Woman of the Century/Charlotte W. Hawes

​CHARLOTTE W. HAWKS HAWES, Miss Charlotte W., composer, lecturer and musical educator, born in Wrentham, Mass. She comes of old Puritan stock, her ancestors on the father's side having settled in Massachusetts in 1635. A large part of her early education was received in a good and cultivated home. She was the oldest daughter of a large family and became a close companion of her father, from whom she inherited her musical gift. She had her preliminary musical training in Boston and New York, continuing her studies in Germany, in Berlin and Dresden, under the direction of the father of Robert and Clara Schumann. During her stay in Dresden she formed the acquaintance of many eminent musicians, among them the famous Liszt. In 1877 she returned to Boston, where she has since made her home. She holds a high place as a composer of music, a musical lecturer and critic, and a teacher of music. She is well versed in the literature of music. One of her popular achievements in the double rôle of composer and poet is her song, "God Bless the Soldier," written for the National Encampment in Boston in August, 1890, and dedicated to the Grand Army of the Republic. During the week of the encampment it was often ​Clayed by the bands in the processions. Others of her popular songs are "Cradle Song." "Greeting," and "Nannie's Sailor Lad." She has filled engagements as a musical lecturer throughout the United States. In 1878 she was publicly invited by a number of men and women must distinguished in Boston's musical, literary and social circles to repeat the course consisting of "Nature's Music," "National Music, Hymns and Ballads," "The Influence of Music," and "Liszt." Miss Hawes is a frequent contributor of critical and biographical sketches to musical publications. She is the editor of "Famous Themes of Great Composers," which has gone through four editions. She is a prolific and successful composer, a faithful interpreter of the music of the great masters, a true poet, and a keen, though kindly, critic.