Nellie Strong Stevenson (June 14, 1856 – July 9, 1930), born Ellen Strong, was an American pianist, music teacher and clubwoman.
Nellie Strong Stevenson | |
|---|---|
 Nellie Strong Stevenson, from 1915 publication | |
| Born | Ellen C. Strong June 14, 1856 Rockford, Illinois |
| Died | July 9, 1930 (aged 74) Washington, D.C. |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | Pianist, music teacher and clubwoman |
Early life
editEllen C. Strong was born in Rockford, Illinois and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of George P. Strong and Melinda P. Fales Strong. Her father was a lawyer and a judge. She trained as a pianist in St. Louis. She went to Europe for further studies in Leipzig and Berlin, and with Franz Liszt at a summer program in Weimar.[1][2]
Career
editStrong taught and performed in St. Louis, New York and Boston as a young woman. She was the founding president of the Missouri Music Teachers Association,[3] and spoke at the World's Music Congress, held at the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. She chaired the Students Department of the National Federation of Music Clubs.[1] In that position, she wrote about topics of interest to student musicians;[4] she was also chair of the National Federation Contest for Young Artists.[5][6]
In 1917, Strong was based in San Diego, where she was head of the piano department at the Sloan School of Music[7][8] and played at the organ pavilion in Balboa Park.[9] By 1919 she was based in San Francisco, and wrote about music libraries in California in 1921.[10] She gave music appreciation lectures, accompanying herself on piano, into her last years.[11][12] She was a director of the California Music Teachers Association and a member of the Western Women's Club and Pacific Coast Women's Press Association.[13]
Personal life
editStrong married lawyer John Chiles Houston Stevenson, the son of Union Army general John Dunlap Stevenson, in 1894.[1] She was widowed when he died in San Francisco in 1922,[14] and she died in 1930, aged 74 years, while visiting Washington, D.C.[13]
References
edit- ^ a b c Leonard, John W. (1914). Woman's Who's Who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada, 1914-1915. American Commonwealth Company. pp. 781-782.
Nellie Strong Stevenson.
- ^ Saerchinger, César (1918). International Who's who in Music and Musical Gazetteer: A Contemporary Biographical Dictionary and a Record of the World's Musical Activity. Current Literature Publishing Company. pp. 617–618.
- ^ "Missouri Music Teachers". St. Louis Globe-Democrat. June 27, 1896. p. 2. Retrieved December 12, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Stevenson, Nellie Strong (September 1914). "Foreign Study for American Students". Musical Monitor and World. 4: 17.
- ^ "The National Federation Contest for Young Artists". The Musical Monitor. 4: 415–416. June 1915.
- ^ Stevenson, Nellie Strong (February 1915). "Conditions of the Biennial Contest at Los Angeles". Musical Monitor. 4: 203.
- ^ "Untitled news item". Music News: 35. January 26, 1917.
- ^ "San Diego". Music News. 9: 24. February 23, 1917.
- ^ "Mrs. Stevenson to Appear in Concert Today". San Diego Union and Daily Bee. December 2, 1917. p. 5. Retrieved December 12, 2019 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ^ Stevenson, Nellie Strong (January 1921). "A Visit to Some California Music Libraries". Musical Monitor. 10: 169–171.
- ^ "Mrs. N. S. Stevenson". The San Francisco Examiner. May 20, 1923. p. 44. Retrieved December 12, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Mrs. Nellie Stevenson to Speak at Club". The San Francisco Examiner. March 11, 1929. p. 12. Retrieved December 12, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Musician, Club Leader of S. F. Dies in East". The San Francisco Examiner. July 13, 1930. p. 3. Retrieved December 12, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Obituary". The Cornell Alumni News. 1922. p. 356.
