Selected Content
from the Woman's Work In Music Department 
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Woman's Work in Music - December, 1897
"The tendency of the present day to bring forward every woman worker simply because she is a woman, I think does much harm. It merely places a premium on mediocrity, and encourages a host of women who are not fitted either by nature or by education to do any valuable work for art, into striving for a species of cheap notoriety." Read More
Woman's Work in Music. - February, 1898
Then there are masculine and feminine pianists and violinists. Paderewski appeals more to women than to men, and d'Albert more to men than to women; Sarasate is particularly a feminine violinist, whereas Joachim and Ysaye are not. In order to disarm gathering indignation, I may as well say that by masculine and feminine I do not refer to the mere accident as to whether a human being is born a man or a woman, but to the essential cast of mind and temperament. Read More
Woman's Work in Music. - March, 1898
From time to time there have appeared in The Etude accounts of musical societies and clubs composed of amateur musicians, but none which seem to have worked along the same line as the one with which I have the honor... Read More
The Woman's Club a Factor in General Music Culture. - May, 1898
If--and notice I say if--women have never been great producers of music, they have at all events shown a great appreciation of those who were. And where is this so much in evidence as in the Woman's Musical Club, where composers are studied, lionized, and even worshiped with an intensity and interest known to no other art? Read More
Woman's Work in Music - July, 1898
Pauline Viardot-Garcia was born July 18, 1821. A life of Adelina Patti is being prepared by a London journalist. Marie Wurm produced her concerto in G minor, with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Berlin, in March. A wish frequently expressed at... Read More
Woman's Work in Music - June, 1899
It has been supposed that the question of sex in work falls under the same laws that govern supremacy of race in the struggle for occupation. For example, as one would discuss the relative fitness in the laundry business of men, women, and Chinese; or, in cookery, of women, Frenchmen, and negroes. Read More
Woman's Work in Music - September, 1899
Having laid hold of truth (which is wisdom), the very best way to right up a disorganized digestion is to begin to seek opportunities of giving trifling pleasures to others. One of the most necessary things in education is the cultivation of the power of being easily amused. There is nothing in which musicians fail more habitually. Read More
Federation News Items. - March, 1900
Interest in the work of the federation is growing very surely in the Eastern section, as interested and inquiring letters testify. Read More
Philanthropic Work of Federated Clubs. - March, 1900
Music is seldom used as a means of moral development; but, as the meaning of the music life is grasped in its fullest and broadest sense, this phase is developed in all its beauty, and one result is the philanthropic... Read More
Parliamentary Procedure. - March, 1900
The selection of officers for a permanent society should be most carefully made among those members who are best fitted for such positions. The president should be a person with good judgment; one who is able, first, to rule... Read More
Have the Rich a Right To Work? - March, 1900
"What do you think of my giving music lessons?" asked Mary, of her family, assembled at breakfast. "I don't think of it; I am able to support my family. It would injure my credit in business," replied her father.... Read More
Harpists In Demand - March, 1900
Mrs. Clara Murray, the well-known harpist, is very enthusiastic over the ever-increasing popularity of the harp. Not only has she had great success this winter in concert work, having played in Cincinnati, Memphis, Omaha, St. Paul, and other cities, but... Read More
News Items. - June, 1900
At a recent song recital in New York, Madam Sembrich sang in Italian, French, English, German, Russian and Polish. Every one of these languages the prima donna speaks with facility. Polish is her native tongue. German, Italian, Russian and French are as easy to her. English she speaks with little accent and considerable fluency. Read More
The Difference Between Being and Having. - June, 1900
The first note of woman's emancipation came when she began to organize her present club life. In the club, individuality, culture, talent, for the first time became objects of admiration and desire. If papers were to be written, the power of writing a good paper (something which neither the money nor the position of her husband could give her, but which was something independent of anyone but herself) gave the woman that possessed it a position absolutely her own. For the first time in woman's social career being began to stand for more than having,--and being makes its own initiative. Read More
Supervising the Health of Pupils. - June, 1900
It is very difficult to train a hand the skin of which is in bad condition. Now, the skin is one of the three organs of excretion, the other two being the lungs and the intestines. Nine young girls out... Read More
Woman's Work In Music - April, 1901
This is a city of strangers. New York is a place to lose one's self in; a place where, tramping the same streets day by day, you may never meet one glance of recognition from week's end to week's end. It is a spot where mankind swarms like ants in a hill, but where the value of the individual is in inverse proportion to the mass. Isolated, lonely, poor, neglected, hopeless, there are thousands of musicians here hidden in hall-bedrooms of third-class boardinghouses who would be great people at home. They stay, they say, "because they can't live out of the musical atmosphere," but really because they have become demoralized. Read More
