BROWN, Rosemary Eleanor 1916-2001

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born July 27, 1916, in Sidmouth, Devon, England; died November 16, 2001, in London, England. Musical medium and author. Brown claimed to have been contacted by some of the world's most famous composers, who channeled their works from beyond the grave through her. Brown was not well educated in music, and only had a few years of piano instruction as a girl. She had her first "vision" when she was age seven from a man she later identified as Liszt, but as a teenager took a regular job with the post office. She married in 1952 and had two children, but was widowed nine years later. In 1964 Liszt, the first of the dead composers who would spend time with her, revisited her, so Brown claimed. Other composers who came to Brown included Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and Schubert, each of whom gave her melodies to play on the piano. Contemporary composers were split on whether they believed Brown could channel the dead. Richard Rodney Bennett, a British composer, was in her corner, having received help on his own composition from Debussy via Brown. Other admirers included former Scottish Arts Council member George Firth who, with his wife, Mary, created a charitable trust that provided enough financial support that Brown could quit her day job and concentrate on music full time. Not all the musical work she turned out was viewed as stellar, but Brown was popular in both the United Kingdom and the United States. She wrote three books detailing her meetings with the dead composers: Unfinished Symphonies, Immortals at My Elbow and Look beyond Today.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

New York Times, December 2, 2001, p. A31.

Times (London, England), November 29, 2001, p. 25.