Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge
Encyclopedia
Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge aka Liz Coolidge (30 October 1864 - 4 November 1953), born Elizabeth Penn Sprague, was an American
pianist and patron of music, especially of chamber music
.
Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge's father was a wealthy wholesale dealer in Chicago
. She was musically talented and studied piano
as well as composition. She married the physician Frederic Shurtleff Coolidge who died from syphilis contracted from a patient during surgery, leaving her with their only child Albert. Soon after, her parents died as well. She inherited a considerable amount of money from her parents and decided to spend it on promotion of chamber music, a mission she continued to carry out until her death at the age of 89 in Cambridge, Massachusetts
. Due to her husband's profession, she also gave financial support to medical institutions.
Coolidge's financial resources were not unlimited but through force of personality and conviction she managed to raise the status of chamber music in the United States, where the major interest of composers had previously been in orchestral music, from curiosity to a seminal field of composition. Her devotion to music and generosity to musicians were spurred by her own experience as a performing musician: she appeared as a pianist up to her 80s, accompanying world-renowned instrumentalists.
Coolidge established the Berkshire String Quartet
in 1916 and started the Berkshire Music Festival at South Mountain, Pittsfield, Massachusetts
, two years later. Out of this grew the Berkshire Symphonic Festival at Tanglewood
, which she also supported.
. But, in 1949 — after objections by U.S. Congressmen over the appropriateness of a government body awarding prizes in fine arts and literature to individuals who might harbor dissident views towards the U.S. (re: Ezra Pound
and the Bollingen Prize
) — the Library of Congress
discontinued awarding medals of any kind, including (i) the Bollingen Prize
, the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Medal for "eminent services to chamber music, and (iii) three prizes endowed by Lessing Rosenwald in connection with an annual national exhibition of prints.
Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Medals for Eminent Services to Chamber Music
Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Medal for Conductors
Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Medal for Best Performance of Contemporary Music
Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Medal for the Best String Quartet in Europe
, led by Henri Temianka
. The Sprague Memorial Hall at Yale University
was also financed by Coolidge.
, resulting in the construction of the 500-seat Coolidge Auditorium, specifically intended for chamber music, in 1924. This was accompanied by the establishment of the Coolidge Foundation to organize concerts in that auditorium and to commission new chamber music from both European and American composers, as it continues to do today.
Coolidge had a reputation for promoting "difficult" modern music (though she declined to support one of the most modern of all composers, Charles Ives
). But she never aimed at such a reputation and explained her preferences in music as follows: "My plea for modern music is not that we should like it, nor necessarily that we should even understand it, but that we should exhibit it as a significant human document." Though American herself, she had no national preferences, and in fact most of her commissions went to European composers. She didn't have any urge to specifically promote women composers, either.
The most lasting memorial to Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge's patronage of music are the compositions which she commissioned from practically every leading composer of the early 20th century. Among the best-known of those compositions are the following:
The list of composers who benefited from Coolidge's support is impressive, including also Ernest Bloch
, Frank Bridge
, Alfredo Casella
, George Enescu
, Howard Hanson
, Gian Francesco Malipiero
, Paul Hindemith
, Bohuslav Martinů
, Darius Milhaud
, Rebecca Helferich Clarke
, and Albert Roussel
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
pianist and patron of music, especially of chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
.
Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge's father was a wealthy wholesale dealer in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. She was musically talented and studied piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
as well as composition. She married the physician Frederic Shurtleff Coolidge who died from syphilis contracted from a patient during surgery, leaving her with their only child Albert. Soon after, her parents died as well. She inherited a considerable amount of money from her parents and decided to spend it on promotion of chamber music, a mission she continued to carry out until her death at the age of 89 in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
. Due to her husband's profession, she also gave financial support to medical institutions.
Coolidge's financial resources were not unlimited but through force of personality and conviction she managed to raise the status of chamber music in the United States, where the major interest of composers had previously been in orchestral music, from curiosity to a seminal field of composition. Her devotion to music and generosity to musicians were spurred by her own experience as a performing musician: she appeared as a pianist up to her 80s, accompanying world-renowned instrumentalists.
Coolidge established the Berkshire String Quartet
Berkshire String Quartet
The Berkshire String Quartet was an American classical chamber group founded and funded in 1916 at the height of World War I by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. The quartet, originally, was the Kortschak String Quartet, named for Hugo Kortschak , assistant concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony from...
in 1916 and started the Berkshire Music Festival at South Mountain, Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Its area code is 413. Its ZIP code is 01201...
, two years later. Out of this grew the Berkshire Symphonic Festival at Tanglewood
Tanglewood Music Festival
The Tanglewood Music Festival is a music festival held every summer on the Tanglewood estate in Lenox, Massachusetts in the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts....
