Inez Barbour Hadley (September 23, 1879 – January 8, 1971) was an American soprano. Though she was neither a composer nor a conductor, she was president of the National Association of American Composers and Conductors from 1937 to 1971.

Early life

Inez Barber (or Barbour) was born in

Bradford, Pennsylvania Bradford is a city in McKean County, Pennsylvania, McKean County, Pennsylvania. It is located close to the border with New York (state), New York state and approximately south of Buffalo, New York. Bradford is the principal city in the Bradford, ...

, the daughter of Jeremiah Barber and Catherine Bright Barber. She trained as a singer in Europe.

Career

Inez Barbour was a

lyric soprano A lyric soprano is a type of operatic soprano voice that has a warm quality with a bright, full timbre that can be heard over an orchestra. The lyric soprano voice generally has a higher tessitura than a soubrette and usually plays ingenues and ot ...

, usually heard in concerts and recitals. A 1913 reviewer described her as "a splendid looking woman of appealing charm, of warm temperament, of perfect poise and above all of glorious voice." A 1915 newspaper reported that she was "one of the highest priced oratorio singers in the country". In 1916, she was soprano soloist at the American premiere of Mahler's Symphony No. 8, conducted by

Leopold Stokowski Leopold Anthony Stokowski (18 April 1882 – 13 September 1977) was a British conductor. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra and his appeara ...

. She made dozens of recordings, released on the

Victor The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

label from 1910 to 1913, the Columbia label from 1910 to 1917, the

Zonophone Zonophone (early on also rendered as Zon-O-Phone) was a record label founded in 1899 in Camden, New Jersey, by Frank Seaman. The Zonophone name was not that of the company but was applied to records and machines sold by Seaman's Universal Talki ...

label in 1911, and the

Okeh Okeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name was spelled "OkeH" from the initials of Ott ...

and Brunswick labels in 1917 and 1918. She sang with the

Tokyo Symphony The or TSO, was established in 1946 as the Toho Symphony Orchestra (東宝交響楽団). It assumed its present name in 1951. Based in Kawasaki, the TSO performs in numerous concert halls and serves as pit orchestra for some productions at Ne ...

in 1930. She also spoke to community groups on musical subjects. Hadley married a composer,

Henry Kimball Hadley Henry Kimball Hadley (20 December 1871 – 6 September 1937) was an American composer and Conducting, conductor.''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'', 8th edition, p. 692 Early life Hadley was born in Somerville, Massachusetts, t ...

, whose songs she often performed. He founded the National Association of American Composers and Conductors in 1933; after her husband's death in 1937, she took over the organization, and was its leader for over thirty years. In 1938 she went to Finland to meet with

Jean Sibelius Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and 20th-century classical music, early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest com ...

. In 1944, she launched the SS Henry Hadley, a supply ship used in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. She was awarded the association's Henry Hadley Medal in 1963, and she founded the Henry Hadley Memorial Library at

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

Personal life and legacy

In 1918, Inez Barbour married conductor and composer Henry Kimball Hadley. He died in 1937. She died in 1971, at a hospital in New York City. A few years after her death, the National Association of Composers and Conductors was renamed the National Association of Composers, USA (NACUSA), and its headquarters were moved to Los Angeles. The

Newberry Library The Newberry Library is an independent research library, specializing in the humanities and located on Washington Square in Chicago, Illinois. It has been free and open to the public since 1887. Its collections encompass a variety of topics rela ...

has a collection of Barbour and Hadley's programs and posters.

References

External links

A 1910 recording of Inez Barbour singing "Alma"
a duet with tenor

Harry Anthony Harry Anthony (October 29, 1870 – September 5, 1954) was an American tenor and pioneer recording artist. With James F. Harrison he made several recordings of religious music that were popular at the time. He was known as a solo artist, and also ...

, at the National Jukebox, Library of Congress. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hadley, Inez Barbour 1879 births 1971 deaths American sopranos People from Bradford, Pennsylvania