Julia Klumpke, often spelled Julia Klumpkey (August 13, 1870 — August 23, 1961), was an American concert violinist and composer.

Family and education

Julia Klumpke, known as Lulu, was born in San Francisco, California, the daughter of wealthy realtor John Gerald Klumpke and Dorothea Mattilda Tolle. She was one of eight children, and among her siblings were the astronomer Dorothea Klumpke-Roberts, the painter Anna Elizabeth Klumpke, and the neurologist Augusta Déjerine-Klumpke. Although reviews and other publications in her own day nearly always used the original spelling of her surname, the spelling is now often Americanized to Klumpkey. Klumpke studied for one year at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts, working with Emil Mahr and Herman Hartmann (violin) and with

Percy Goetschius Percy Goetschius (August 10, 1853 – October 29, 1943) was an American music theorist and teacher who won international fame in the teaching of composition. Career Goetschius was born in Paterson, New Jersey. He was encouraged by Ureli Corell ...

(composition). She graduated in 1895 with a degree in violin performance. She got further training abroad in the 1920s, studying violin with

Eugène Ysaÿe Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe (; 16 July 185812 May 1931) was a Belgian virtuoso violinist, composer, and conductor. He was regarded as "The King of the Violin", or, as Nathan Milstein put it, the "tsar". Legend of the Ysaÿe violin Eugène Ysa� ...

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, William Henley, and Maurice Hewitt and

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with Henri Benoit. She took lessons in composition from

Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher and conductor. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organist. From a ...

and Annette Dieudonné in Paris.

Music career

Klumpke gave one of her earliest recitals in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1908. Beginning sometime between 1906 and 1910, Klumpke taught violin at

Converse College Converse University is a private university in Spartanburg, South Carolina. It was established in 1889 by a group of Spartanburg residents and named after textile pioneer Dexter Edgar Converse. It was originally a women's college but now admits ...

, a woman's college in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and directed the Spartanburg Symphony Orchestra; these positions lasted with interruptions through 1922. During World War I, she left for a time to do war work in Europe, assisting her sister Anna, who had converted her home outside Paris into a hospital for wounded soldiers. In 1928, she went on a world tour. In the mid-1930s, Klumpke returned live in San Francisco, where she was a member of several musical associations, including the Women Musicians Club and the Women's City Club (both of San Francisco), the California Composers Society, and the Music Teacher's Association of California. Klumpke composed over four dozen pieces of music, mainly chamber music, songs, and choral music. She composed a dramatic tone poem, ''The Twin Guardians of the

Golden Gate The Golden Gate is a strait on the west coast of North America that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. It is defined by the headlands of the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Peninsula, and, since 1937, has been spanned by t ...

'', for the 1939

Golden Gate International Exposition The Golden Gate International Exposition (GGIE) (1939 and 1940), held at San Francisco's Treasure Island, was a World's Fair celebrating, among other things, the city's two newly built bridges. The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opened in 1936 ...

. Klumpke died in San Francisco and is buried there in the Neptune Society's

Columbarium A columbarium (; pl. columbaria) is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns, holding cremated remains of the deceased. The term can also mean the nesting boxes of pigeons. The term comes from the Latin "''colu ...

with her father and two of her sisters. In her will, she left scholarships to both the San Francisco Symphony (for an outstanding string player) and Converse College. Her personal papers and musical manuscripts are held in the Julia Klumpkey Collection at the New England Conservatory.

Works

;Chamber works *Quatre pièces (Four Pieces, 1932; for viola and piano) *Second Suite for Viola and Piano (1935) *Lullaby for Viola and Piano (1937) *Suite for Viola and Piano: San Francisco Bay (1951) *Sonata no. 3 for violin and cello *Suite for small orchestra *First trio for violin, clarinet, and piano *Second trio for violin, clarinet, and piano *Trio for piano, violin, and cello *Miniature string trio *Andante for strings *''Valse fantaisiste'' (Whimsical Waltz) ;Choral compositions *"Wait on the Lord" *" The Lord Is My Shepherd: Anthem for Mixed Quartet and Organ" *"He Shall Give His Angels Charge Over Thee (

Psalm 91 Psalm 91 is the 91st psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." In Latin, it is known as 'Qui habitat". As a p ...

)" ;Compositions for solo voice *"Candle Lighting Song" *"

In Flanders Field "In Flanders Fields" is a war poem in the form of a rondeau, written during the First World War by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae. He was inspired to write it on May 3, 1915, after presiding over the funeral of friend and f ...

" *"Songs for Children" ;Other compositions *''The Twin Guardians of the Golden Gate'' (1939)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klumpke, Julia 1870 births 1961 deaths American violinists American women composers American composers Violinists from San Francisco New England Conservatory alumni