Violin Music by Women: A Graded Anthology
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Where it all started...

3/26/2012

7 Comments

 
I thought I would start this blog by serializing the article I wrote on Josephine Trott for the Feb. 2006 American String Teachers journal. So much of this began from my curiosity about her, it seems like a tribute is fitting. I'll post sections of it over the next few weeks to keep you coming back!

On the Trail of Josephine Trott: A Continuing Detective Story
Who was Josephine Trott? Her wonderful work, Melodious Double Stops, has become a staple of violin pedagogy. The Puppet Show, a fun beginner’s piece featuring left-hand pizzicato, is included in Barbara Barber’s Solos for Young Violinists. Several years ago my curiosity spurred me to action. What was her background? Where did she study? Was she British? French? Did she write anything else? It didn’t seem possible that she could have written these methodically sound etude books, and then just disappeared from the radar screen. I decided to become a detective on her trail.

From library catalogues, I had her birth year of 1874. If I knew the year she died, I could find obituaries that would give me details of her life. My first step, on the advice of a colleague, was to contact the Royalties department at Schirmer to find out if she had descendants who were now receiving profits from her works. The  man I spoke with informed me that all her royalties are sent to the Josephine Trott Memorial Scholarship Fund of the National Federated Music Clubs.  A clue! Looked like Trott was probably American. In hopes that they could tell me when the scholarship program began, I contacted the NFMC main office, who referred me to the woman in charge of the scholarship awards, who referred me to Viola Heinie of the Denver Musicians Society. Denver? Who knew! Ms. Heinie gave me a juicy tidbit—that Trott was a single woman teaching violin in Denver, who adopted a young girl by the name of Riccarda McQuie. She also gave me the name and number of Bea Booth, age 101 in 2003, who might be able to tell me more.

The conversation I had with Ms. Booth was fascinating and frustrating. I felt I was coming so close to information, but still couldn’t get specifics. She confirmed that Trott had adopted Riccarda as a foster child. She also relayed the information that Trott had studied the violin in France, and that she later took her adopted daughter (who later played in the Denver Symphony for 29 years) to study with the same teacher. Trott herself had been a force in the creation of the Denver Symphony (then called the Civic Symphony) in 1922.  McQuie was deceased, and the whereabouts of her children unknown.

It looked like I was at a dead-end for information from anyone living. What could Trott herself tell me?

To be continued....
7 Comments
John B NYC
3/17/2018 07:20:13 pm

Thank you for the great detective work on Ms. Trott! Totally agree there is a remarkable lack of information on her, especially in this day and age. Our daughter wanted to see a picture so we were thrilled you had managed to locate a couple! Thanks!!

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Cora Cooper
3/18/2018 08:33:21 pm

This comment made my day! I was so thrilled to be sent those photos. Your daughter sounds like a girl after my own heart. Is she learning Trott's "Puppet Show" or the "Melodious Double Stops" etudes? There are three previously unavailable pieces by Trott in the anthology (2 in vol. 1, 1 in vol. 3) if she wants more!

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Rachel link
5/17/2020 06:54:03 pm

Oh my goodness! Thank you so much! I'm loving all of her works... do you have any sources to her etudes book? I have Shifting and the two double-stops books.

If you have found any more info on her I would love to hear it!

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Cora Cooper link
5/17/2020 07:20:52 pm

Hi Rachel! It's great to meet another Trott fan. I don't know if you saw it, but there are two more parts to this article, and some pictures a family member sent me and gave me permission to post. Sleepy Puppy Press has two etude books of hers for sale (www.sleepypuppypress.com), both of which use duet format to make them more fun. They are in first position, but not necessarily easy! They get progressively harder over the two books. The first one is "Easy and Progressive Violin Duets" and the second, harder book is "28 Melodious Studies". Right now only digital copies are available with Covid, and for some reason the first book never got into digital format (but that will change soon). There are also two previously unavailable pieces in volume one of "Violin Music by Women," and one piece in volume three of that series (also at Sleepy Puppy). I'm curious what shifting book you have, and where you found it? Best, Cora

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Corinne Imboden
7/3/2020 09:57:27 am

Thank you for the information on Josephine Trott. I have always wondered about her.

I see only two blogs you have written and no pictures. Can you tell me how to access them?

Thank you for work.

Reply
Cora Cooper
7/3/2020 10:46:47 am

Hi Corinne! The pictures are in the May 2012 blog posts, which you can access directly by clicking on the link in the archives on the right. The bio continues in the April 2012 posts if you want to finish that. The archived posts run from most recent at the top to earlier in the month at the bottom, so scroll down for the Trott pictures. Enjoy! Cora

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jan daugherty
1/9/2021 11:54:28 am

Just on a whim, I wanted to ask if there was any connection between a relative of mine, Dot Faye Trott, who was a professional violinist in the early part of the century and your Josephine Trott. I'm a professional violist and became curious about the name when I first saw the double stops book as a kid. My relative was born in Oklahoma (father was William Lafayette Trott of Vinita Indian Territory, mother Louisa Jane Trott (maiden name, Moore). Dot Faye studied in Chicago and for a time, performed with an all female orchestra, I believe in the Atlantic City area. Not the most common name, so I just wondered.

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