Born in Chicago, Irene Britton Smith was the youngest of four siblings, and of African-American, Crow, and Cherokee descent. Smith showed musical interest at a young age, and began studying piano with V. Emanuel Johnson. She started to learn and compose short pieces, and by age 14 she began to take violin lessons in addition to her piano studies. After graduating from Wendell Phillips High School, she wished to pursue a music degree at Northwestern University. However, due to financial constraints Smith attended the Chicago Normal School from 1924–26 instead, from which she received an education degree.

Smith began work in the Chicago Public Schools as an elementary school teacher in 1930. Despite having to forego a collegiate music education, she studied music in her free time. From 1930–31, she played violin in the all-Black Harrison Farrell Orchestra. The following year, she became a part-time student at the American Conservatory of Music where she studied music theory with Stella Roberts and composition with Leo Sowerby, ultimately earning a Bachelor of Music degree in 1943. From 1946–47, Smith took a sabbatical from teaching to study composition at the Juilliard School of Music with Vittorio Giannini. She continued her composition studies during the following summers at the Eastman School of Music and the Tanglewood Music Festival, and in 1956 she completed a Master of Music degree in composition at DePaul University. Two years later, Smith traveled to the Fontainebleau Summer School in France, where she studied with famed composer Nadia Boulanger.

Many of Smith’s compositions are written in a style similar to French neo-classical music, reflecting her admiration of French composers César Franck and Gabriel Fauré. Her work also drew inspiration from her two favorite composers: Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Johannes Brahms. Though Smith’s instrumental compositions—such as her Sonata for Violin and Piano (1947) and her Sinfonietta (1956)—are among her more popular works, Smith also frequently composed songs and arranged spirituals. Her song cycle Dream Cycle for soprano and piano (1947) sets text by poet Paul Laurence Dunbar.

In addition to her classical training, Smith drew musical inspiration from her sonic surroundings. Her sister-in-law Jeanne Smith Ellis commented, “You always had the idea she was listening to the sound of your voice, the sounds that came out of your mouth.” Smith also was deeply influenced by her spatial surroundings in her hometown: “She liked the sound of Chicago. Chicago has sort of a musical sound.”

Despite Smith’s extensive education and well-crafted compositions, she was a humble composer and often downplayed the quality of her work, leading her to stop composing altogether in 1962. However, music remained a rich part of her life. When Smith retired from teaching in 1978, she combined her two life’s passions—music and education—and became a docent for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at elementary schools. Though Smith stopped composing, her works continued to be performed for the remainder of her life, and they live on today.

–Sophia Janevic

This profile was created in 2021 as part of the Song of America Fellowship Program, a project of the Classic Song Research Initiative between the Hampsong Foundation and the University of Michigan, School of Music, Theatre, and Dance.