Pearl was born in
Denver to J. H. and Elizabeth Tipton Heats Gildersleeve. She was a descendant of settlers who had migrated to
Colorado after the
Civil War. As a young girl she studied the
violin, and later became interested in the
piano. She later attended
University of Denver.[2] She also studied with Otto Pfeffercorn, Flora Smith Hunsicker and Martha Miner.[1]
She settled in
Larchmont, New York, and married Hugh Grosvenor Curran, a manufacturer in
New York city.[2] She was a member of
ASCAP, the Pen Women’s Society and the Westchester County Music Festival Association.[2]
Music
In 1912, she published Five Love Songs, and in the years that followed she wrote both the text and music to over 40 songs. Many important singers of the first half of the 20th century performed her works, including
Enrico Caruso,
Anna Case, and
John Charles Thomas. Victor Records recorded three of her songs in the 1920s.[3] Caruso premiered her song Life, and it was the only
American composition on the choral program at the 1934 music festival in
Budapest. Her song Sonny Boy was transcribed into
Braille for the blind during her lifetime, indicating its popularity at the time. Her grandchildren, Patricia, Nancy, and Winfred B. Holton III inspired several of her songs, including In My Looking-Glass. At the end of her life, she developed the nationally broadcast radio program A Half Hour with Pearl Curran, for which she provided piano accompaniments to some of her most popular melodies.[2]
She was adept at conveying the mood of the text with
melody and accompaniment, ranging from the "serene love song" Nocturne[4] and the "introspective" song Evening,[4] to the more animated and descriptive song Rain, with short and repeated notes in the piano representing a rainy day. However, author Victoria Villamil accurately describes the dichotomy in her songs: "Unquestionably the greatest detriment to her work was her insistence on setting her own simplistic, old-fashioned texts. Otherwise, her songs are imaginative, melodious, and well crafted. Despite their naiveté, they can also be surprisingly elaborate and expansive."[5]
Musical compositions
All published by
G. Schirmer unless noted; texts are by the composer unless noted.
^
abAlso included in the 2003
G. Schirmer anthology Daffodils, Violets & Snowflakes: 24 classical songs for young women, ed. Joan Frey Boytim
^Included in the 1939
G. Schirmer anthology Fifty-two Sacred Songs You Like to Sing
^Found in the collection Schirmer's Favorite Sacred Songs arranged for the Piano
References
Carman, Judith E., with William Gaeddert, Rita Resch, and Gordon Myers (2001), Art Song in the United States, 1759-1999 (Third ed.), Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., p. 91,
ISBN0-8108-4137-1{{
citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
Cohen, Aaron I. (1987), "Curran, Pearl Gildersleeve", International Encyclopedia of Women Composers, Second Edition, vol. 1, New York: Books & Music (USA) Inc., p. 173,
ISBN0-9617485-0-8.
Unknown author (April 17, 1941). "Pearl Curran, 65, Author, Composer". The New York Times. New York, New York. p. 23.
ProQuest106093118. {{
cite news}}: |last= has generic name (
help)
Villamil, Victoria Etnier (1993), A Singer's Guide to American Art Song (paperback ed.), Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., pp. 123–124,
ISBN0-8108-5217-9