Hope Temple


Hope Temple, born as Alice Maude Davis was an Irish songwriter and composer. She was also known as Mrs André Messager.

Life

Alice Davis was born in Dublin, Ireland, and was known professionally as Hope Temple. She moved with her family to England aged 12 and began composing ballads at the age of 14. Initially she studied music with the idea of becoming a pianist, but an injury in a riding accident caused her to give up her ambitions. Her teachers in London included John Francis Barnett and Edouard Silas. In the early 1890s she continued her studies in Paris with André Wormser and André Messager. In 1892, her operetta The Wooden Spoon was produced in London, but she was known primarily for her songs, some of which became very popular. Her song My Lady's Bower is sung by Molly Bloom in James Joyce's Ulysses.
In 1892, a reproduction of a photograph of her taken by Alex Bassano of Old Bond Street, London, was published in the Strand Magazine, as part of a series called "Types of English Beauty".
In 1894, she assisted Messager in writing the opera Mirette, and then became his second wife in 1895.
Hope Temple died in Folkestone, England.

Selected works

Stage
Songs
Piano music'