Irene Cozad Explained

Irene Cozad
Birth Name:Irene Bazelle Cozad
Birth Date:July 4, 1888
Birth Place:Lineville, Iowa
Death Date:August 2, 1970
Death Place:Kansas City, Missouri
Nationality:American
Other Names:Irene Cozad-Sherer, I. C. Sherer
Occupation:composer

Irene Cozad (July 4, 1888 – August 2, 1970), later known as Irene Cozad-Sherer, was an American pianist, piano teacher, and composer of ragtime music.

Early life

Irene Bazelle Cozad was born in Lineville, Iowa, one of the nine children of Joseph Addison Cozad and Olive Jane Vanderbeck Cozad. Her father was a school teacher and worked at a newspaper.[1]

Career

Cozad played and taught piano in Kansas City, Missouri. Compositions by Cozad included "Affinity Rag" (1910), "Eatin' Time Rag" (1913), "That Sunday Wedding Day" (1914, words by Gwen Meredith),[2] "The Minute Circle Whirl" (1916),[3] "Because", and "Kansas City Town" (1920).[4] The last, "Kansas City Town", was written for a contest marking the year that the city's population reached one million.[5] Her compositions are considered an example of the Kansas City Folk Rag genre.[6] [7]

Personal life

Irene Cozad married Joseph Whitman Sherer, a medical doctor, in 1912. They had a daughter, Jeanne, and a son, Joseph Jr.[8] Her husband died in a car accident in 1940; she died in Kansas City in 1970, aged 82 years.[9]

Her compositions are sometimes featured in recordings and performances of ragtime works by women, including the collections Pickles and Peppers (1987) and Fluffy Ruffle Girls: Women in Ragtime (1999), both by Virginia Eskin.[10]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Irene Bazelle Cozad Sherer. Edwards. Bill. RagPiano.com. en. 2019-07-19.
  2. Book: Office, Library of Congress Copyright. Musical Compositions: Part 3. 1914. Library of Congress.. 860. en.
  3. Book: Catalog of Copyright Entries. 1916. 911. en.
  4. Tjaden, Ted, Women Composers of Ragtime.
  5. Web site: Kansas City Town (1920), sheet music. UMKC Digital Special Collections. 2019-07-19.
  6. Book: Rags and Ragtime: A Musical History. Jasen. David A.. Tichenor. Trebor Jay. 2013-02-13. Courier Corporation. 9780486144573. 40. en.
  7. Web site: C.L. Johnson, Joplin and Harlem dominate May '03 OCRS. May 2003. Orange County Ragtime Society. 2019-07-19.
  8. Book: Who's who in the Central States. 1929. Mayflower Publishing Company. 885. en.
  9. News: Mrs. Irene C. Sherer. August 3, 1970. The Kansas City Times. July 19, 2019. 33. Newspapers.com.
  10. Eskin, Virginia. Fluffy Ruffle Girls: Women in Ragtime (Koch International Classics 1999).