Downey, Mary, 1895-1994
Life
Born: August 27,1895 St. Paul MN
Died: January 7, 1994 St. Paul MN
Biography Mary Elizabeth Downey received her early musical training at Visitation Convent School and St. Agnes Conservatory of Music in St. Paul MN, where from an early age she played organ in church and for silent movies. In the early '20s, she went to New York to study with Pietro A. Yon. She trained the boys of Yon's St. Patrick Cathedral Choir, and her knowledge of the Ward Method and Gregorian Chant got her teaching positions at several local parochial schools. Her organ playing was in demand in local churches. Her Missa in honorem Nativitatis Beatae Mariae Virginis was premiered at St. Patrick's midnight mass in 1928, in an orchestration by Yon, with a choir of 150, and was broadcast live on radio. She returned to St. Paul in 1948 and was musically active into her 90s.
List of sacred works
- Missa in honorem S.S. Sacramenti , SATB org, JFB 1922
- SSA org, JFB
- Missa in honorem Nativitatis Beatae Mariae Virginis. SATB JFB 1928
- TTBB, arr. Rev. F. A. Missia, JFB
- Mass in honor of St. Francis de Sales, STB, JFB 1934
- SA org, JFB 1940
- Requiem, TTB org JFB 1946 YOUTUBE (Sanctus)
- Tantum ergo, SATB, also TTBB, 1932
Publications
External links
Biographical sketch (St. Augustine of Hippo Orthodox Church, Denver)
