An American virtuoso on the world stage : Olga Samaroff Stokowski / Donna Staley Kline.

Author/creator Kline, Donna Staley
Format Book
Publication InfoCollege Station : Texas A & M University Press, ©1996.
Descriptionxix, 274 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Subjects
Samaroff Stokowski, Olga, 1882-1948.
Pianists--United States. --Biography.

Contents Introduction: the teacher -- Origins: the Hickenloopers and Loenings -- Europe: education and marriage -- Two debus: America and London -- A concert artist's life -- Europe revisited: Olga and Jane impresarios -- Romance and marriage: 1909-1914 -- The world war: life at seal harbor -- A troubled marriage -- A recording pioneer -- Life as a music critic -- Juilliard: Madam teacher and the Schubert memorial -- Philadelphia return -- Madam teaches the American people -- Branching out: 1936-1939 -- The war years: 1939-1945 -- Living legacy and the final years -- Afterword -- Appendix I: Discography ; Appendix 2: Madam's method of work ; Appendix 3: Madam as critic.
Abstract 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. This 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. Carefully researched and drawing on interviews with her contemporaries and students, as well as on heretofore neglected letters and documents, this book 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.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (pages 261-263) and index.
LCCN 95039269
ISBN0890966915 (cloth : alk. paper)

Availability

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Music Closed Stacks - Ask at Circulation Desk ML417.S18 K6 1996 ✔ Available Place Hold