Download or read book An American Virtuoso on the World Stage written by Donna Staley Kline and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through astonishing force of will and exertion of talent, a young Lucy Hickenlooper of South Texas, reinvented herself as Olga Samaroff, international virtuoso concert pianist and one of the most influential musicians during the first half of the twentieth century, when music was still dominated by men and Old World prejudices. For those unfamiliar with her career, Olga Samaroff Stokowski may be known primarily for her tumultuous marriage to renowned conductor Leopold Stokowski. She was much more than a conductor’s wife, however. Donna Staley Kline’s biography reveals Olga as the driving and shaping force behind her husband’s genius and offers the first considered look at a pioneering woman whose own career was marked by improbable firsts. She was the first American woman to win entrance into the piano class at Paris’s prestigious Conservatoire Nationale de Musique; the first American female pianist to make her concert debut at Carnegie Hall, as well as to perform all thirty-two Beethoven sonatas; the first woman to serve as the music critic for a New York daily newspaper; the first American-born member of the piano faculty at the Juilliard School of Music; and among the first to make recordings and break ground in radio and television broadcasting. Known to her students simply as “Madam,” Olga the beloved artist-teacher launched the first generation of American-born, American-trained concert pianists. William Kapell, Eugene List, Joseph Battista, Alexis Weissenberg, Rosalyn Tureck, and Maurice Hinson are only a few whose talent first found expression under her tutelage. But her passion for teaching extended well beyond the confines of the Philadelphia Conservatory and the Juilliard School. She sought to educate America in music, establishing in this country the first musical competition solely for native artists and creating layman’s music courses for the general public. Carefully researched and drawing on interviews with her contemporaries and students, as well as on heretofore neglected letters and documents, An American Virtuoso on the World Stage will appeal to both music lovers and scholars in the field who seek a lively and penetrating look at one of American music’s most important women. Olga’s life story is of an American progressive who sought innovation and excellence and refused to yield to the musical establishment—and it is a story that has waited to be told.
Download or read book Making Music American written by E. Douglas Bomberger and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-11-01 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The year 1917 was unlike any other in American history, or in the history of American music. The United States entered World War I, jazz burst onto the national scene, and the German musicians who dominated classical music were forced from the stage. As the year progressed, New Orleans natives Nick LaRocca and Freddie Keppard popularized the new genre of jazz, a style that suited the frantic mood of the era. African-American bandleader James Reese Europe accepted the challenge of making the band of the Fifteenth New York Infantry into the best military band in the country. Orchestral conductors Walter Damrosch and Karl Muck met the public demand for classical music while also responding to new calls for patriotic music. Violinist Fritz Kreisler, pianist Olga Samaroff, and contralto Ernestine Schumann-Heink gave American audiences the best of Old-World musical traditions while walking a tightrope of suspicion because of their German sympathies. Before the end of the year, the careers of these eight musicians would be upended, and music in America would never be the same. Making Music American recounts the musical events of this tumultuous year month by month from New Year's Eve 1916 to New Year's Day 1918. As the story unfolds, the lives of these eight musicians intersect in surprising ways, illuminating the transformation of American attitudes toward music both European and American. In this unsettled time, no one was safe from suspicion, but America's passion for music made the rewards high for those who could balance musical skill with diplomatic savvy.
Download or read book Women Performing Music written by Beth Abelson Macleod and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2000-12-15 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the experiences of women from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who pursued careers as public performers, charting a new course in an era when women's musical activities were generally consigned to the parlor. Certain instruments had historically evolved as "appropriate for women," and the flamboyant personalities and extroverted emotionalism of Romantic virtuosos and conductors were the antithesis of those qualities traditionally admired in women. However, this work presents an unusual group of young women who nonetheless became noted virtuosos, studying abroad as teenagers and touring North America upon their return. Detailed profiles are given of three remarkable musicians from among that unusual group: Fannie Bloomfield-Zeisler (1863-1927)--virtuoso pianist, wife and mother; Ethel Leginska (1886-1970)--pianist, conductor, and 1920s "new woman"; and Antonia Brico (1902-1989)--conductor and transitional figure to the late twentieth century. A concluding chapter contrasts the experiences of women classical musicians in the late nineteenth and the late twentieth centuries. Included are a number of photographs and drawings which impart the perceptions of audiences and critics of the stage presence of these performers.
