Pearl Gildersleeve Curran (Denver, Colorado, June 25, 1875 – New Rochelle, New York, April 16, 1941)Cohen, International Encyclopedia of Women Composers, v. 1, p. 173 was an American librettist and composer of art songs and works for chorus.

Biography Pearl was born in Denver to J. H. and Elizabeth Tipton Heats Gildersleeve. She was a descendant of settlers who had migrated to Colorado after the Civil War. As a young girl she studied the violin, and later became interested in the piano. She later attended University of Denver.New York Times obituary, April 17, 1941 She also studied with Otto Pfeffercorn, Flora Smith Hunsicker and Martha Miner.

She settled in Larchmont, New York, and married Hugh Grosvenor Curran, a manufacturer in New York City. She was a member of ASCAP, the Pen Women’s Society and the Westchester County Music Festival Association.

Music In 1912, she published Five Love Songs, and in the years that followed she wrote both the text and music to over 40 songs. Many important singers of the first half of the 20th century performed her works, including Enrico Caruso, Anna Case, and John Charles Thomas. Victor Records recorded three of her songs in the 1920s. Caruso premiered her song Life, and it was the only American composition on the choral program at the 1934 music festival in Budapest. Her song Sonny Boy was transcribed into Braille for the blind during her lifetime, indicating its popularity at the time. Her grandchildren, Patricia, Nancy, and Winfred B. Holton III inspired several of her songs, including In My Looking-Glass. At the end of her life, she developed the nationally broadcast radio program A Half Hour with Pearl Curran, for which she provided piano accompaniments to some of her most popular melodies.

She was adept at conveying the mood of the text with melody and accompaniment, ranging from the "serene love song" NocturneCarman et al, p. 91 and the "introspective" song Evening, to the more animated and descriptive song Rain, with short and repeated notes in the piano representing a rainy day. However, author Victoria Villamil accurately describes the dichotomy in her songs: "Unquestionably the greatest detriment to her work was her insistence on setting her own simplistic, old-fashioned texts. Otherwise, her songs are imaginative, melodious, and well crafted. Despite their naiveté, they can also be surprisingly elaborate and expansive."Villamil, p. 123

Musical compositions All published by G. Schirmer unless noted; texts are by the composer unless noted.

Secular songs for voice and piano A Bachelor's Lament (A whimsy), 1927 The Best is Yet to Be (text by Robert Browning), 1940 Bird Songs, 1932 Change o' Mind (An Irish Ballad), 1921 Contentment The Crucifixion (sacred), 1925 Dawn (text by Feril Hess), 1917, published 1918 Evening Five Songs, 1912, Carl Fischer Music 1. Love's Mystery 2. Twilight 3. When Thou Art Nigh 4. When I'm Alone 5. My Dearie Flirtation, 1920, Oliver Ditson Ho! Mr. Piper, 1919Also included in the 2003 G. Schirmer anthology Daffodils, Violets & Snowflakes: 24 classical songs for young women, ed. Joan Frey Boytim The Holiday, 1919, Oliver Ditson I Know (Encore Song), 1924 In Autumn In My Looking-glass, 1931 Life (text by Mary Stewart Cutting), 1919 Nocturne, 1923 Nursery Rhymes, 1921 Pastorale A Picture, 1922 Rain, 1920 Sonny Boy, 1919, Oliver Ditson To Eostra (Spring song), 1924 To the Sun, 1920, Oliver Ditson Two Idylls, 1921 1. Evening 2. A Pastorale The Two Magicians, 1922 Two Meditations, 1922 1. Contentment (text by M. S. Cutting) 2. In Autumn What is a Song? (A Query), 1928

Sacred songs for voice and piano Blessing (Thanksgiving song, text by Joan Secor), 1924 The Crucifixion Gratitude (The Perfect Boon) (text by Earl B. Thomas), 1931 Hold Thou my hand, 1927Included in the 1939 G. Schirmer anthology Fifty-two Sacred Songs You Like to Sing The Lord is My Shepherd (biblical text), 1921 Prayer (the Lord's Prayer) The Resurrection, 1924

Choral arrangements Bird Gossip, women's voices, 1939 Bird Songs, women's voices (arr. Carl Deis), 1935 Blessing, women's voices, 1924; mixed voices (arr. Keith Downing), 1946; mixed voices (arr. William Stickles), 1963 The Crucifixion, mixed voices (arr. Carl Deis), 1950 Dawn, women's voices, 1923; men's voices, 1923; mixed voices (arr. Carl Deis), 1927 Ho! Mr. Piper, mixed voices (arr. Ralph L. Baldwin), 1927 Life Nocturne, women's voices (arr. Ducrest) Nursery Rhymes, women's voices (arr. Carl Deis), 1948 Rain, women's voices (arr. Carl Deis), 1923 The Resurrection, mixed voices (arr. Carl Deis), 1949 The Two Magicians, women's voices (arr. Carl Deis)

Keyboard works Blessing (Thanksgiving) (arr. William Stickles)Found in the collection Schirmer's Favorite Sacred Songs arranged for the Piano Wedding music (for piano or organ), 1922

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