Bessie Bartlett Frankel (April 29, 1884 – September 15, 1959) was an American concert singer, composer, and clubwoman, and the first president of the California Federation of Music Clubs.

Early life

Bessie Herbert Bartlett was born in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, the daughter of Albert Griffith Bartlett and Mary Ann McKeeby Bartlett. Her father was a cornettist and band leader; he ran a music store in Hollywood, and invited well-known musicians to Los Angeles to perform. Their home was located where the Pantages Theatre now stands.Bessie Bartlett Frankel Collection of Travel and Early Los Angeles Music
Ella Strong Denison Library, Scripps College. She studied music at the Cumnock School of Expression and in New York with

David Bispham David Scull Bispham (January 5, 1857 – October 2, 1921) was an American operatic baritone. Biography Bispham was born on January 5, 1857 in Philadelphia, the only child of William Danforth Bispham and Jane Lippincott Scull.W. Bispham, 274 Bo ...

and

Herbert Witherspoon Herbert Witherspoon (July 21, 1873 – May 10, 1935) was an American bass singer and opera manager. Biography He was born on July 21, 1873, in Buffalo, New York. He graduated from Yale University in 1895 where he had performed as a member o ...

. She went abroad to study opera with Carlo Sebastiani.''Guide to the Bessie Bartlett Frankel Papers''
Online Archive of California.

Career

Bartlett was president of the Women's Committee of the

Los Angeles Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic, commonly referred to as the LA Phil, is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at th ...

. She organized the Chamber of Music Series held at

Scripps College Scripps College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Claremont, California. It was founded as a member of the Claremont Colleges in 1 ...

, and the Hollywood Community Chorus,Karen J. Blair
''The Torchbearers: Women and Their Amateur Arts Associations in America, 1890-1930''
(Indiana University Press 1994): 51, 68-69. among her many projects intended to support community music programming in southern California. She was president of the American Music Optimists of Los Angeles, taking up the work "with her customary zeal". She was the first president of the California Federation of Music Clubs when it formed in 1918; she also wrote a pamphlet on the history of the Federation. With the Federation's backing, she worked to foster patriotic community singing, in the schools, movie houses, and theaters of Los Angeles, during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and afterwards. She was also first vice president of the

National Federation of Music Clubs The National Federation of Music Clubs (NFMC) is an American non-profit philanthropic music organization that promotes American music, performers, and composers. NFMC endeavors to strengthen quality music education by supporting "high standards o ...

, and helped launch other state and local chapters across the United States. "Music can hardly be considered in the category of amusements," she declared in a 1918 letter. "It is more of an educational force." Frankel was also a composer of songs, especially settings for poetry and songs for children.

Personal life

Bessie Bartlett married insurance executive and cellist Cecil Frankel in 1911. She died in 1959, aged 75 years, in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

."Mrs. Cecil Frankel, Music Devotee, Dies"
''Los Angeles Times'' (September 16, 1959): 47. via

Newspapers.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. In November 2018, ...

There is a Frankel Hall at Scripps College named for Bessie and Cecil Frankel, and the Bessie Bartlett Frankel Chamber Music Festival concerts occur at Scripps. The Bessie Bartlett Frankel Collection of Travel and Early Los Angeles Music is housed at the Ella Strong Denison Library, Scripps College. Scripps College and

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

both hold collections of Frankel's personal papers.

References

External links

A portrait of Bessie Bartlett Frankel from the 1920s
in the Bessie Bartlett Frankel Collection of Travel and Early Los Angeles Music, via

Calisphere The California Digital Library (CDL) was founded by the University of California in 1997. Under the leadership of then UC President Richard C. Atkinson, the CDL's original mission was to forge a better system for scholarly information management a ...

.
Bessie Bartlett Frankel's gravesite
on Find a Grave. {{DEFAULTSORT:Frankel, Bessie Bartlett 1884 births 1959 deaths American women in World War I 20th-century American singers Clubwomen