Early life Marion Bauer was born in
Walla Walla, Washington, on August 15, 1882. Her parents—both of French-Jewish background—had immigrated to the
United States, where her father Jacques Bauer worked as a shopkeeper and her mother Julie Bauer worked as a teacher of modern languages. Bauer was the youngest of seven children, with an age difference of 17 years between herself and her oldest sister, noted music critic, composer, and educator,
Emilie Frances Bauer. Later in Bauer's childhood, Jacques Bauer, an amateur musician himself, recognized his youngest daughter's musical aptitude, and Bauer began studying piano with Emilie. When Jacques Bauer died in 1890, the Bauers moved to
Portland, Oregon, where Bauer graduated from St. Helen's Hall in 1898. Upon completion of
secondary school, Bauer joined her sister Emilie in
New York City in order to begin focusing on a career in
composition. In 1905, her studies brought her into contact with French violinist and pianist
Raoul Pugno, who was using New York as a base on an extended concert tour of the United States. By virtue of her upbringing in a home headed by French immigrants, Bauer was fluent in both
French and
English, and was thus able to teach Pugno and his family English. As a result of this favor, Pugno invited Bauer to study with him in
Paris in 1906, and it was during this time that Bauer also became the first American to study with
Nadia Boulanger, an associate of Pugno's in the Paris music scene. additionally teaching
piano and
music theory on her own. After another year of study in
Europe from 1910 to 1911, this time focusing on form and counterpoint with
Paul Ertel in
Berlin, Bauer began to establish herself as a serious composer; In 1914, she once again returned to Berlin to study with Ertel, but her time there was curtailed by the outbreak of
World War I. Bauer returned to New York, but Emilie's injuries ultimately proved fatal. Some of her most famous students from her years at NYU included
Milton Babbitt,
Julia Frances Smith,
Miriam Gideon, and conductor
Maurice Peress. Even with her teaching and lecturing responsibilities, Bauer remained active as a composer. Between 1919 and 1944, she spent a total of twelve summers in residence at the
MacDowell Colony, where she met composers such as
Ruth Crawford Seeger and
Amy Beach and focused on composition. Bauer also helped found the
American Music Guild, the
American Music Center, and the
American Composers Alliance, serving on the board of the latter. Bauer additionally served as secretary for the
Society for the Publication of American Music, and helped co-found the
Society of American Women Composers in 1925 along with Amy Beach and eighteen others. As a writer and
music critic, Bauer was respected for "her intellectual approach to new music," yet she also maintained a level of accessibility in her writings. For instance, she was published in various journals, was editor of the highly regarded
Chicago-based
Musical Leader, and most famously published her book
Twentieth Century Music, all of which garnered her respect in the music world. At the same time, though, Bauer made new music accessible to newcomers with her books such as
How Music Grew: From Prehistoric Times to the Present Day. Bauer also had a highly inclusive view of what constituted "serious" music, as demonstrated in the content of
Twentieth Century Music. Besides being one of the first textbooks to discuss
serialism,
Twentieth Century Music also mentioned numerous women composers in contrast to other contemporary music textbooks such as
Paul Rosenfeld's
Musical Portraits, An Hour with American Music and
John Tasker Howard's
Our Contemporary Composers, which only briefly mentioned women composers, if they were mentioned at all. During her Tenure at New York University, Bauer worked on many manuscripts, now archived at the institution. Such works include, “notes for a proposed book on “Titans of Music” with chapters on Monteverdi (ch. I), Beethoven (ch. IV), and Brahms and the Schumanns (ch. VI); a book on "Modern Creators of Music: A Survey of Contemporary Music and Its Makers" with chapters on Berlioz (ch. II) and Liszt and Wagner (ch. III); and a book on "Some Social Aspects of Music: Its Purpose and Place" with chapters on “The Functions of Music” (pt. I, ch. I), “Music as a Common Language” (pt. I, ch. II), “Music in Therapy and Industry” (pt. I, ch. III) and “Music’s Place in Religion” (pt. I, ch. IV) (Shewbert, 2008). Articles, speeches, and “Contemporary Piano Music: Grade II and III” and “American Piano Music” are also found in these archives. although she continued to lecture at Juilliard. The same year, Bauer gave her last lecture at Chautauqua, a social and educational convention held in Chautauqua, New York. Featuring many writers, musicians, teachers, and other influential figures, Bauer delivered a speech on “The Meaning of Music.” WNYC, a New York media company, presented a program of Bauer’s compositions in 1954, with support from the American Composers’ Alliance. This program, performed by pianist Dorothy Eustis, included Bauer's works, “Sun Splendor,” “Dance Sonata,” “Here Alone,” “Dreams in the Dusk,” and “From the Shore.” Vocal pieces were sung by tenor Carey Sparks. Following the loss of her sister, Bauer stepped down as the New York Editor of the periodical, The Musical Leader, only a few months later. In the summer of 1955, only a few days before her tragic death, Marion attended a celebration at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire, and wrote to Mrs. MacDowell regarding her enjoyment of the event and grief for her sister, Flora. Bauer wrote, “In spite of the enjoyment I got out of the entire experience, it made me feel sad too. My thoughts of Flora and the many happy years we had there with you and Nina Maud were quite overwhelming. But I have had to learn to make the happy moments outweigh the sorrowful ones…. I did so appreciate your last sweet letter. How well you understand what Flora’s going meant to me. But I have been busy and have gone ahead as well as I know how.” ==Music==