National Federation Of Musical Clubs. News of the Federated Clubs. Northern Middle Section. - May, 1901
The Polyhymnia Club, of Saginaw, Mich., will give its last subscription concert early in May, with Joseph Baernstein as soloist. It will be remembered that this is the club that has a May Festival well under way for the 20th... Read More
More Intelligent Listeners. - May, 1901
Madame Rive-King, one of America’s most notable pianists, was asked her opinion of musical advancement during her concert-career. She said: “I find a very noticeable increase of people who hear intelligently, and an artist senses this intelligence as quickly as... Read More
Men and Women Teachers. - May, 1901
The subject frequently comes up for discussion as to which makes the best teacher, the man or the woman. The writer will probably be accused of partiality to her own sex if she claims for the woman a knack and... Read More
Musical Literature for Children. - May, 1901
How to interest children in work which will improve them is a subject of no little study, not only to mothers, but to teachers who have the advancement and development of young minds in charge. The responsibility which rests upon... Read More
My Experience. - May, 1901
Music-study classes and analytical lectures of all sorts are almost too common now to be written about, but I would like to relate a pleasant experience I have had in this line, one which bids fair to bear good fruit... Read More
A Belated Letter Addressed to the Convention of the Federation of Musical Clubs by the Editor of Woman's Work In Music. - May, 1901
Edited by FANNY MORRIS SMITH Once a very good New England woman was heard to thank her Creator that He had placed all the great rivers beside the great towns. This tale, which we heard Emerson relate in a lecture,... Read More
Woman's Work In Music - October, 1901
Edited by FANNY MORRIS SMITH. LET EVERYTHING BE DONE DECENTLY AND IN ORDER. In opening the club year let the usefulness of parliamentary law take its full importance in the eyes of every club-member. Orderly proceedings, well-kept minutes, well-enforced by-laws,... Read More
Woman's Work In Music. - November, 1901
The appearance of the Book of the "Saturday Club," of Sacramento, Cal., starts the question of how a club-booklet should be made. The publication in question is by far the handsomest musical- club book the Editor has ever seen; it... Read More
Club News - December, 1901
The St. Cecilia Club, of Midland, Mich., puts itself on record as an energetic body of students on the right path. The club, organized nearly a year ago, records a membership of thirty ladies, with an average attendance of twenty.... Read More
The Malleability of Mozart. - December, 1901
It falls to "The Department of Woman's Work" to consider the influence of women upon Mozart. It is not pretended that the readers of these columns will be likely to bear the mental and moral responsibilities of exactly such a personage, but undoubtedly it is well to open their eyes to the gravity of their responsibilities as a sex. In a certain country village, where men are hard and sometimes reckless, the editor of these columns has sometimes inquired into the causes of their misdeeds and bad ends. The answer usually runs: "Waal, folks say he warn't so much to blame neither! They that know his wife say he was druv to't." With a full consciousness of the turpitude of our sex when a man is "druv" the wrong way, let us review the life of Mozart, who has come down as a typical case of bad management on the part of women. Read More
A Club Duty - December, 1901
The Christmas number of The Etude brings us face to face with the problem of bringing light to the blind, cheer to the sad, and help to the needy. This is no more Woman's work than Man's work; but, just... Read More
A Little Talk About Programs. - February, 1902
Very small clubs do not need to resort to the printer for their programs. Paper which can be cut into any sizes can be obtained in large sheets as the wholesale houses get it from the mills. The genius of the club can then prepare the original exactly as it is to look, and the whole can be reproduced in its entirety by a cheap process of photolithography. Or, better still, each program may be different--a work of art in itself. Read More
Club-Work in Indian Territory. - February, 1902
"Muskogee is a town of about 5000 inhabitants, and in the heart of the Indian country. Until last spring there had not been an artist-recital in the whole territory. So you see we are doing missionary-work, to a certain extent. Any mention you may see fit to make of our club-work in your magazine, or any favors in the way of suggestions, would be most gratefully received. Read More
"Possum." - February, 1902
The musical clubs where the members are actual workers in that they sing, who really studied for the program, and give instrumental numbers on the same lines, are the clubs that make for culture. Read More
Opportunities for the Study and Enjoyment of Music Offered to the Students in a Typical College for Women. - February, 1902
But the music which reaches and influences the entire student-body is that which they produce for themselves. In a large college there are invariably some students who play the piano remarkably well, others who play the violin, some who sing; and the pleasure that these students give their fellows is really immeasurable and invaluable. It usually happens that every "house" possesses at least one student who can "do" something besides play waltzes and two-steps on Saturday evenings for the frivolously inclined, and at every opportunity they are beseeched to "do" it. Read More
Woman's Work In Music - May, 1902
Edited by EMILIE FRANCES BAUER. TALKS TO CHILDREN. I have contended for many months, months that would run into years, that there is no club-work so valuable or so fascinating as talks to children, and the programs which should accompany... Read More
