Caroline Holme Walker

Caroline Holme Walker (June 14, 1863 – January 19, 1955) was an American composer, pianist, and teacher[1] who transcribed bird songs into standard musical notation. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri.

Walker studied with Anna Strothotte,[2] James North, and Robert Goldbeck in St. Louis. After moving to Denver, Colorado, she studied with Linda Ostrander.[3] She married John M. Walker in 1885,[4] and they had a daughter (Elizabeth) before divorcing in 1911.[5]

Walker was one of the founders of the Tuesday Musical Club in Denver. She taught at the Wolcott Conservatory and maintained a private studio at Brinton Terrace, along with other musicians such as Lola Carrier Worrell.[6] Walker published at least one article, "Bird Songs from the Musician's Point of View," in the journal Country Life in America (1907), which described how she transcribed 31 meadowlark songs into standard musical notation. Her composition Thrush Song was based on the song of the veery thrush.[7] In 1927, she gave a talk on "Music in Poetry – Poetry in Music" at the Denver Library.[8]

Walker's music was published by B. F. Wood Music Company, G. Schirmer Inc., Theodore Presser Company, and Wa-Wan Press.[9][10] Her published songs include:

  • "Battle of Life" (words by Nancy B. Turner; included in Five Songs with Piano Accompaniment)[11]
  • "Plainsman's Song"[4]
  • "Thrush Song"  (words by S. Stephens; included in Five Songs with Piano Accompaniment; based on the song of the veery thrush)[11]
  • "To a Letter" (words by S. Stephens; included in Five Songs with Piano Accompaniment)[11]

References

  1. ^ Hixon, Donald L. (1993). Women in music : an encyclopedic biobibliography. Hennessee, Don A. (2nd ed.). Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-2769-7. OCLC 28889156.
  2. ^ Krohn, Ernst Christopher (1924). A Century of Missouri Music. Privately printed.
  3. ^ Cohen, Aaron I. (1987). International encyclopedia of women composers (Second edition, revised and enlarged ed.). New York. ISBN 0-9617485-2-4. OCLC 16714846.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. ^ a b International Who's who in Music and Musical Gazetteer: A Contemporary Biographical Dictionary and a Record of the World's Musical Activity. Current Literature Publishing Company. 1918.
  5. ^ Walker, Caroline Holme (1911). "Caroline Holme Walker". ancestry.com. Archived from the original on 1999-11-27. Retrieved 23 Dec 2020.
  6. ^ Colorado Magazine. State Historical Society of Colorado, State Museum. 1946.
  7. ^ Bailey, Liberty Hyde; Saylor, Henry Hodgman (1907). Country Life in America. Doubleday, Page & Company.
  8. ^ The Lookout from the Denver Public Library. The Library. 1927.
  9. ^ "When the dew is falling". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-12-24.
  10. ^ a b Office, Library of Congress Copyright (1906). Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical Compositions. Part 3. Library of Congress.
  11. ^ a b c d Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical compositions. Library of Congress, Copyright Office. 1907.
  12. ^ Pazdírek, Franz (1904). Universal-Handbuch der Musikliteratur aller Zeiten und Völker: Als Nachschlagewerk und Studienquelle der Welt-Musikliteratur (in German). Verlag des "Universal-Handbuch der Musikliteratur": Pazdirek.
  13. ^ Stewart-Green, Miriam (1980). Women Composers: A Checklist of Works for the Solo Voice. G.K. Hall. ISBN 978-0-8161-8498-9.
  14. ^ The Etude. T. Presser. 1907.