, which she also supported.
Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Medals
In 1932 Coolidge established the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Medal for "eminent services to chamber music." The medals were initially awarded by the Library of CongressLibrary of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
. But, in 1949 — after objections by U.S. Congressmen over the appropriateness of a government body awarding prizes in fine arts and literature to individuals who might harbor dissident views towards the U.S. (re: Ezra Pound
Ezra Pound
Ezra Weston Loomis Pound was an American expatriate poet and critic and a major figure in the early modernist movement in poetry...
and the Bollingen Prize
Bollingen Prize
The Bollingen Prize for Poetry, which is currently awarded every two years by Beinecke Library of Yale University, is a literary honor bestowed on an American poet in recognition of the best book of new verse within the last two years, or for lifetime achievement.-Inception and controversy:The...
) — the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
discontinued awarding medals of any kind, including (i) the Bollingen Prize
Bollingen Prize
The Bollingen Prize for Poetry, which is currently awarded every two years by Beinecke Library of Yale University, is a literary honor bestowed on an American poet in recognition of the best book of new verse within the last two years, or for lifetime achievement.-Inception and controversy:The...
, the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Medal for "eminent services to chamber music, and (iii) three prizes endowed by Lessing Rosenwald in connection with an annual national exhibition of prints.
Recipients Elizabeth Sprague Awards
Earlier Coolidge Prizes and Commissions- 1918 – Tadeusz Larecki
- 1919 – Ernest BlochErnest BlochErnest Bloch was a Swiss-born American composer.-Life:Bloch was born in Geneva and began playing the violin at age 9. He began composing soon afterwards. He studied music at the conservatory in Brussels, where his teachers included the celebrated Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe...
: Chamber Music Prize for the Berkshire Festival - 1920 – Gian Francesco MalipieroGian Francesco MalipieroGian Francesco Malipiero was an Italian composer, musicologist, music teacher and editor.-Early years:Born in Venice into an aristocratic family, the grandson of the opera composer Francesco Malipiero, Gian Francesco Malipiero was prevented by family troubles from pursuing his musical education in...
- 1921 – Harry Waldo Warner (1874–1945)
- 1922 – Leo WeinerLeo WeinerLeo Weiner , was one of the leading Hungarian music educators of the first half of the twentieth century and a composer.- Education :Weiner was born in Budapest. He had his first music and piano lessons from his brother, and later studied at the Academy of Music in Budapest, studying with János ...
: Chamber Music Prize for the Berkshire Festival - 1923 – Commissions for the Berkshire Festival:
- Eugene GoosensEugène Aynsley GoossensSir Eugene Aynsley Goossens was an English conductor and composer.-Biography:He was born in Camden Town, London, the son of the Belgian conductor and violinist Eugène Goossens and the grandson of the conductor Eugène Goossens...
- Rebecca Clark
- 1936 – Jerzy Fitelberg: String Quartet no. 4
Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Medals for Eminent Services to Chamber Music
- Louis GruenbergLouis Gruenberg-Life and career:He was born near Brest-Litovsk , to Abe Gruenberg and Klara Kantarovitch. His family emigrated to the United States when he was a few months old. His father worked as a violinist in New York City...
, Four Diversions, string quartet, composed in 1930 - Frank BridgeFrank BridgeFrank Bridge was an English composer and violist.-Life:Bridge was born in Brighton and studied at the Royal College of Music in London from 1899 to 1903 under Charles Villiers Stanford and others...
(1938) - Abbey SimonAbbey Simon-Education:Simon began lessons with David Saperton at the age of five. At the age of eight, Simon was accepted by Józef Hofmann as a scholarship student at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where he trained with fellow classmates Jorge Bolet and Sidney Foster. Simon also took lessons...
- Hugo KortschakHugo KortschakHugo Kortschak , was an Austrian-born American violinist who was the assistant concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony from 1908 to 1916, founding member of the Berkshire String Quartet, and Dean of Music at Yale University....
- Kenneth SchermerhornKenneth SchermerhornKenneth Dewitt Schermerhorn was an American composer and orchestra conductor, most notably for the Nashville Symphony.-Biography:Schermerhorn was born in Schenectady, New York, where he studied clarinet, violin, and trumpet in school. At age 14, he forged a baptismal certificate to appear older so...
- Benjamin BrittenBenjamin BrittenEdward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
(1941) - Alexander Tansman (1941)
- Randall ThompsonRandall ThompsonRandall Thompson was an American composer, particularly noted for his choral works.-Career:He attended Harvard University, became assistant professor of music and choir director at Wellesley College, and received a doctorate in music from the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music...
