Dates

• Existence: September 20, 1910 - July 21, 2003

Biography

Florence Anderson DuPage was born on September 20, 1910 in Vandergrift, Pennsylvania, to John and Ada Anderson. Her family relocated to Jamestown, New York, when she was five. In 1927 she graduated from Jamestown High School where she played the piano for the school orchestra. She moved to New York and studied piano (1930-1933), harmony (1934), counterpoint (1935), composition and orchestrations (1945-1950) with Rubin Goldmark, Aurelio Giorni, Tibor Serly, and Ignace Hilsberg. In addition, she studied renaissance and baroque organ while residing in Europe (1966). As she began to develop her career while living in New York, Florence met Richard DuPage who was also a composer. They were married in 1933 and had two daughters named Diane and Nancy. However, her career as a composer was not obstructed by her new life as a wife and mother; in fact, Florence continued to flourish as a composer.

Florence composed an array of works, such as The Lady of the Mist, Lost Valley, Two Sketches for String Orchestra, The Pond, Concerto For Piano and String Orchestra, Alice In Wonderland, Trial Universelle, Whither, New World for Nellie, Evangeline, The Little Sugar Train, Velvet Shoes, Too Hard It Is To Sing, Fantasy, Rida, Rida, Ranka, In Transitu, among various other works. Florence was also recognized for her compositions. For example, the Women's Symphony Society of Boston gave her an award in 1941 for her composition The Pond. Her work was performed by F. Charles Adler and the New York Philharmonic in 1946, Franco Autori and the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra (1946), Walter Lortz and the DeKalb Youth Symphony (1974), Louise Lane and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (1982), and Robert MacDuffie and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (1984).

Florence was the music director at the Advent Tuller School in New York (1955-1965), Glee Club director at the Cathedral School of St. Mary in New York (1966-1969), an organist and choir director at St. Matthew Lutheran Church (1971), and a member of ASCAP. Florence lived for an extensive period in New York during her musical career. However, she relocated to Atlanta; and then in the latter years of her life she lived in Kansas City, Missouri, where she died on July 21, 2003.

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