Mildred Souers


Mildred Elizabeth Thomson Souers  was an American composer who wrote music for ballets and ballet studios, as well as for chamber ensembles, piano, and voice.
Souers was born in Des Moines, Iowa, to Addie F. and Ogilvie Sinclair Thomson. She married Marshall Ankeny Souers in 1918 and they had one son.
Souers attended Drake University, where she studied with Francis J. Pyle. Later, she studied with Marion Bauer in New York. During World War I, she worked as a studio accompanist for Grace Jones Jackson, and volunteered as a weekly entertainer on Red Cross programs. She was an announcer for Iowa radio stations KSO and KRNT.
Souers belonged to the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, the music sorority Sigma Alpha Iota, and the First Church of Christ, Scientist. She was a board member of the Des Moines Symphony Orchestra. One of her choral compositions won First Prize from the National Federation of Music Clubs. The Iowa Federation of Music Clubs honored her as their Composer of the Year in 1962.
Souers’ papers are archived at the State [Historical Society of Iowa] in the Annals of Iowa. Her compositions were recorded commercially by Hoctor Records, a sub-label of Dance Records, Inc. Souers’ music is published by Carl Fischer Inc., Hal Leonard, and Willis Music Co. Her compositions include:

Ballet

  • Ballet of the Enchanted Dolls
  • Barre and Technique Melodies for the Dance Studio
  • ''Dance of the Field Mice''

Piano

  • Dance Suite
  • Impromptu
  • Toccata Breve
  • ''Under the Greenwood Tree''

Vocal

  • “April Weather”
  • “Christmas Folk Song”
  • “Feed My Sheep”
  • “Immortal”
  • “Iowa, Beautiful Land”
  • “What Christmas Means to Me”
  • Winter Nocturne
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