Anita Socola Specht (June 1871 - November 11, 1958) was an American composer, pianist, and singer who was president of the Louisiana State Federation of Music Clubs and helped found the

New Orleans Symphony Orchestra The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is an American orchestra based in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the only full-time, professional orchestra in the Gulf South. The orchestra performs at the Orpheum Theater. The Louisiana Philharmonic O ...

. Specht was born in

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

to Eliza Curien and Angelo Socola. She had five brothers who were actors. She was only 13 when she made her debut at the Grunewald Opera House, where she met her future husband, conductor William Henry Bernard Specht. They married in 1906 had one son. Specht was fluent in French and Spanish. She studied music in New Orleans, Chicago, and New York City. Her teachers included

Alexander Lambert Alexander Lambert (November 1, 1863 – December 31, 1929) was a pianist and a piano teacher. Biography He was born on November 1, 1863, in Warsaw, Poland, to Henry Lambert. He graduated from the Vienna Conservatory of Music in 1878.

, Herbert Rolling, Marguerite Samuel, and William Charles Ernest Seeboeck. She won the title “best amateur pianist in the United States” at the 1893

World’s Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...

in Chicago, although some of the judges told her, “You are not an amateur, you are an artist!” Specht helped found the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra (today the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra) in 1887, and was elected president of the Louisiana State Federation of Music Clubs in 1921. Her correspondence with her husband is archived in the William Russell Jazz Collection of the

Historic New Orleans Collection The Historic New Orleans Collection (THNOC) is a museum, research center, and publisher dedicated to the study and preservation of the history and culture of New Orleans and the Gulf South region of the United States. It is located in New Orleans ...

. Her compositions include a ''Nocturne'' arranged for orchestra as well as several piano pieces. Before her death in 1958, Specht established the still-active Giunio Socola Memorial Award for excellence in public debate at the Jesuit High School of New Orleans.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Specht, Anita Socola American women composers 1871 births 1958 deaths People from Louisiana