Blanche Robinson (Mrs. Martin Hennion Robinson, néeWilliams; 18 May 1883, near
Liberty, Kansas – 19 August 1969,
Los Angeles) was an American composer and well-known piano accompanist. During her prolific years as a composer, she lived in
New York City. During her more active years as a piano accompanist, she lived in
Los Angeles. In her published music, she was known as Mrs. M. Hennion Robinson or Mrs. M. Hennion-Robinson.
Music career
Robinson became a pupil in composition of Frederick Stephenson in Los Angeles. Her The Woman at Home, a chorus for women's voices, was performed with much success by the Lyric Club. Among her better-known compositions are Songs of You,The Mystic Hour,Youth,Fairies,Butterflies,The Dawn of Dawns, and a chorus for men's voices, A Song for Heroes. She performed under the management of Mr. Behymer in concert work. She also performed with
Ebell Club, the
Friday Morning Club, the Gamut Club, and many leading artists who toured Los Angeles.[1]
Husband: Martin Hennion Robinson (18 January 1878
Missouri – 2 May 1964
Los Angeles) and Blanche Williams were married September 27, 1904, in
Los Angeles, at the Central Methodist Episcopal Church, Los Angeles.[2]
Both Blanche Robinson and her daughter, Dorothy Robinson, were members of The Dominant Club, a Los Angeles charitable club of women musicians founded in 1906 that promotes
women in classical music and chamber music. Blanche Robinson was a charter member and past president of The Dominant Club.[4]
Early education
At age nine, Robinson's family moved to Chicago; there, she began eight-years of study with William Charles Ernest Seeboeck (21 August 1859
Vienna, Austria – 1907
Chicago), a gifted pianist and composer who had been a student of
Anton Rubinstein (1829–1894).[1][5][6]
Selected compositions
"Love Was a Beggar," written for
Mary McCormic, music by Robinson
"Love's Trilogy," a song for four-part chorus of women's voices, words by E. Sterrett, music by Robinson,
G. Schirmer (1925)
OCLC8421454
50th Anniversary Concert (
LP) (1954) OCLC55857256 The Woman's Lyric Club Mrs. M. Hennion Robinson, piano Heimo Haitto, violin Benjamin Edwards, conductor[8]
^Alfred Theodore Andreas (1839–1900), History of Chicago, Vol III: Music and Drama, pg. 633, Arno Press, New York (1975) (reprint of the 1884-86 ed. published by A.T. Andreas, Chicago)
^Charles Eugene Claghorn (1911–2005), Biographical Dictionary of American Music, Parker Publishing Co.,
West Nyack, NY (1973)
OCLC609781,
464075491