The lost composer: Alice Barnett and the paradox of fame and memory

Alice Barnett's music once echoed across America — her songs were performed on national radio, reviewed in major newspapers and sung in concert halls from New York to Los Angeles. But over time, her name slipped from memory. In this episode, San Diego musician and researcher Katina Mitchell brings Alice's story back into focus, tracing her journey from a gifted young composer in Illinois to an internationally recognized artist who made her home in San Diego. Through archival letters, fragile sheet music and rare recordings, Katina reconstructs a life devoted to music and performs pieces that haven't been widely heard in decades. With insight from cultural scholars, we look at how fame fades, why some artists are remembered while others vanish and what it takes to restore a legacy. The result is both a rediscovery of a remarkable composer and a reflection on the delicate ways art outlasts the people who create it.

Guests:

• Katina Mitchell, musician, teacher and musicologist
• César A. Hidalgo, professor at Toulouse School of Economics and director of the Center for Collective Learning, Corvinus University of Budapest
• Swapnil Rai, associate professor in the Department of Film, Television and Media, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• Tina Zarpour, vice president of community engagement, education and collections, San Diego History Center

Sources:

• Alice Barnett Stevenson Performance and Lecture (Katina Mitchell, San Diego History Center via YouTube, 2023)
• Amy Marcy Beach (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2025)
• 100 Years of Marriage and Divorce Statistics, United States 1867-1967 (National Center for Health Statistics, 1973)
• Pantheon Project (Center for Collective Learning)
• How We’ll Forget John Lennon (Kevin Berger, Nautilus, 2019)