Florence Beatrice Parr Gere (April 25, 1875 – September 4, 1964) was a Canadian-born American pianist and composer.

Early life

Florence Beatrice Parr was born in

Yarmouth, Nova Scotia Yarmouth is a town in southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada. A port town, industries include fishing, and tourism. It is the terminus of a ferry service to Bar Harbor, Maine, run by Bay Ferries. History Originally inhabited by the Mi'kmaq, the regi ...

, the eldest child of Florence Robbins Parr and Henry Albert Parr. Her father was a dentist associated with the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

Dental School; Dr. Parr's varied career included espionage for the Confederacy during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, and treating presidents

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

and

Chester A. Arthur Chester Alan Arthur (October 5, 1829 – November 18, 1886) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 21st president of the United States from 1881 to 1885. He previously served as the 20th vice president under President James A ...

. Florence Parr trained as a musician under

Theodor Leschetizky Theodor Leschetizky (sometimes spelled Leschetitzky, pl, Teodor Leszetycki; 22 June 1830 – 14 November 1915 was an Austrian-Polish pianist, professor, and composer born in Landshut in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, then a crown land of ...

and Isidor Philipp, and studied composition in Paris and Vienna,Daniel Webster
"Distaff Dynamics"
''Philadelphia Inquirer'' (March 29, 1964): 53. via Newspapers.com and in New York with

Max Spicker Max Spicker (August 16, 1858 – October 15, 1912) was a German American organist, Conducting, conductor and composer.''Baker's Biographical Dictionary'', Seventh Edition, p. 2177 Biography Spicker was born in Königsberg, Prussia. He studied p ...

.''Florence Parr-Gere Papers''
finding aid, Library of Congress.

Career

Gere wrote both music and lyrics for songs, with titles such as "A New World is Born" and "I Walked with Anguish in my Heart". Gere's songs were popular with concert singers in New York, including

Johanna Gadski Johanna Emilia Agnes Gadski (15 June 1870/187222 February 1932) was a German soprano. She was blessed with a secure, powerful, ringing voice, fine musicianship and an excellent technique. These attributes enabled her to enjoy a highly successful ...

Maggie Teyte Dame Maggie Teyte (born Margaret Tate; 17 April 188826 May 1976) was an English operatic soprano and interpreter of French art song. Early years Margaret Tate was born in Wolverhampton, England, one of ten children of Jacob James Tate, a succ ...

, and Marguerite Namara. She also composed music for settings of poems by others, including a setting of

John Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculo ...

' "The Devon Maid". Composer Meta Schumann used Gere’s lyrics for her song “Thee.” She hosted gatherings of musicians at her New York home. In 1922 she spent six months in France and Switzerland, studying at the American Conservatory at

Fontainebleau Fontainebleau (; ) is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the ''arrondissement ...

with fellow student Aaron Copland, writing "Fontainebleau Sketches" and other compositions that she sold to Hamelle, a French publisher. She supported the work of women composers and musicians, and admired fellow composers Amy Beach and

Carrie Jacobs Bond Carrie Minetta Jacobs-Bond (August 11, 1862 – December 28, 1946) was an American singer, pianist, and songwriter who composed some 175 pieces of popular music from the 1890s through the early 1940s. She is perhaps best remembered for writing t ...

. Florence Parr Gere funded a contest, the Parr-Gere Music Poem Contest, with the Poetry Society of London. The annual prize was given to the best poem on the topic of music. She was also active in the National Association for American Composers and Conductors (NAACC), in New York and later in Philadelphia. She was still composing into her eighties, she told an interviewer in 1964, noting, "I don't write 'modern music'. Why disturb beautiful sounds?"

Personal life

Florence Parr married James Belden Gere, a neurologist who was the nephew and namesake of congressman

James J. Belden James Jerome Belden (September 30, 1825 – January 1, 1904) was an American politician and a U.S. Representative from New York. Biography Born in Fabius, New York, Belden was the son of Royal Denison Belding and Olive Cadwell and attended th ...

. Florence Parr Gere was widowed in 1920. About 1960, she moved to Philadelphia to help her ailing younger sister, Marion Parr Johnson. She died of heart disease at her home on Pine Street in 1964. There is a collection of her papers, including music and photographs, in the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

.Florence Parr-Gere Papers
Music Division, Library of Congress.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gere, Florence Parr 1875 births 1964 deaths American composers American women composers Canadian composers People from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia Canadian women composers Canadian emigrants to the United States American Conservatory alumni