Margaret Purcell

Margaret Purcell (18 August 1914 – 1991) née Dudley, was an American composer. Purcell's father was the journalist Pendleton Dudley and her mother the motorist Hermine Dudley. Purcell's sister was the dancer, choreographer and teacher Jane Dudley.

Education
Margaret Purcell studied piano with pianist and composer Katherine Heyman between 1927 and 1928, who was a proponent of the music of Alexander Scriabin. She also later studied composition with the English composer Richard Arnell, who also taught at Trinity College of Music. Letters exist between Arnell and Purcell from the 1950s where he offers her advice on aspects of music.

Personal life
Her father Pendleton Dudley was a journalist and worked in public relations, and her mother Hermine Dudley was the first women motorist to drive across the United States. Hermine took her daughter Margaret on a trip abroad in 1938, taking several weeks to explore the fjords and roads of Norway and Sweden. Margaret's later marriage to Richard Purcell was short, due to an accident. During her lifetime she lived in New York, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, and Charleston, South Carolina where she died.

Career
The archive of Purcell's unpublished works resides in London at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. Her compositional output ranges from solo piano and songs, to chamber and orchestral works.

Purcell's orchestral work Chalumeau was premiered at the Town Hall in New York City, 113 West 43rd Street, on 25 January 1947, with Harold Kohon conducting the American Chamber Music Ensemble. This concert also included works by Vincent d'Indy and Richard Arnell. Another concert featuring Purcell's music including her Nine Piano Pieces dedicated to Arnell, Two Songs (Monastery Evening and The Call), and an Impromptu for Piano, occurred in London 7 March 2001 performed by Julia Richter. This event also featured choreography by her sister Jane Dudley, and took place at Studios 1 and 2, The Place.

Purcell's setting of text demonstrates a wide interest in authors including Rabindranath Tagore, Langston Hughes, Walter De La Mare, Otomo no Yakamochi and the Hindu mystic Lalla.