Kemp Stillings Explained
Kemp Stillings |
Birth Name: | Katharine Kemp Stillings |
Birth Date: | 30 June 1888 |
Birth Place: | Roxbury, Massachusetts |
Death Place: | New York City |
Occupation: | Violinist, music educator |
Katharine Kemp Stillings (June 30, 1888 – April 30, 1967) was a violinist, composer, and music educator.
Early life
Katharine Kemp Stillings was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and began studying violin from a very early age. She went to Berlin to study with Joseph Joachim, and to Saint Petersburg for further studies with Leopold Auer.[1]
Career
Stillings performed in Russia and Finland before World War I.[2] She played with pianist Frances Nash in 1917 and 1918, in New York and several other American cities, and was a guest soloist with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.[3] [4] [5] She toured in South America in 1920.[6]
Stillings became suddenly blind in the 1920s, and after that focused on teaching.[7] "It has been a handicap, but also a blessing," she told an interviewer in 1940. "It has made my critical hearing ever so much more acute. Besides, something like this makes us so human."[8] She was on the faculty at the New Jersey College for Women from 1927 to 1952,[9] and taught her own master classes in New York City,[10] which were modeled on the pedagogy of Joachim and Auer.[11] Her students included conductor Walter Eisenberg.[12]
Stillings published violin exercise books for children, The Great Adventure (1928), At the Crossroads (1929), and The Giant Talks (1929),[13] and wrote compositions with titles like "Take a Little Eighth Note", "Tick Tock", and "Double Meaning".[14] She also took an interest in cookery, sharing recipes for fruit dishes with a newspaper in 1940.[15]
Personal life
Kemp Stillings died in 1967, at her home in New York City.[16]
External links
Notes and References
- https://books.google.com/books?id=wew6AQAAMAAJ&q=Kemp+Stillings&pg=RA6-PA29 "Kemp Stillings Talks of Auer and Russia"
- July 26, 1917. Kemp Stillings to Make First American Tour. Musical Courier. 75. 24.
- October 4, 1917. Frances Nash and Kemp Stillings to be Heard Jointly. Musical Courier. 75. 15.
- October 6, 1917. Frances Nash and Kemp Stillings Already Booked for Long Season. Musical America. 26. 33.
- December 6, 1917. Kemp Stillings' Plans and Bookings. Musical Courier. 75. 29.
- May 1920. Music and Musical Literature. The Violinist. 26. 209.
- News: Near-Blindness Halts One Career for Violinist, Launches Another. November 5, 1939. The Tampa Tribune. December 10, 2019. 16. Newspapers.com.
- News: Conquest of the Melodic Line. May 26, 1940. The Philadelphia Inquirer. December 10, 2019. 87. Newspapers.com.
- News: Pupil of Kemp Stillings, N. J. C. Music Instructor, Plays for President Somoza at White House. May 14, 1939. The Central New Jersey Home News. December 10, 2019. 4. Newspapers.com.
- News: Two Musicians to Present Program for College Club. December 6, 1932. The Central New Jersey Home News. December 10, 2019. 9. Newspapers.com.
- News: Kemp Stillings to Present Master Class in New York. September 2, 1937. The Central New Jersey Home News. December 10, 2019. 15. Newspapers.com.
- News: Hit it Hard. October 9, 1953. The Arrow. December 10, 2019. 6. Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection.
- Merz. Otto. 1929. Review of The Giant Talks. Music Supervisors' Journal. 15. 4. 98. 10.2307/3382335. 3382335. 144812186. 1559-2472.
- Book: Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical compositions. 1945. Library of Congress, Copyright Office.. 152, 223, 228, 240, 680. en.
- News: Food Flash! New Recipes for Fruit. Turner. Grace. February 18, 1940. The Indianapolis Star. December 10, 2019. 63. Newspapers.com.
- https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1967/05/02/83589285.html "Kemp Stillings, 78, Violinist, Teacher"