Rachel Steinman Clarke

Rachel Steinman Clarke
A white woman, standing, wearing a long dark dress, holding a violin and bow.
Rachel Steinman Clarke, from a 1914 publication.
Bornc. 1882
Włocławek, Poland
Died(1944-11-04)November 4, 1944
Miami, Florida, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
OccupationViolinist

Rachel Steinman Clarke (c. 1882 – November 4, 1944) was a Polish-born American violinist based in Chicago.

Early life

Rachel Steinman was born in Włocławek, Poland.[1] Her family moved to the United States when Steinman was a child, and she was raised in Des Moines, Iowa, where she graduated from the Highland Park Conservatory of Music. She pursued further violin studies in Chicago and New York, and with Jacques Thibaud in Paris.[2] Her sister Gertrude married actor Raymond Walburn.[3]

Career

Rachel Steinman was playing violin at Iowa events by 1900.[4][5] She toured on the Chautauqua and lyceum circuits with the Midland Concert Company as a young woman,[6] and as head of the Rachel Steinman Concert Company.[2][1] She toured with her husband in the Edward Clarke Concert Company, from the 1910s into the 1920s.[7][8] In 1917, for example, the Clarke company gave 142 concerts in 71 cities in 70 days, driving Clarke's Ford over 4,500 miles through Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin in the process.[9]

Clarke was a member of the Chicago Civic Symphony Orchestra, and on the faculty of the Lyceum Arts Conservatory of Chicago.[10] She also performed for radio concerts.[11][12] "Miss Steinman is an exceedingly artistic violinist, playing with perfect self composure and so easily and gracefully as to inspire confidence in her music," commented one Iowa reviewer in 1911.[13]

After moving to Florida in 1935,[3] she was a member of the University of Miami Symphony Orchestra.[14]

Personal life

In 1913, Rachel Steinman married Charles Edward Clarke, a Canadian baritone singer, at a Baptist church in Chicago.[15] She died in Miami, Florida in 1944.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b "Rachel Steinman is a Genius". The Olathe Mirror. February 17, 1910. p. 6. Retrieved December 15, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b "Rachel Steinman Clarke". Traveling Culture – Circuit Chautauqua in the Twentieth Century. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  3. ^ a b c "Mrs. Rachel Clarke, Concert Artist, Dies". The Miami News. November 5, 1944. p. 11. Retrieved December 15, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Choir Benefit Concert". Daily Iowa Capital. April 25, 1900. p. 8. Retrieved December 15, 2019 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  5. ^ "Private Piano Recital". The Des Moines Register. June 8, 1900. p. 3. Retrieved December 15, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Midland Chautauqua". The Humeston New Era. June 6, 1906. p. 3. Retrieved December 15, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "To Give Series of Lecture Recitals". The Lyceum News. 5: 10. June–July 1915.
  8. ^ "C. Edward Clarke Began Lyceum Career 10 Years Ago" The Lyceum News (June 1914): 13.
  9. ^ "Edward Clarke Completes Chautauqua Tour". Musical Courier. 75: 11. October 18, 1917.
  10. ^ Smith, Clay (July 1923). "Edward Clarke Company is 15 Years Old". The Lyceum Magazine. 33: 35–36.
  11. ^ "Broadcasting Music". Music News. 14: 18. March 24, 1922.
  12. ^ "Overtones". The Miami News. May 9, 1937. p. 44. Retrieved December 15, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Chicago Violinist in Recital". Evening Times-Republican. March 1, 1911. p. 6. Retrieved December 15, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Clarke Talk". The Miami News. December 10, 1939. p. 49. Retrieved December 15, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "The Work and the Workers". The Lyceumite and Talent. 6: 43. May 1913.