Josephine Augusta Trott (December 24, 1874 - March 2, 1950) was an American author, composer, and music educator who sometimes wrote under the pseudonym Colin Shepherd. Her violin pedagogy books are still in use today. Trott was born in Wilmington, Illinois, to Dr. Stenson E. and Augusta J. Trott. Although she never married, she adopted a daughter, Riccarda McQuie, who went on to play violin in the

Denver Symphony The Denver Symphony Orchestra, established in 1934 and dissolved in 1989, was a professional American orchestra in Denver, Colorado. Until 1978, when the Boettcher Concert Hall was built to house the symphony orchestra, it performed in a successio ...

for 29 years. Trott's book, ''On Demande une Maman'', published under her pseudonym Colin Shepherd, was actually a fictionalized version of McQuie's story. Trott taught at the

Hull House Music School Hull House Music School was the first music school in the US settlement movement, and one of the first community-based US music schools. Located in the Near West Side of Chicago, Illinois, it was founded in 1893 by Eleanor Sophia Smith and Amali ...

, which was established in Chicago in 1893. She also studied and taught violin in Berlin and Paris. She lived in Denver during the 1920s where she maintained a studio on Humboldt Street. During this time, Trott helped established the Civic Symphony, which then became the Denver Symphony and today is the Colorado Symphony. The Denver Symphony gave its first performance on May 4, 1922. In 1932, Trott published an English translation of a French book on

William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...

Lucie Delarue-Mardrus Lucie Delarue-Mardrus (3 November 1874 in Honfleur – 26 April 1945 ) was a French journalist, poet, novelist, sculptor, historian and designer. She was a prolific writer, who produced more than 70 books in her lifetime. In France, she is ...

. Trott died in Topeka, Kansas. She left the royalties from her publications to the Josephine Trott Memorial Scholarship Fund of the National Federation of Music Clubs. Her music was published by G. Schirmer Inc., Clayton F. Summy Co., and Weekes & Co. Her publications include:

Article/Books

*''Book of the Beastie (''with Ruth Ewing) *''Deux Enfants du Far West'' (in French) *''

George Hamlin George Hamlin (20 September 1869 – 11 January 1923 ) was an American tenor, prominent on the concert stage as a lieder and oratorio singer and later in the opera house when he sang leading tenor roles with the Philadelphia-Chicago Grand Opera C ...

, American Singer, 1868-1923'' *''Jean Kay in Paris'' *''On Demande une Maman (in French)'' *"Teaching Violin to Small Children" ''(''article in ''The Violinist'' Oct 1908'')''

Violin

*''28 Melodious Studies in the First Position'' *''Daily Scale Studies for the Violin Books 1 and 2'' (in English and Spanish) *''In a Spanish Garden'' *''Melodious Double Stops'' *''Melodious Foundation Studies'' *''Puppet Show, opus 5 no. 1 (violin and piano)'' *''Studies in Shifting'' *''Two Tuneful Sketches'' (violin and piano)

References

External Links

* Download free sheet music by Josephine Trott
Listen to "Puppet Show" by Josephine Trott
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trott, Josephine American women composers Pseudonyms 1874 births 1950 deaths American music educators American writers American women writers