Daisy Wood Hildreth (1879 or 1880 – July 30, 1969)[1] was an American composer who wrote multiple compositions for instruments and vocals. Her performances have received praise and her song "The College Chimes" was chosen as the alumni song for the Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts.
Personal life
editHildreth was born in Moulton, Iowa, and graduated from Iowa Wesleyan College after studying voice and piano. She completed graduate work at Highland Park College in Des Moines, Iowa, and New York City.[2] She moved to Seattle, Washington.[3] Her husband worked as a salesman at Frederick & Nelson.[4]
Career
editHildreth wrote songs for cello, violin, piano, string quartet, and vocals.[3] The Times Colonist wrote in a 1928 review of her Victoria, British Columbia performance of four songs on the piano, sung by Florence Beeler, that Hildreth "is a pianist of high attainment, with rare musical understanding and poetic imagination."[5] The songs were "Romance", "Dance Caprice", "Shadows", and "The Blind Girl" which received much applause. Violinist Margaret Lang performed Hildreth's "Poem" among songs by other musicians.[5] She was a guest at the Iowa Federation of Music Clubs Biennial in 1931 and her songs were part of the program, sung by Helen Kacena Stark.[2] In 1940, Hildreth and soprano Edna Hartman were invited to the Bellingham Woman's Music Club to lecture about her music and then perform. Songs from other composers were performed as well.[6] During the same year, Hildreth opened a gala event for those associated with the General Federation of Women's Clubs with a talk dealing with poetry and music. Four of Hildreth's vocal compositions were sung and she played three of her songs on the piano.[7]
Hildreth's music and Emma McHenry Glenn's lyrics for "The College Chimes" was chosen in 1921 by the Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts in Ames, Iowa, as their alumni song and has been sung at alumni reunions.[8][9] A new alumni song was chosen in 1931 after another contest.[10] The Gazette said in 1931 that "The Road to Kinsay", "The Blind Girl", and "Come Greet the Morn" were Hildreth's best known songs.[2]
References
edit- ^ "Hildreth, Daisy Wood". The Seattle Times. July 31, 1969.
- ^ a b c "Daisy Hildreth, Iowa Composer, Is Attending Biennial". The Gazette. April 27, 1931 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Musical Iowana 1838—1938. Success Composition and Printing Company. 1938. p. 101.
- ^ Experiences in a promised land : essays in Pacific Northwest history. Seattle: University of Washington Press. 1986. ISBN 978-0-295-96328-0.
- ^ a b "Seattle Trio Charms Local Music Lovers". Times Colonist. October 18, 1928 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Seattle Artists Guests Of Club". The Bellingham Herald. January 3, 1940 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Coterie Will Present Annual Spring Musicale". The Seattle Star. April 15, 1940 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Hanford, Cornelius Holgate (1924). Seattle and Environs, 1852–1924, Volume 1. Pioneer Historical Publishing Company. p. 625.
- ^ Iowa State College (1921). In memoriam, Edgar Williams Stanton, eighteen hundred and fifty, nineteen hundred and twenty. The Library of Congress. Iowa City, Ia., Clio press. p. 140.
- ^ "The Story of the Bells of Iowa State" (PDF). Iowa State University. Iowa State University Visions. 1999. Retrieved April 9, 2022.