ETHEL LEGINSKA: PIANIST, FEMINIST, CONDUCTOR Extraordinalre, and COMPOSER
CHRISTOPHER NEWPORT UNIVERSITY ETHEL LEGINSKA: PIANIST, FEMINIST, CONDUCTOR EXTRAORDINAlRE, AND COMPOSER FALK SEMINAR RESEARCH PAPER MUSIC 490 BY MELODIE LOVE GRIFFIN NEWPORT NEWS, VIRGINIA DECEMBER 1993 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author wishes to thank, first, the Minnesota Historical Society for providing rare, dated material essential to the completion of this paper, namely, articles from the Minneapolis Journal and the Duluth Herald. Second, her mother, who patiently endured nearly a year of irritability, frustration, stubborn persistence, and long midnight hours the author experienced in the completion of this paper, not to mention a day's trip to Washington, D.C. on short notice. Third, the Library of Congress, for providing several of Ethel Leginska's pUblished works. Fourth, the Falk Seminar Professor/Advisor, Dr. Brockett, for his assistance in gathering articles, contributing a title, and for his insistence on perfection, motivating the author of this paper to strive for perfection in all of her coursework and other undertakings, eschewing mediocrity. Last, but most importantly, the author gives thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ, for supplying all her needs along the way, including the strength to persevere when it seemed, at times, that this project was too much to handle and should have been dropped. Ethel Leginska (1886-1970) was widely acclaimed as a concert pianist and, later, as a conductor at a time when women were considered by some to be no fitting match for men as concert pianists, and it was preposterous to think a woman could take up the baton for a major orchestra. However, very little seems to have been said about her as a composer, and her compositions have been basically overlooked for close scrutiny.
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