May Leggett Abel

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May Elizabeth Leggett Abel (born June 5, 1867 in Waterford , Michigan , United States , † July 26, 1952 in Pontiac , Michigan, United States) was an American violinist and music teacher.

Life

May Leggett Abel's father was a descendant of Thomas Leggett of New York. Her parents were Mortimer Allen Leggett and his wife, Jenny M. Whitehead. May Leggett Abel received her education from 1880 together with her brother William at the Detroit Conservatory of Music with the violinist Conrad Ambrose Hoffman (1839-1916). In the late 1880s she appeared as a violin soloist in Detroit and began to teach at the Detroit Conservatory of Music herself . In September 1892 she left Detroit and went to Paris with her brother William H. Leggett. There she studied at the Paris Conservatory with Charles Dancla and Eugene Brenne. After a two-year stay, she returned to Detroit in 1894.

Here she was present as a soloist in the musical life of Detroit, taught as a violin teacher, became a member of the faculty of the Detroit Conservatory of Music and later of the Michigan Conservatory of Music. She also ran a private violin studio.In February 1895 she married the cellist Frederic Lawrence Abel . They had a daughter with him, Genevieve Leggett Abel, who died in 1897 at the age of 3 days. In October 1909 she joined the Mozart Concert Company as a violin soloist for a three-week concert tour. Together with her husband, she ran the May-Legett-Abel-Gran-Concert-Company as a concert organizer . One of her students, thirteen-year-old child prodigy Jacques Margolis, won the Grand Prix of the Royal Conservatoire de Musique in Brussels in 1913 at the age of 13 . On September 7, 1914, she founded a violin school in Detroit with her husband, the cellist Frederic L. Abel. They taught violin, viola, cello, harmony, music history, music theory and music analysis. Ensemble classes and an orchestra followed. In addition to the Abel couple, five other music teachers taught at the beginning. In 1924 she formed the May Leggett Abel String Quartet. She herself acted as first violin, her student Lorraine Merryweather as second violin, Juanita Lorgion Berry as violist and Jeanette Frazer on cello. They also played concerts that were broadcast on the radio, for example on March 12, 1924 in the Tuesday Musicale program on the WCX radio station . In 1929 she put together a Women's Symphony Orchestra, which was then the only women's orchestra in Michigan. In 1931 the May Leggett Abel Violin School was incorporated into the Conservatory of Music Detroit and May Leggett Abel took over the management of the stringed instruments department. In 1947 she was still teaching a violin class at the Conservatory of Music in Detroit.

Works (selection)

  • May Leggett Abel wrote the biography of her husband Frederic L. Abel in 1945: The story of Frederic L. Abel, the musician, the soldier . OCLC 21085853

Known students

  • Eugene Csircsu († 2011), concert violinist and conductor
  • Della Haggerty, violinist, director of the New York Conservatory of Music
  • Romine Hamilton, violin professor and head of the violin faculty at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware
  • Jacques Margolis, child prodigy as a violinist, won the Grand Prix of the Royal Conservatoire de Musique in Brussels in 1913 at the age of 13
  • Meyer Shapiro, concertmaster of the Toledo Symphony Orchestra and violist in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra
  • Henry Siegl (1911–1997), concert violinist and concertmaster of the Rio Symphony Orchestra and the Seattle Symphony Orchestra
  • Armen Turadian († 2011), concert violinist and concertmaster of the San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra

literature

  • Abel, May Leggett. In:. Who Is Who In Music 1941, Lee Stern Press, Chicago / New York 1941, p. 31 (English)
  • Mrs. May Leggett Abel . In: Martha L. Moody: Lineage Book. Daughters of the American Revolution . Volume 2., Washington DC, 1919 p. 443 (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center: Lineage book . Washington, DC: The Society; Harrisburg, Pa. : Harrisburg Pub. Co., 1905 ( archive.org [accessed July 18, 2019]).
  2. ^ County Locals . In: The Pontiac Gazette . Pontiac, Michigan January 28, 1881 (English, cmich.edu ).
  3. ^ Musical Matters . In: Detroit Free Press . Detroit, Michigan November 11, 1888, pp. 6 (English, newspapers.com ).
  4. ↑ May Leggett Abel . In: Who Is Who In Music 1941 Edition . Lee Stern Press, Chicago / New York 1941, p. 31 (English, archive.org [accessed July 16, 2019]).
  5. ↑ Miss May Leggett . In: Detroit Free Press . Detroit, Michigan September 4, 1892, p. 9 ( newspapers.com ).
  6. ↑ L: Local Musical; Matters - Miss May Leggett . In: Detroit Free Press . Detroit, Michigan April 8, 1894, pp. 24 (English, newspapers.com ).
  7. ↑ Michigan Conservatory of Music . In: Detroit Free Press . Detroit, Michigan August 31, 1913, pp. 64 (English, newspapers.com ).
  8. ↑ Violin - May Leggett Abel . In: Detroit Free Press . Detroit, Michigan October 12, 1913, pp. 41 ( newspapers.com ).
  9. ^ Educational Institutions of Detroit and Michigan . In: Detroit Free Press . Detroit, Michigan August 29, 1909, p. 10 (English, newspapers.com ).
  10. ^ Becomes Member of the Mozart Concert Company . In: Detroit Free Press . Detroit, Michigan October 9, 1910, pp. 36 (English, newspapers.com ).
  11. ^ Railroad Notes . In: The Arkansas City Daily News . Arkansas City, Kansas May 3, 1911, p. 4 (English, newspapers.com ).
  12. ^ A b Boy Prodigy and Teacher . In: Detroit Free Press . Detroit, Michigan July 5, 1913, pp. 16 (English, newspapers.com ).
  13. ^ Detroit to have Violin School . In: Detroit Free Press . Detroit, Michigan August 30, 1914, pp. 8 (English, newspapers.com ).
  14. ↑ WCX Listeners hear Classic . In: Detroit Free Press . Detroit, Michigan March 13, 1924, pp. 5 (English, newspapers.com ).
  15. ^ The May-Leggett-Abel-String-Quartet . In: Detroit Free Press . Detroit, Michigan March 16, 1924, pp. 123 (English, newspapers.com ).
  16. ↑ WCX . In: The Windsor Star . Windsor, Ontario, Canada March 12, 1924, p. 18 (English, newspapers.com ).
  17. ↑ Women will talk on Exposition in State . In: Detroit Free Press . Detroit, Michigan September 29, 1929, pp. 55 (English, newspapers.com ).
  18. ^ Music Notes . In: Detroit Free Press . Detroit June 6, 1931, p. 29 (English, newspapers.com ).
  19. ↑ Musical Events . In: Detroit Free Press . Detroit May 18, 1947, p. 20 (English, newspapers.com ).
  20. ^ 1st Violin at Music Camp . In: Detroit Free Press . Detroit, Michigan September 16, 1928, pp. 10 (English, newspapers.com ).
  21. ↑ Fire of Genius Burns in Brain of Phenomenal Child Violinist . In: Detroit Free Press . Detroit, Michigan April 24, 1910, pp. 24 (English, newspapers.com ).
personal data
SURNAME Abel, May Leggett
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Leggett, May; Leggett, May Elizabeth (full maiden name); Abel, May Elizabeth Leggett (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American violinist and music teacher
DATE OF BIRTH June 5, 1867
PLACE OF BIRTH Waterford , Michigan , United States
DATE OF DEATH July 26, 1952
Place of death Pontiac (Michigan) , Michigan , United States