Clara Angela Macirone (20 January 1821 – 1914) was an English pianist and composer who published her music as C. A. Macirone. Born in London, she was the daughter of Italian musicians; her mother was also a pianist (a pupil of Charles Neate) and her father was an amateur tenor. She began her studies at the Royal Academy of Music in 1839 under Cipriani Potter, W H Holmes, Charles Lucas and others. She later took a position teaching at the Academy.
Her first concert was given at the Hanover Square Rooms on 26 June 1846, at which the baritone Johann Pischek performed her sacred song Benedictus, a composition later praised by Mendelssohn. She was active as a performer until 1864. After that, Macirone turned to teaching and composing. Her Te Deum and Jubilate were sung at Hanover Chapel and claimed to have been the first service by a woman ever used in the Church.
Macirone was a pioneer in the musical education of women as both a teacher and writer. She held teaching positions at Aske's School for Girls in Hatcham (1872-8) and at the Church of England High School for Girls, Baker Street. She contributed articles to The Girl's Own Paper and The Argosy. Macirone died in London in 1914.
Works
Selected works include:
- Suite for piano and violin in E minor
- Rondino in G for piano
- By the Waters of Babylon, anthem (sung at Canterbury, Ely and elsewhere)
- Te Deum and Jubilate
- Benedictus
- Footsteps of Angels, choral
- Come to Me, Oh Ye Children (Text: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
- Fare thee well! and if for ever (Text: George Gordon Noel Byron, Lord Byron)
- Hesperus (Text: Edwin Arnold after Sappho)
- The Balaclava Charge (Text: Alfred, Lord Tennyson)
- There is dew for the flow'ret (Text: Thomas Hood)
References
- Neate, Patricia. All My Darlings - A Victorian Family in Their Own Words, Troubador 2018
- ^ Brown, James Duff; Stratton, Stephen Samuel. British musical biography: a dictionary of musical artists, authors and composers, born in Britain and its colonies (1897) - but note the competing claim for anthems by Alice Mary Smith first performed in February 1864.
- Victorian Voices music archive: The Girl's Own Paper (1882-1902)
- Sadie, Julie Anne; Samuel, Rhian (1994). The Norton/Grove dictionary of women composers. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 9780393034875. Retrieved 4 October 2010.
- Hughes, Rupert (1919). Music lovers' encyclopedia: containing a pronouncing and defining.
- Elson, Louis Charles (1912). University musical encyclopedia: Volume 9. The University society.
- "Clara Angela Macirone (1821-1915?)". Retrieved 9 January 2011.
External links
- Musical Manuscripts Collection at the Harry Ransom Center
- Free scores by Clara Angela Macirone at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
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- 1821 births
- 1914 deaths
- English women classical composers
- Musicians from London
- Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music
- Academics of the Royal Academy of Music
- Italian British musicians
- 19th-century English classical composers
- 19th-century English musicians
- British music educators
- English women music educators
- 19th-century British women composers
- Women's history stubs
- British composer stubs