Download or read book One Woman in a Hundred written by Mary Sue Welsh and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2013-01-22 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gifted harpist Edna Phillips (1907–2003) joined the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1930, becoming not only that ensemble's first female member but also the first woman to hold a principal position in a major American orchestra. Plucked from the Curtis Institute of Music in the midst of her studies, Phillips was only twenty-three years old when Leopold Stokowski, one of the twentieth century's most innovative and controversial conductors, named her principal harpist. This candid, colorful account traces Phillips's journey through the competitive realm of Philadelphia's virtuoso players, where she survived--and thrived--thanks to her undeniable talent, determination, and lively humor. Drawing on extensive interviews with Phillips, her family, and colleagues as well as archival sources, One Woman in a Hundred chronicles the training, aspirations, setbacks, and successes of this pioneering woman musician. Mary Sue Welsh recounts numerous insider stories of rehearsal and performance with Stokowski and other renowned conductors of the period such as Arturo Toscanini, Fritz Reiner, Otto Klemperer, Sir Thomas Beecham, and Eugene Ormandy. She also depicts Phillips's interactions with fellow performers, the orchestra management, and her teacher, the wily and brilliant Carlos Salzedo. Blessed with a nimble wit, Phillips navigated a plethora of challenges, ranging from false conductors' cues to the advances of the debonair Stokowski and others. She remained with the orchestra through some of its most exciting years from 1930 to 1946 and was instrumental in fostering harp performance, commissioning many significant contributions to the literature. This portrait of Phillips's exceptional tenure with the Philadelphia Orchestra also reveals the behind-the-scenes life of a famous orchestra during a period in which Rachmaninoff declared it "the finest orchestra the world has ever heard." Through Phillips's perceptive eyes, readers will watch as Stokowski melds his musicians into a marvelously flexible ensemble; world-class performers reach great heights and make embarrassing flubs; Greta Garbo comes to Philadelphia to observe her lover Leopold Stokowski at work; and the orchestra encounters the novel experience of recording for Walt Disney's Fantasia. A colorful glimpse into a world-class orchestra at the height of its glory, One Woman in a Hundred tells the fascinating story of one woman brave enough and strong enough to overcome historic barriers and pursue her dreams.
Download or read book Women in Music written by Karin Pendle and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-09-19 with total page 1003 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 2006. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an Informa company.
Download or read book Women and the Piano written by Susan Tomes and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2024-03-05 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Women are an essential part of the history of the piano--but how many women pianists can you name? Throughout most of the piano's history, women pianists lacked access to formal training and were excluded from male-dominated performance spaces. Even the modern piano's keys were designed without consideration of women's typically smaller hands. Yet despite their music being largely confined to the domestic sphere, women continued to play, perform, and compose on their own terms. Celebrated pianist and author Susan Tomes traces fifty such women across the piano's history. Including now-famous names such as Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn, Tomes also highlights overlooked women: from Hélène de Montgeroult, whose playing saved her life during the French Revolution, to Leopoldine Wittgenstein, influential Viennese salonnière, and Hazel Scott, the first Black performer in the United States to have a nationally syndicated TV show. From Maria Szymanowska to Nina Simone, and including interviews with women performing today, this is a much-needed corrective to our understanding of the piano--and a timely testament to women's musical lives.
Download or read book Vincent Persichetti written by Andrea Olmstead and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2018-10-16 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vincent Persichetti: Grazioso, Grit, and Gold is the first critical biography of the esteemed American composer, bringing together scholarly work and short contributed essays of prominent performers. Andrea Olmstead weaves a captivating narrative of the composer from his early life to his musical activities at Juilliard and death in 1987.
Download or read book Helen Taft written by Lewis L. Gould and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2010-08-24 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this fascinating study, Lewis L. Gould has brought a shadowy first lady into the light and restored her to a rightful place as a patron of music. Helen Herron Taft came to the White House intent on establishing Washington, D.C., as the nation's cultural capital. A stroke in May 1909 made her a semi-invalid, impaired her speech, and disrupted her agenda. Historians have written her off as a shrewish figure who pushed her portly husband into the presidency. Gould challenges this outdated narrative with new information on Helen Taft's campaign to bring the best of classical music to the White House during her four years. He draws on prodigious research about the musicians who performed there-including violinist Fritz Kreisler, pianist Fannie Bloomfield-Zeisler, and contralto Ernestine Schumann-Heink, and reveals for the first time how Nellie Taft enlisted a diverse array of top-notch artists for her musicales, recitals, and social events. The result is a major contribution to a better understanding of the White House as a cultural center at the turn of the last century. Beyond her musical agenda, Helen Taft enhanced the appearance of Washington with the planting of the cherry trees from Japan that now bloom each spring. Gould also delves with insight into Mrs. Taft's role in the politics of her husband's administration. He provides the most complete recounting into her part in the dismissal of Henry White as ambassador to France, a key moment in the emergence of her husband's split with Theodore Roosevelt. He discusses the nature of her stroke, based on letters from her husband and her doctors, and reveals how Mrs. Taft, her daughter Helen, and the journalist Eleanor Egan crafted the first ever memoir of any first lady. Drawing on memoirs and manuscripts not used before, Gould re-creates memorable occasions at the Taft White House, when dramatist Ruth Draper delivered her monologues, Charles Coburn staged Shakespeare on the White House lawn, and Lady Augusta Gregory of the Irish Players dropped by. Gould's path-breaking study of Helen Taft is a significant addition to the literature on first ladies and a tribute to a complex and brave woman who overcame illness and adversity to leave her own special imprint on the history of the White House.
