Agnes Gardner Eyre
Agnes Gardner Eyre | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Agnes Gardner Eyre (Boston Public Library, Philip Hale Collection) | |
| Born | December 10, 1881 Minnesota |
| Died | July 16, 1950 (aged 68) Fresno, California |
| Other names | Gardner Eyre, Agnes de Jahn |
| Occupation | Pianist |
| Relatives | Gunnar Jahn (brother-in-law) |
Agnes Gardner Eyre de Jahn (December 10, 1881 – July 16, 1950) was an American pianist, composer, and piano teacher, a student of Theodor Leschetizky.
Early life and education
[edit]Eyre was born in Ortonville, Minnesota,[1] the daughter of Lewis John Eyre and Agnes Augusta Gardner Eyre (later Norrish).[2][3][4] Her father was a salesman, born in England. She studied composition and harmony with George Whitefield Chadwick and Edward Shippen Barnes at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston,[3] and for four years with Theodor Leschetizky in Vienna.[5]
Career
[edit]Eyre was a concert pianist; she toured in Europe, Great Britain, and North America, and appeared with violinist Jan Kubelik[6][7] and sopranos Corinne Rider-Kelsey,[8] Abby Beecher Longyear[9] and Ella Russell.[5] She performed at the 1905 Proms.[10] "She played with really brilliant success," said a reviewer in Santa Barbara in 1906.[11]
As Gardner Eyre,[12] she composed songs, hymns, and works for piano, including "Love Radiant", "Some Day", "Adoration", "God is Ever Near", "Be Thou Our Guide",[13] "Were I a Pirate of the Sea"[14] "Drifting",[12] and "Beyond the Mist".[15]
Eyre taught piano students at the Institute of Musical Art in New York,[16] and in California in her later years.[3] She attended the 1927 convention of the California Music Teachers Association.[17] In 1931, she was guest soloist at the first concert of the Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra.[18] She was a judge for the 1938 National Piano Playing Tournament, sponsored by the National Guild of Piano Teachers.[19]
During World War I, Eyre served in the National League for Women's Service, with the rank of lieutenant. She organized an auxiliary transportation unit in Scarsdale, New York.[20] She was a member of the New York Antivivisection Society.[21]
Personal life
[edit]Eyre married Norwegian-born Fredrik Wexelsen Jahn in 1909, in San Francisco.[22] They divorced before 1930. Her brother-in-law was economist Gunnar Jahn. She died in 1950, aged 68 years, in Fresno, California.[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Agnes de Jahn, 69, Fresno Pianist, Composer, Dies". The Fresno Bee. July 17, 1950. p. 13. Retrieved July 6, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Boston University, Year Book (1900): 41.
- ^ a b c Richard Drake Sauners (1948). Music And Dance In California And The West. Universal Digital Library. Bureau of Musical Research, Inc. p. 216 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "Agnes Augusta Norrish, Banker's Widow, Dies". The Fresno Bee. May 23, 1949. p. 17. Retrieved July 6, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Agnes Gardner Eyre, Talented Pianist" Musical Courier 57(September 23, 1908): 19.
- ^ Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences (1906). Yearbook of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. p. 157.
- ^ "Abroad". The Violin Times. 13: 68. May 1906.
- ^ "Programmes and Plans for the Coming Season". The New Music Review and Church Music Review. 7: 681. November 1908.
- ^ Boston Symphony Orchestra (1908). Programme. The Orchestra.
- ^ "Proms 1905: Performers" BBC.
- ^ "Kubelik Wins His Audience". Santa Barbara Weekly Press. April 5, 1906. p. 8. Retrieved July 5, 2022 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ^ a b "Soprano and pianist to Give Recital". The Fresno Morning Republican. October 18, 1925. p. 17. Retrieved July 6, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Gardner Eyre". Pacific Coast Music Review. 55: 65. December 5–19, 1927 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "Attractive Song Miscellany". Musical Observer. 25 (5): 29. May 1926.
- ^ "Offer Maderans Musical Feast". Madera Tribune. September 27, 1929. p. 2. Retrieved July 5, 2022 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ^ Elson, Louis Charles (1912). University Musical Encyclopedia. University society. p. 436.
- ^ "California Music Teachers in Annual Convention". Pacific Coast Music Review. 53: 36. December 5–19, 1927 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "Fresno, Cal., Has New Orchestra". Musical Courier. 102 (8): 37. February 21, 1931 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "Piano Playing Tournament". The Southwestern Musician and Texas Music Educator. 4 (7): 15. May–June 1938 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Hutton, Thomas Radcliffe (1919). H-a-l-tt!--Wha-zaa?: Being a History of the First Provisional Regiment and the Answer of a State Militant to the Threat of Berlin, Ed. and Comp. Aqueduct guard citizens' committee. pp. 330, 337.
- ^ Women of 1923 International. John C. Winston. 1923. p. 179.
- ^ "Marriage Licenses". San Francisco Call. September 14, 1909. p. 11. Retrieved July 5, 2022 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.