âPowell, Maud1868╨1920violinistBorn on August 22, 1868, in Peru, Illinois, Maud Powell, a niece of the explorer John Wesley Powell, grew up in Aurora, Illinois. She early displayed musical talent and took up the violin. Encouraged especially by her mother, an amateur musician and composer, she studied under teachers in Aurora and Chicago. At nine she made a six-week tour in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan with the Chicago Ladies╒ Quartet. In 1880 she was sent to Europe, where she continued her studies under Henry Schradieck in Leipzig, with Charles Dancla at the Paris Conservatory, and, after a year-long British tour in 1883, during which she played for Queen Victoria, with Joseph Joachim of the Royal High School of Music in Berlin. In 1885 she made her formal concert debut with the Berlin Philharmonic, and her American debut occurred in November of that year with the New York Philharmonic Society under Theodore Thomas. For the next seven years she toured annually with that orchestra. During that time, in January 1889, she gave one of the earliest American performances of the difficult Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. Her repertoire was broad and included much modern work by such composers as Bruch, Sibelius, Dvo┬çk, Lalo, and Saint-Saæns that she helped introduce to American audiences. In 1892 she was soloist with the New York Arion Society in its tour of Germany and Austria. In 1893 she played at the World╒s Columbian Exposition in Chicago and also delivered a paper on ╥Women and Music╙ before the Women╒s Musical Congress. In 1894 she organized the Maud Powell String Quartet, with which she toured for four years. Powell╒s place in the first rank of contemporary violinists was ratified by her popularity with critical audiences in Europe. British and European tours in 1898 and 1900╨1901, the latter including a performance for Edward VII, were highly successful. A tour in 1903 with John Philip Sousa╒s band included a command performance for Czar Nicholas II. She made extensive American tours in 1901╨1902 and 1903╨1904 and a South African tour in 1905╨1906. She alternated American and European tours until 1910 and thereafter played largely in America. Powell╒s technical accomplishments on the violin rested on a firm base of sensitive musicianship and understanding. From 1903 to 1907 she played a Guarnerius and thereafter a large Giovanni Battista Guadagnini. In later years she sought to extend her touring to schools, smaller towns and cities, and during World War I to army camps. She was the first violinist recorded by the Victor Talking Machine Company. She died on tour, in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, on January 8, 1920. «styl ` ! ¬ 5¬ 5¬ " !I y 5¬ z !I í 5¬ ó !I link `
