An American Virtuoso On The World Stage

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.

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.

This essential reference focuses on the lives, careers, and musical contributions of over 150 American pianists from early days of the nation until the present day. Richard Masters spotlights both modern and historical pianists—including women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ pianists who either never had the opportunity to win widespread acclaim but were top notch performers or who achieved important careers against heavy odds but were soon forgotten after their deaths, such as Augusta Cottlow, George Copeland, and Natalie Hinderas. This volume also gives attention to important collaborative pianists—none of whom have ever appeared in any volume on classical pianists—and influential pedagogues, some of whom never had significant performing careers but produced important students. Each entry explores an individual pianist’s life and career—from relevant biographical details to impact on American musical culture—and includes a selected list and brief discussion of existing and available recordings, if any. Additionally, an introduction situates these pianists into historical trends. Overseen by a blue-ribbon editorial board, Encyclopedia of American Classical Pianists: 1800s to the Present provides a comprehensive view of the depth and breadth of American pianistic achievement and serves as the most up-to-date work for students, piano departments, music libraries, researchers, and interested pianophiles.

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.

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.

First published in 2006. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an Informa company.

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.

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.