Music-Clubs and Their Pitfalls - September, 1902
It can hardly be said that the clubs are getting ready for work, for as yet those who give the most active work and thought to the welfare of these organizations are resting up for the coming season. The growth of the musical-club fad, if so beneficial a function may be termed a fad, is nothing short of remarkable. Read More
Woman's Work in Music - February, 1903
One of the most serious conditions came to me through a pianist who asks me to present the subject without the mention of her name. It is that with which almost all clubs have to battle--the piano. Nothing can be more discouraging than to be asked to play and to know that certain selections cannot be thought of because the piano is in such a condition as to make it impossible. Read More
The Story of America's Largest Musical Organization: The National Federation of Musical Clubs - November, 1918
Not all of the federated organizations connected with the N. F. M. C. are composed exclusively of women, but the organization of the work and the conduct of its important meetings, conventions, etc., have been such a wonderful testimonial to the great efficiency of American women in the musical field that we have made this review of this great enterprise the leading feature of our Woman's Issue. Read More
Maud Powell - Two Types of Violin Playing - November, 1918
Miss Maud Powell, the greatest violinist of her sex, in a native of Peru, Ind. Wm. Lewes, of Chicago, was her early teacher; afterward she studied with Schradieck in Leipsic, Dancla in Paris and, Joachim in Berlin. She has made extensive concert tours in most parts of the civilized world, and was the first player to introduce the violin concertos of Arensky, Dvoràk, Saint-Saëns (C min.) and Lalo (G maj.) to America. She has made some very effective transcriptions of various songs and piano pieces for the violin, and has been a contributor to The Etude from time to time. In 1904 she married, and is known in private life as Mrs. H. Godfrey Turner. Her success as a violinist has been a very great source of inspiration among girls who have taken up the study of the violin; indeed, her influence in this particular way has been so wide-reaching that one could scarcely overestimate it. Read More
Mme. Ernestine Schumann-Heink - The Mother's Part in the Child's Musical Training - November, 1918
It is not generally known that Mme. Schumann-Heink's father was a Czech and that her mother was an Italian. Her interest in the participation of America in the great world war entirely apart from her residence and citizenship in this country since 1904 is a natural one. She has given her services unreservedly to almost every patriotic cause where she has been called. She has sung in camps for the boys from ocean to ocean, and has been obliged to live down all manner of ridiculous and false allegations as to her loyalty. Read More
Mrs. Frances E. Clarke - Music as a Vocation for Women - November, 1918
Have you not wished a thousand times that you were a man, that you might do this or that forbidden or prohibited thing? Yes! it has been a "Man's World" in many ways, but, as an old college friend used facetiously to say, "Them times are went." Read More
To the Girl Who Wants to Compose. Mrs. H.H.A. Beach - November, 1918
There was once a girl who said to me in an airy manner: "Oh! anybody can write a song!" If she had been a serious, earnest girl, and I had felt the slightest assurance of her sincerity of purpose, I should have taken up the cudgels at once and pounded her remark into as small fragments as I could make. For a girl of her type, I spared myself the trouble. Read More
Musical Celebrities Sell Liberty Bonds - November, 1918
In this Woman's issue it is most interesting to present the portraits of three noted musical women engaged in patriotic work with two very distinguished musical husbands. Heading from right to left we have Leopold Stokowski, Conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Alma Gluck, Olga Samaroff (Mrs. Stokowski), Clara Clemens (daughter of Mark Twain, Mrs. Gabrilowitsch) and Ossip Gabrilowitsch, Conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. The picture was taken at the foot of the Liberty Statue standing on Broad Street, Philadelphia. Read More
Olga Samaroff - What the Life of an Artist Means - November, 1918
Among the many problems which confront an artist, none is more perplexing than the constant, almost daily, requests for advice from young and aspiring musicians or their anxious relatives. As an appearance with an orchestra is the ambition of every budding virtuoso or singer, I have had even more than my share of such appeals since becoming the wife of an orchestral conductor, and it sometimes seems to me as though the entire next generation were striving to precipitate itself upon the concert stage! Read More
Famous Musical Women of the Past. - November, 1918
The casual reader imagines that women in ancient times were wholly wrapped up in household affairs-- the "Kinder, Küche, und Kirche" that some unprogressive Germans have prescribed for the fair sex in modern days. It is true, that the average wife of the Greek or Roman epoch was kept at home pretty regularly, but even in that early period there were some who stood for women's rights and an emancipated feminism. The profession of music offered them publicity, even then. Read More
The Woman's Club a Factor in General Music Culture. - September, 1920
The Woman's Musical Club is too old a feature of civilization to be termed exclusively a fad. That there are clubs actuated only by a desire to follow in the lead of fashion, and this based entirely on a superficial desire to be considered cultured, is beyond doubt. But the Woman's Club, even in this imperfect state, is a mighty power for good. Read More
