Dr. Sanna Pederson, University of Oklahoma
Lili Petschnikoff (1874-1957) was born Lili Schober in Chicago. She was the youngest daughter of German parents who moved to Berlin with her when she began studying at the Hochschule with Joachim. In her memoir, she admitted that “accepting this career was not of my own choosing; it was my dear mother who had placed … Read more
Do you know the story of the admirably accomplished Hofrat Dr. Alois Obrist? As a teenager in the 1880s, he studied at the conservatory in Weimar, where he fell under the spell of the Liszt circle, especially the composer Eduard Lassen. The serious Swiss excelled in many areas of music. He continued his composition lessons … Read more
My list of opera and operetta offerings has been incomplete thus far! This is because the Tageblatt has not been including the Komische Oper or the Lortzing Theater. For tonight, the Komische is doing Hoffmann’s Erzählungen, and Der Troubadour at the Lortzing can be added to Die Lustige Witwe at the Theater des Westens and … Read more
It’s Friday, and there are three big events tonight: Teresa Carreño is giving her only concert in Berlin this year; Felix Weingartner is premiering a symphony by Christian Sinding, and Robert Robitschek is conducting “modern tone poems” by Dvorák, Humperdinck, and himself. Ah, Madame Carreño! She has been a favorite since her debut with the … Read more
The lady violinist, “an exhibition of grace” <strong>The “Violin Girl” as a solution to the “Piano Girl”</strong> <br />Around 1890, English-language press started describing a trend in which women musicians were choosing the violin over the piano. “Violin playing is all the rage now, and is a welcome relief after the feminine piano banging one … Read more
Young women violinists from the United States made headlines such as this in the late nineteenth century. The most frequently profiled were Dora Valeska Becker (1870-1958), Maud Powell (1867-1920), Leonora Jackson (1879-1969), and Geraldine Morgan (1867-1918). While publicizing their very real achievements, these news items also emphasized their conventionally feminine charms. In the “American Girls” … Read more
One day recently, listless from a prolonged illness, I paged through Berliner Leben, a periodical mostly made of up photographs of stars and productions from the theater world. I had already looked at its first years, starting in 1899. But this time I skipped ahead to 1910, and was struck by the evidence of trends … Read more