Annie Louise Berry David (October 11, 1877 – May 7, 1960) was an American harpist.

Early life and education

Annie Louise Berry was born in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, the daughter of Charles Franklin Berry and Emily Morgan Berry. As a young woman she trained as a pianist with Arthur Foote, Emil Mollenhauer, Heinrich Gebhard, and

Edward MacDowell Edward Alexander MacDowell (December 18, 1860January 23, 1908) was an American composer and pianist of the late Romantic period. He was best known for his second piano concerto and his piano suites ''Woodland Sketches'', ''Sea Pieces'' and ''Ne ...

. Her harp training was with Heinrich Schucker of the

Boston Symphony Orchestra The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the " Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in 1881, ...

Career

David was a concert harpist, "the complete mistress of her intricate instrument". She was based in New York, then in the

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

area from the 1920s. She toured with

Alma Gluck Alma Gluck (May 11, 1884October 27, 1938) was a Romanian-born American soprano. Biography Gluck was born as Reba Feinsohn to a Jewish family in Iași, Romania, the daughter of Zara and Leon Feinsohn. Gluck moved to the United States at a young ...

Sarah Bernhardt Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 or 23 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including '' La Dame Aux Camel ...

Maggie Teyte Dame Maggie Teyte (born Margaret Tate; 17 April 188826 May 1976) was an English operatic soprano and interpreter of French art song. Early years Margaret Tate was born in Wolverhampton, England, one of ten children of Jacob James Tate, a succ ...

Olive Fremstad Olive Fremstad (14 March 1871 – 21 April 1951) was the stage name of Anna Olivia Rundquist, a celebrated Swedish-American opera diva who sang in both the mezzo-soprano and soprano ranges.Rosenthal and Warrack (1979) p. 180 Background Born ...

, and other singers. She played a custom lavender-and-gold harp, and was sometimes promoted as the "Lavender Lady" or "The Lady in Lavender". A 1921 reviewer said that "There is about Miss David's playing a certain refinement and elegance which is truly admirable" and "she was honored with the heartiest and warmest kind of reception". David was a founding member of the National Association of Harpists, and of the Northern California chapter of the association. She compiled and edited a collection of harp scores, ''Album of Solo Pieces for the Harp'' (1916), with works by

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

, Hasselmans, Fauré,

Donizetti Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the '' bel canto'' opera style dur ...

, Sinding, and others.

Margaret Hoberg Turrell Margaret B. Hoberg Turrell (1890 – 1948) was an American composer, organist, and philanthropist who with her husband Herbert Turrell founded the Turrell Fund in 1935 to aid at-risk children. She published her music under the name Margaret Hoberg. ...

composed her ''Concerto in B flat minor'' for David, and Andre Kostelanetz wrote "Lake Louise" for her. David also taught harp students, including Anne Everingham Adams, principal harpist for the

San Francisco Symphony The San Francisco Symphony (SFS), founded in 1911, is an American orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980 the orchestra has been resident at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the city's Hayes Valley neighborhood. The San Fr ...

and San Francisco Opera. She taught a master class in harp instruction at the

Cornish School Cornish College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art college in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1914. History Cornish College of the Arts was founded in 1914 as the Cornish School of Music, by Nellie Cornish (1876–1956), a teacher of p ...

in Seattle in 1922.

Personal life

Berry married her manager, Walter C. David, in 1905; they divorced in the 1910s. She died in 1960, in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, aged 82 years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:David, Annie Louise 1877 births 1960 deaths American harpists Women harpists Musicians from Boston