Phyllis Fergus

Phyllis Fergus Hoyt (October 2, 1887 – December 2, 1964 ) was a composer, reciter, pianist, and advocate for music by women composers. Life Phyllis Fergus was born in Chicago, where she attended a variety of cultural events, including musical concerts. Beginning in her twenties, she attended Smith College, where she studied composition with Henry Dike Sleeper and was a member of student composer group known as the Clef Club. Her first major event with the League was in 1933 in Chicago, which featured conductor Ebba Sundstrom and the Women’s Symphony playing music from 13 women composers including Gena Branscombe and Mary Carr Moore. Selected works list and compositional style Fergus specialized in a type of composition known as “story poems”, a work written for spoken word performed with piano accompaniment, although she also wrote works for orchestra, operettas, songs, chamber music, and choral works. Her story poems were often humorous in nature, and featured topics like families, marriage, and courtship. Orchestral Works *The Highwayman : A Dramatic Reading for Speaking Voice and Orchestra Story Poems * “The Usual Way” (1942) * “My Mother’s Ma: A Modern Grandmother” (1918) * “Ap