Marion and Emilie Frances Bauer: From the Wild West to American Musical Modernism

Sisters Marion and Emilie Frances Bauer grew up in Walla Walla, Washington, in the latter nineteenth century. Each would become an American composer, writer, and music critic in New York City and would make an enduring contribution to her musical age. The sisters were prophetesses of and participants in modernism, Americanism, and the rise of professional music-making by women.

In Marion and Emilie Frances Bauer, author and music historian Susan E. Pickett, tells their stories through their own writings and correspondence. Emilie Frances was an acclaimed music critic and Marion was a composer of more than 150 pieces, as well as a music critic and author. Excellent wordsmiths, the Bauer sisters’ opinions resonate through time. Pickett includes biographical detail, information about stylistic transformations, and the first comprehensive accounting of the music they composed.