Download or read book Unsung written by Christine Ammer and published by Hal Leonard Corporation. This book was released on 2001 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the contributions of women instrumentalists, composers, teachers, and conductors to American music, and suggests why they have gone unnoticed in the past.
Download or read book Ladies First written by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2006 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduces readers to 40 American women of achievement who were first in their field.
Download or read book Yellow Fever on Galveston Island written by Jan Johnson and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2022-07 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jan Johnson provides a definitive account of Galveston's fight against outbreaks of Yellow Fever, which transformed an island paradise into the City of Dreadful Death. In the summer of Galveston's founding year, a mysterious malady accompanied by black vomit descended upon the inhabitants. Names for the devastating plague came quick and fast as the body count rose. Saffron Scourge. Bronze John. Yellow Jack. Yellow Fever. The disease's cause and cure remained elusive, as did the medical institutions Galveston would need treat the illness. Four thousand souls perished in nine epidemics between 1839 and 1867. By the time of Galveston's final Yellow Fever outbreak in 1903, however, residents were better informed and equipped. Discover the key figures and pivotal events of the island city's experience with the mosquito-borne disease.
Download or read book Natural Fingering written by Jon Verbalis and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-05-31 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In further developing Chopin's thinking on pianism, this book explores the keyboard's topographical symmetry and the revolutionary impact of symmetrical inversion on piano technique and pedagogy. With copious excerpts from the extant repertoire, this is the first comprehensive discussion of fingering solutions for pianists since Hummel's monumental treatise of 1828.
Download or read book The Pianist s Bookshelf Second Edition written by Maurice Hinson and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2023 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in 1997, The Pianist's Bookshelf, was, according to the Library Journal, "a unique and valuable tool." Now rewritten for a modern audience, this second edition expands into the 21st century. A completely revised update, The Pianist's Bookshelf, Second Edition, comes to the rescue of pianists overwhelmed by the abundance of books, videos, and other works about the piano. In this clear, easy-to-use reference book, Maurice Hinson and Wesley Roberts survey hundreds of sources and provide concise, practical annotations for each item, thus saving the reader hours of precious research time. In addition to the main listings of entries, such as "Chamber Music" and "Piano Duet," the book has indexes of authors, composers, and performers. A handy reference from the masters of piano bibliography, The Pianist's Bookshelf, Second Edition, will be an invaluable resource to students, teachers, and musicians.
Download or read book Juilliard written by Andrea Olmstead and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 474 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this first comprehensive history, Andrea Olmstead takes us behind the scenes and into the practice rooms, studios, and offices of one of the most famous music schools in the world. The roster of Juilliard faculty and their students reads like a veritable who's who of the performing arts world. The music school has counted Josef and Rosina Lhevinne and Olga Samaroff Stokowski among its faculty, with students including Richard Rodgers, Van Cliburn, James Levine, Leontyne Price, Miles Davis, and Itzhak Perlman. The dance faculty has included Jos Lim n, Anna Sokolow, and the venerable Martha Graham, while such bright lights as Robin Williams, Kevin Kline, Patti LuPone, and Mandy Patinkin have emerged from the youngest department in the school, the Drama Division. What is it really like to be immersed in the rarefied, ultra-competitive conservatory atmosphere of Juilliard? Olmstead has pored over archival records and ephemeral material and conducted dozens of unprecedented interviews to paint a true picture of the school's private side and the accomplishments and foibles of its leaders. Through its various incarnations as the Institute of Musical Art, the Juilliard Musical Foundation, the Juilliard School of Music, and The Juilliard School stormy directorships and controversies have left their mark: Augustus Juilliard's multi- million-dollar bequest in 1919, the expensive move to the Lincoln Center complex, and dozens of episodes of power-brokering, arrogance, intimidation, secrecy, and infighting. Balanced against these are the vision, dedication, talent, and determination of generations of gifted teachers, students, and administrators. For nearly a century, Juilliard has trained the artists who compose the elite corps of the performing arts community in the United States. Juilliard: A History affirms the school's artistic legacy of great performances as the one constant amid decades of upheaval and change.
Download or read book The Pianist s Bookshelf written by Maurice Hinson and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 1998-05-22 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This useful volume should be on every pianist's bookshelf." --Piano & Keyboard "... a unique and valuable tool for teachers, students, performers... " --Library Journal The Pianist's Bookshelf comes to the rescue of pianists overwhelmed by the abundance of books, videos, and other works about the piano. In this clear, easy-to-use presentation, Maurice Hinson surveys hundreds of resource materials, providing clear, practical annotations for each item, thus saving the user hours of precious library time. In addition to the main listing of entries, the book has several topical indexes.
Download or read book Piano Keyboard written by and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Book Review Index written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 1520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vols. 8-10 of the 1965-1984 master cumulation constitute a title index.
