Abbie Gerrish-Jones

Abbie Gerrish-Jones (September 10, 1863 – February 5, 1929) was an American composer, librettist and music writer.

Life

Abbie Gerrish-Jones was born in Vallejo, California, and grew up in Sacramento. She began playing piano and composing at an early age and studied with Charles Winter. Her opera Priscilla is considered the first complete opera with both libretto and score composed by an American woman.^[1] One of her compositions won the Josef Hoffmann prize for "best American piano work". She wrote for Pacific Town Talk, The Pacific Coast Musical Review and The Musical Courier, published in New York. She died in Seattle, Washington.^[2][3]

Works

Gerrish-Jones was known for operas, considered to be of an eerie quality, and composed nine. She also wrote over 100 songs.^[3] Selected works include:

• Priscilla (1887) opera
• Sakura, opera (with Gerta Weismer Hoffmann)
• The Snow Queen, music drama (with Gerta Weismer Hoffmann)
• If I were thou, song (Text: Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

References

1. Stuber, Irene. "Women of Achievement and Herstory". Retrieved 13 December 2010.
2. Sadie, Julie Anne; Samuel, Rhian (1994). The Norton/Grove dictionary of women composers (Digitized online by GoogleBooks). Retrieved 14 December 2010.
3. Kirk, Elise Kuhl (2001). American opera.