Agnes Gardner Eyre

This article is about the American pianist. For the American actress, see Agnes Ayres.
Agnes Gardner Eyre
Agnes Gardner Eyre (Boston Public Library, Philip Hale Collection)
Agnes Gardner Eyre (Boston Public Library, Philip Hale Collection)
Born(1881-12-10)December 10, 1881
Minnesota
DiedJuly 16, 1950(1950-07-16) (aged 68)
Fresno, California
Other namesGardner Eyre, Agnes de Jahn
OccupationPianist
RelativesGunnar Jahn (brother-in-law)

Agnes Gardner Eyre de Jahn (December 10, 1881 – July 16, 1950) was an American pianist, composer, and piano teacher, a student of Theodor Leschetizky.

Early life and education

Eyre was born in Ortonville, Minnesota,[1] the daughter of Lewis John Eyre and Agnes Augusta Gardner Eyre (later Norrish).[2][3][4] Her father was a salesman, born in England. She studied composition and harmony with George Whitefield Chadwick and Edward Shippen Barnes at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston,[3] and for four years with Theodor Leschetizky in Vienna.[5]

Career

Eyre was a concert pianist; she toured in Europe, Great Britain, and North America, and appeared with violinist Jan Kubelik[6][7] and sopranos Corinne Rider-Kelsey,[8] Abby Beecher Longyear[9] and Ella Russell.[5] She performed at the 1905 Proms.[10] "She played with really brilliant success," said a reviewer in Santa Barbara in 1906.[11]

As Gardner Eyre,[12] she composed songs, hymns, and works for piano, including "Love Radiant", "Some Day", "Adoration", "God is Ever Near", "Be Thou Our Guide",[13] "Were I a Pirate of the Sea"[14] "Drifting",[12] and "Beyond the Mist".[15]

Eyre taught piano students at the Institute of Musical Art in New York,[16] and in California in her later years.[3] She attended the 1927 convention of the California Music Teachers Association.[17] In 1931, she was guest soloist at the first concert of the Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra.[18] She was a judge for the 1938 National Piano Playing Tournament, sponsored by the National Guild of Piano Teachers.[19]

During World War I, Eyre served in the National League for Women's Service, with the rank of lieutenant. She organized an auxiliary transportation unit in Scarsdale, New York.[20] She was a member of the New York Antivivisection Society.[21]

Personal life

Eyre married Norwegian-born Fredrik Wexelsen Jahn in 1909, in San Francisco.[22] They divorced before 1930. Her brother-in-law was economist Gunnar Jahn. She died in 1950, aged 68 years, in Fresno, California.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b "Agnes de Jahn, 69, Fresno Pianist, Composer, Dies". The Fresno Bee. July 17, 1950. p. 13. Retrieved July 6, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ Boston University, Year Book (1900): 41.
  3. ^ a b c Richard Drake Sauners (1948). Music And Dance In California And The West. Universal Digital Library. Bureau of Musical Research, Inc. p. 216 – via Internet Archive.
  4. ^ "Agnes Augusta Norrish, Banker's Widow, Dies". The Fresno Bee. May 23, 1949. p. 17. Retrieved July 6, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ a b "Agnes Gardner Eyre, Talented Pianist" Musical Courier 57(September 23, 1908): 19.
  6. ^ Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences (1906). Yearbook of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. p. 157.
  7. ^ "Abroad". The Violin Times. 13: 68. May 1906.
  8. ^ "Programmes and Plans for the Coming Season". The New Music Review and Church Music Review. 7: 681. November 1908.
  9. ^ Boston Symphony Orchestra (1908). Programme. The Orchestra.
  10. ^ "Proms 1905: Performers" BBC.
  11. ^ "Kubelik Wins His Audience". Santa Barbara Weekly Press. April 5, 1906. p. 8. Retrieved July 5, 2022 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  12. ^ a b "Soprano and pianist to Give Recital". The Fresno Morning Republican. October 18, 1925. p. 17. Retrieved July 6, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Gardner Eyre". Pacific Coast Music Review. 55: 65. December 5–19, 1927 – via Internet Archive.
  14. ^ "Attractive Song Miscellany". Musical Observer. 25 (5): 29. May 1926.
  15. ^ "Offer Maderans Musical Feast". Madera Tribune. September 27, 1929. p. 2. Retrieved July 5, 2022 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  16. ^ Elson, Louis Charles (1912). University Musical Encyclopedia. University society. p. 436.
  17. ^ "California Music Teachers in Annual Convention". Pacific Coast Music Review. 53: 36. December 5–19, 1927 – via Internet Archive.
  18. ^ "Fresno, Cal., Has New Orchestra". Musical Courier. 102 (8): 37. February 21, 1931 – via Internet Archive.
  19. ^ "Piano Playing Tournament". The Southwestern Musician and Texas Music Educator. 4 (7): 15. May–June 1938 – via Internet Archive.
  20. ^ Hutton, Thomas Radcliffe (1919). H-a-l-tt!--Wha-zaa?: Being a History of the First Provisional Regiment and the Answer of a State Militant to the Threat of Berlin, Ed. and Comp. Aqueduct guard citizens' committee. pp. 330, 337.
  21. ^ Women of 1923 International. John C. Winston. 1923. p. 179.
  22. ^ "Marriage Licenses". San Francisco Call. September 14, 1909. p. 11. Retrieved July 5, 2022 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.