(1941) - Roy HarrisRoy HarrisRoy Ellsworth Harris , was an American composer. He wrote much music on American subjects, becoming best known for his Symphony No...
(1942), Sonata for Violin and Piano - Quincy PorterQuincy PorterQuincy Porter was an American composer and teacher of classical music.Born in New Haven, Connecticut, he went to Yale University where his teachers included Horatio Parker and David Stanley Smith. Porter received two awards while studying music at Yale: the Osborne Prize for Fugue, and the...
(1943) - Alexander SchneiderAlexander SchneiderAlexander Schneider was a violinist, conductor, and educator. Born in Vilna, Lithuania, he later moved to the United States as a member of the Budapest Quartet.- Biography :...
(1945) - Erich Itor KahnErich Itor KahnErich Itor Kahn was a German composer of Jewish descent, who emigrated to the United States during the years of National Socialism.-Biography:...
(1948)
Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Medal for Conductors
- James Allen Dixon (1928–2007) (1955)
Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Medal for Best Performance of Contemporary Music
- The Zagreb Soloists
Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Medal for the Best String Quartet in Europe
- The Netherlands String Quartet (1965)
Other commissions
In 1945 she commissioned the Paganini QuartetPaganini Quartet
The Paganini Quartet was a virtuoso string quartet founded by its first violinist, Henri Temianka, in 1946. The quartet drew its name from the fact that all four of its instruments, made by Antonio Stradivari , had once been owned by the great Italian violinist and composer Niccolo Paganini...
, led by Henri Temianka
Henri Temianka
Henri Temianka was a virtuoso violinist, conductor, author and music educator.-Early years:Henri Temianka was born in Scotland of Polish-Jewish parents...
. The Sprague Memorial Hall at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
was also financed by Coolidge.
Coolidge Foundation
Her most innovative and costly endeavor, however, was her partnership with the Library of CongressLibrary of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
, resulting in the construction of the 500-seat Coolidge Auditorium, specifically intended for chamber music, in 1924. This was accompanied by the establishment of the Coolidge Foundation to organize concerts in that auditorium and to commission new chamber music from both European and American composers, as it continues to do today.
Coolidge had a reputation for promoting "difficult" modern music (though she declined to support one of the most modern of all composers, Charles Ives
Charles Ives
Charles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer. He is one of the first American composers of international renown, though Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives came to be regarded as an "American Original"...
). But she never aimed at such a reputation and explained her preferences in music as follows: "My plea for modern music is not that we should like it, nor necessarily that we should even understand it, but that we should exhibit it as a significant human document." Though American herself, she had no national preferences, and in fact most of her commissions went to European composers. She didn't have any urge to specifically promote women composers, either.
The most lasting memorial to Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge's patronage of music are the compositions which she commissioned from practically every leading composer of the early 20th century. Among the best-known of those compositions are the following:
- Samuel BarberSamuel BarberSamuel Osborne Barber II was an American composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. His Adagio for Strings is his most popular composition and widely considered a masterpiece of modern classical music...
: Hermit Songs, Op. 29Hermit SongsHermit Songs is a cycle of ten songs for voice and piano by Samuel Barber. Written in 1953 on a grant from the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation, it takes as its basis a collection of anonymous poems written by Irish monks and scholars from the 8th to the 13th centuries, in translations by W.... - Béla BartókBéla BartókBéla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...
: String Quartet No. 5String Quartet No. 5 (Bartók)The String Quartet No. 5 Sz. 102, BB 110 by Béla Bartók was written between August 6 and September 6, 1934.The work is in five movements:#Allegro#Adagio molto#Scherzo: alla bulgarese#Andante#Finale: Allegro vivace... - Benjamin BrittenBenjamin BrittenEdward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
: String Quartet No. 1 - Aaron CoplandAaron CoplandAaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
: Appalachian SpringAppalachian SpringAppalachian Spring is a modern score composed by Aaron Copland that premiered in 1944 and has achieved widespread and enduring popularity as an orchestral suite... - Francis PoulencFrancis PoulencFrancis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and a member of the French group Les six. He composed solo piano music, chamber music, oratorio, choral music, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music...
: Flute SonataFlute Sonata (Poulenc)The Flute Sonata by Francis Poulenc, for flute and piano, was written in 1957. It is dedicated to the memory of Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, an American patron of chamber music. Poulenc composed it for the flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal, and he and Rampal gave the première in June 1957 at the... - Sergei ProkofievSergei ProkofievSergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
: String Quartet No. 1String Quartet No. 1 (Prokofiev)Sergei Prokofiev wrote his String Quartet No. 1 in B minor between 1930 and 1931 as a commission from the Library of Congress.-Analysis:... - Maurice RavelMaurice RavelJoseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
: Chansons madécasses - Arnold SchoenbergArnold SchoenbergArnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
: String Quartet No. 3String quartets (Schoenberg)The Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg published four string quartets, distributed over his lifetime. These were the String Quartet No. 1 in D minor, Op. 7 , String Quartet No. 2 in F sharp minor, Op. 10 , String Quartet No. 3, Op. 30 , and the String Quartet No. 4, Op...
