BIANCHI, Palmire

Palmire Bianchi was an American composer of the early ragtime era. Public census records indicate that Bianchi was born in Louisiana, with ties to the New Orleans area. Bianchi operated during the peak of the ragtime boom at the turn of the 20th century, producing syncopated piano music typical of the era. Her most notable surviving work is the piano piece "Stegomya", published in 1905. The title is highly significant to Louisiana history; it refers to Stegomyia (the historical classification of the Aedes aegypti mosquito), which was famously identified as the carrier of yellow fever. New Orleans suffered its last major, catastrophic yellow fever epidemic in the summer of 1905, making Bianchi's composition a direct cultural reflection of contemporary local events.