From the Press of A. P. Schmidt

Before Marion Bauer (1882–1955) gained widespread influence as the author of Twentieth Century Music (1933), editor in chief of The Musical Leader, and associate professor of music at New York University (where her composition students included Milton Babbitt), she was already working as a composer in her own right.

Arthur P. Schmidt was not Bauer’s first music publisher, but the exclusive multi-year contract he offered her in 1912 did much to stabilize (and legitimize) her early professional career. In addition to numerous songs and short piano pieces, Schmidt is also responsible for having published Bauer’s first chamber work in 1913: Up the Ocklawaha, Op. 6, a tone poem for violin and piano. 

Dedicated to violinist Maud Powell (1867–,1920) Up the Ocklawaha depicts a dramatic journey that Powell herself claimed to have taken on the Ocklawaha River in central Florida. Upon hearing Bauer’s work performed, composer Arthur Foote is said to have praised it as being “the best piece of descriptive music I ever heard!”

🔎 View full score at the International Music Score Library Project.