, String Quartet No. 4String quartets (Schoenberg)The Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg published four string quartets, distributed over his lifetime. These were the String Quartet No. 1 in D minor, Op. 7 , String Quartet No. 2 in F sharp minor, Op. 10 , String Quartet No. 3, Op. 30 , and the String Quartet No. 4, Op... - Igor StravinskyIgor StravinskyIgor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
: Apollon musagèteApollo (ballet)Apollo is a ballet in two tableaux composed between 1927 and 1928 by Igor Stravinsky. It was choreographed by balletmaster George Balanchine in 1928, the composer contributing the libretto... - Anton WebernAnton WebernAnton Webern was an Austrian composer and conductor. He was a member of the Second Viennese School. As a student and significant follower of Arnold Schoenberg, he became one of the best-known exponents of the twelve-tone technique; in addition, his innovations regarding schematic organization of...
: String QuartetString Quartet (Webern)The String Quartet, Op. 28 by Anton Webern is written for the standard string quartet group of two violins, viola and cello. It was the last piece of chamber music that Webern wrote The String Quartet, Op. 28 by Anton Webern is written for the standard string quartet group of two violins, viola and... - Sir Arthur BlissArthur BlissSir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss, CH, KCVO was an English composer and conductor.Bliss's musical training was cut short by the First World War, in which he served with distinction in the army...
: Oboe Quintet - Ottorino RespighiOttorino RespighiOttorino Respighi was an Italian composer, musicologist and conductor. He is best known for his orchestral "Roman trilogy": Fountains of Rome ; Pines of Rome ; and Roman Festivals...
: Trittico Botticelliano
The list of composers who benefited from Coolidge's support is impressive, including also Ernest Bloch
Ernest Bloch
Ernest Bloch was a Swiss-born American composer.-Life:Bloch was born in Geneva and began playing the violin at age 9. He began composing soon afterwards. He studied music at the conservatory in Brussels, where his teachers included the celebrated Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe...
, Frank Bridge
Frank Bridge
Frank Bridge was an English composer and violist.-Life:Bridge was born in Brighton and studied at the Royal College of Music in London from 1899 to 1903 under Charles Villiers Stanford and others...
, Alfredo Casella
Alfredo Casella
Alfredo Casella was an Italian composer, pianist and conductor.- Life and career :Casella was born in Turin; his family included many musicians; his grandfather, a friend of Paganini's, was first cello in the San Carlo Theatre in Lisbon and eventually was soloist in the Royal Chapel in Turin...
, George Enescu
George Enescu
George Enescu was a Romanian composer, violinist, pianist, conductor and teacher.-Biography:Enescu was born in the village of Liveni , Dorohoi County at the time, today Botoşani County. He showed musical talent from early in his childhood. A child prodigy, Enescu created his first musical...
, Howard Hanson
Howard Hanson
Howard Harold Hanson was an American composer, conductor, educator, music theorist, and champion of American classical music. As director for 40 years of the Eastman School of Music, he built a high-quality school and provided opportunities for commissioning and performing American music...
, Gian Francesco Malipiero
Gian Francesco Malipiero
Gian Francesco Malipiero was an Italian composer, musicologist, music teacher and editor.-Early years:Born in Venice into an aristocratic family, the grandson of the opera composer Francesco Malipiero, Gian Francesco Malipiero was prevented by family troubles from pursuing his musical education in...
, Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...
, Bohuslav Martinů
Bohuslav Martinu
Bohuslav Martinů was a prolific Czech composer of modern classical music. He was of Czech and Rumanian ancestry. Martinů wrote six symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber, vocal and instrumental works. Martinů became a violinist in the Czech Philharmonic...
, Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud was a French composer and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as The Group of Six—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions are influenced by jazz and make use of polytonality...
, Rebecca Helferich Clarke
Rebecca Helferich Clarke
Rebecca Clarke was an English classical composer and violist best known for her chamber music featuring the viola. She was born in Harrow and studied at the Royal Academy of Music and Royal College of Music in London, later becoming one of the first female professional orchestral players...
, and Albert Roussel
Albert Roussel
Albert Charles Paul Marie Roussel was a French composer. He spent seven years as a midshipman, turned to music as an adult, and became one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period...
.
External links
- The Coolidge Legacy by Prof. Cyrilla Barr
- Webpage for Elizabeth Penn Sprague