Feminine Charms of Music

 

grazioso — graceful

 

 zart — tenderly, delicately 

 

 We may never hear the music in a musician's photo

but we can still appreciate the personal qualities 

conveyed in their photographs,

especially when they are young women.

Today I present 

four portraits

of young concert violinists.

My first postcard photo is a close-up portrait of a violinist whose left hand reaches for a high note. Her serious demeanor suggests she is playing some graceful and tender romantic  melody. Her name is unknown and only the location of the publisher, Berlin, is on the back. So that matches with her German hair style. I think she is a solo concert artist from around 1910, possibly the leader of a small family or ladies' ensemble.

* * *

 

 

tranquillo — calm

con amore — with love

This young woman looks directly into the camera lens, her violin and bow at rest as if she has just finished a performance. Her expression is calm and confident, the look of an accomplished musician.

 Her name was May Harrison (1890—1959) an English violinist and the oldest of four sisters, all child prodigies who became concert artists during the early 20th century. Her sisters, Beatrice (1892-1965), Monica (1897-1983) and Margaret (1899-1995) trained respectively as a cellist, a mezzo-soprano, and a violinist. And all four were also accomplished pianists. 

May began her studies at age 11 on a scholarship to the London Royal College of Music in 1901. In 1908 the Harrison family moved to Berlin, Germany where Beatrice Harrison began studies at the Hochschule für Musik. That same year May Harrison left for Saint Petersburg, Russia to study under the celebrated soloist and teacher Leopold Auer. She made her European debut in 1909 in Berlin, Germany, which is when I think this photo postcard was produced, as the photographer's mark is from Berlin. May would be age 19 on the start of a very successful career. She often performed with her sisters and became a close friend and colleague to many eminent British artists and composers. All four sisters never married and remained single. May died in 1959.

 

 

 

 * * *

 

 

trés doux — very sweet

avec abandon — with abandon

My third photo shows a young woman standing in profile as she sweetly contemplates her violin as if it were a beautiful child. Her name, Nicoline Zedeler, is printed in the upper corner. 

 Nicoline Zedeler (1889—1961), later Nicoline Zedeler-Mix, was a Swedish-born American violinist who was born in Stockholm but came to America with her family in 1894 . Her father, Franz Zedeler, taught music and violin at Bethany College in Kansas, and later at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. Like her older brother, Nicolai Franz Zedeler, who also became a professional musician, Nicoline first studied violin with her father and then in Chicago and Berlin. 

In 1910 she was engaged as soloist by John Philips Sousa for a world tour with his band. At one concert Nicoline was excused as she was "indisposed". In fact she and another woman, who shared a cabin on their ship, were nearly asphyxiated by a broken gas valve. Fortunately a steward noticed and was able to break into their room and rescue the two women. 

This postcard is unmarked but was printed in America, so I believe it was produced for Sousa's world tour. The band played hundreds of concerts which established John Philip Sousa as America's premier band leader and composer. Nicoline also gained a special reward from this tour as in 1912 she married Emil Mix, a tuba player in the Sousa band. Nicoline continued as a concert artist and violin teacher. She died in 1961, in New York City, at age 72.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

freudig — joyous, 

scherzando — playful

My last violin soloist also turns her gaze to the lens as she cradles her violin in her arms. But unlike the serious aspect of the other women, she has a more playful, lightheaded smile.

Her name is not complete but the caption on the card reads:

 Dirigentin u. Solo-Sängerin  A. FRANK

Damen-Salon-Orchester „Alt Wien”

 

 

She is Austrian and a directress of a ladies salon orchestra. I have not yet found a postcard of her group, there are quite a lot of these orchestra from Wien—Vienna. But when I do, it will be because I recognize that smile. Her postcard dates from before the Great War, probably around 1912.

 

 

Music is the art of sound. 

Photography is the art of light. 

Both can express 

the infinite emotions of life.

 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where every postcard tells a story.