Alma Goatley


Alma Goatley Temple-Smith was an English musician and composer. From 1935 to 1936, she was president of the Society of Women Musicians.

Early life

Alma Goatley was born in Savoie, and raised in London, the daughter of British parents Grafton Goatley and Louisa Goatley. She won the Chappell Pianoforte Prize in 1911 at the Royal [Academy of Music].

Career

Goatley composed music for recital songs and as settings for poems. She also taught harmony at Redhill, and performed as a diseuse at the piano. A 1919 reviewer found her "charming, both in her singing and in her fascinating humour." In 1922, she was one of the composers featured at a concert of works by women composers in London, sharing the bill with composers including Ethel Smyth and Katharine Emily Eggar. She was president of the Society of Women Musicians from 1935 to 1936, during its "jubilee" year.

Compositions

  • Four Nursery Rhymes
  • "As I hear your dainty Footstep"
  • "Now that April's there"
  • "A Garden is a lovesome thing"
  • "A Dream Ship"
  • "Hush-a-bye-low"
  • "Nesting-time"
  • "The Wood Anemone"
  • Songs of Sappho: 5 Lyrics
  • "Pipe out, ye silver flutes"
  • "Lovelight"
  • "Futility"
  • "Life"
  • "Butterfly Boats"
  • "The White Birch"
  • "Sea Surge"
  • "Love and Wine"
  • "Can't Remember"
  • "Life Anew"
  • "Second Thoughts"
  • "Sixpence to Spend"
  • "Come, happy heart"
  • "Villanelle"
  • Two Songs of Child Life
  • "The Cherry Tree doth Bloom"
  • "When June is Come"
  • "The Little Apple Tree"
  • "Love Errant"
  • "A walk by the river at night"
  • "Teasing Song"
  • "Shall I be afraid?"

    Personal life

Alma Goatley married furniture designer Hamilton Temple-Smith in 1920. They had two sons; their elder son, John Grafton Temple-Smith, had a career in film. She died in 1969, in her seventies, in London.