with Ernest Hutcheson and Harold Randolph at the Peabody Cons, of Music in Baltimore, where she also studied composition with Gustav Strube; she also had lessons with Boulanger. She toured as a duo-pianist with Anne Hull from 1920 to 1935; with her 3 children, she appeared with the “4 Howes” singing madrigals and early music. In 1926 she helped to organize the Assn. of American Women Composers. She was an accomplished composer of works in a tonal idiom.
Works
dramatic: Ballet: Cards (1936); Le jongleur de Notre Dame (1959).ORCH.: Fugue for Strings (1922); Poèma (1924); Sand (1926); Castellana for 2 Pianos and Orch. (1930); Dirge (1931); Free Passacaglia with Fugue for Chamber Orch. (1932); American Piece: What Price Glory (1935); Coulennes (1936; also for Chamber Orch.); Stars (1937); Paean (1940); Potomac (1940); Polka, Waltz, and Finale (1946); Agreeable Overture for Chamber Orch. (1949); Rock (1955); Stars and Sand (1963). OTHER: 3 string quartets; piano pieces; choral works; numerous songs.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire