Camille Urso
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Camilla Urso (13 June 1840Pierre 1900
p. 862
Other sources give her year of birth as 1842.
– 20 January 1902) was a French-born
child prodigy A child prodigy is defined in psychology research literature as a person under the age of ten who produces meaningful output in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to young people who are extraor ...
violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
ist, who became an American musician, "recognized as one of the finest violinists of the latter half of the 19th century."Encyclopædia Britannica online.


Early life

Born Émilie-Camille Urso in
Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...
,
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, she was the first daughter of an Italian flutist (Salvator Urso) and a French singer (Émilie Gérouard). The first of five children, Camilla's birthdate is still being disputed by historians, some claiming the year of her birth to be 1840, and others claiming it to be 1842. The family lived with her mother's sister, Caroline. Not much is known about Camilla's childhood, but most research shows that her interest in the violin began when “she heard a violin solo played during the Mass for St. Cecilia” during mass at her father's church, and begged to take the instrument up. When she was six years old, despite general skepticism about her ability to master a “masculine” instrument, she began taking violin lessons. Camilla's parents made a deal with concertmaster of the theater orchestra, Félix Simon, where he would teach Camilla without pay, and within a year's time, they would decide if Camilla would continue her studies or not. She started out studying for three hours a day, and eventually, that time was increased to seven hours a day. She made her debut a year after studying, at a benefit concert for the family of a recently deceased bassoon player in her father's orchestra. She played a piece by the name of de Beriot's Seventh Air Varie, which according to sources, “she learned at the rate of one page per week, and which she had to repeat forty-seven times at one lesson before her teacher would allow her to leave.”


Paris Conservatory

Camilla studied at the Paris Conservatory for three years, admitted in June 1849, and passing her final exam in July 1852. She was not accepted into the Conservatory right away. Being only eight years old when the family arrived in Paris, she was a year too young to audition. Also, the only females who were previously accepted into the Conservatory were allowed to study harmony, piano, organ, harp keyboard harmony, and solfege only. Camilla competed against seventy-six boys for nine spots open in the violin class in front of an established panel of musicians, including Alard, Auber, Caraffa and Rossini. Although Lambert Massart took Camilla in without asking for pay, he was known for his rigorous coursework and strictness, keeping a stick on hand to beat any student that did not keep up. Camilla, despite being female, was not exempt from this punishment. According to Susan Kagan, “Camilla Urso had no real childhood; between the ages of seven and ten, while a student at the prestigious Paris Conservatory (the first girl ever admitted there), she practiced eight hours or more a day.” In 1852 in the annual student competition she won third place certificates of merit in '' solfège'' and violin (
Viotti Giovanni Battista Viotti (12 May 1755 – 3 March 1824) was an Italian violinist whose virtuosity was famed and whose work as a composer featured a prominent violin and an appealing lyrical tunefulness. He was also a director of French and Italia ...
's Violin Concerto No. 24). She was the first female student at the Conservatory to win a prize on violin.''
Le Ménestrel ''Le Ménestrel'' (The Minstrel) was an influential French music journal published weekly from 1833 until 1940. It was founded by Joseph-Hippolyte l'Henry and originally printed by Poussièlgue. In 1840 it was acquired by the music publishers Heu ...
'' (2 August 1903)
p. 243


Career

In the autumn of 1852 she appeared in
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with her own company of assisting artists, including her father on flute. Reporting on her appearance at a private ''soirée'', the ''
Evening Post ''Evening Post'' or ''The Evening Post'' may refer to the following newspapers: United Kingdom * ''Evening Post'' (London) (1710–1732), then ''Berington's Evening Post'' (1732–1740) * ''London Evening Post'' (1727–1797) * ''W ...
'' (27 September 1852) wrote: "She handles the violin with as much freedom and ease as a Spanish lady does her fan."Lawrence 1995, p. 295. The ''
Mirror A mirror or looking glass is an object that Reflection (physics), reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror will show an image of whatever is in front of it, when focused through the lens of the eye or a camera. Mirrors reverse the ...
'' (1 October 1852), reviewing her debut at Metropolitan Hall on 30 September, reported: "Her appearance was singularly prepossessing, her ''pose'' firm, correct, yet easy, and her little arm guided the bow with grace and precision. She breathed into the instrument a mellowness, an expression, a purity of sound truly remarkable. Even in the ''fortissimo'' parts she appeared to have the requisite strength, and the richness and fullness of her notes contrasted strangely with the delicate diminutiveness of this little mistress of the violin." Urso was accompanied by an orchestra conducted by
Theodore Eisfeld Theodore Eisfeld (April 11, 1816, Wolfenbüttel, Duchy of Brunswick – 16 September 1882, Wiesbaden) was a conductor, most notably of the New York Philharmonic Society, which became the New York Philharmonic. Biography Eisfeld's chief instructor ...
, and the program included the Viotti concerto, Bériot's ''Air varié'', and
Alexandre Artôt Alexandre Joseph Artôt (25 January 1815 – 20 July 1845) was a Belgian violinist. Life He was born at Brussels into a musical family. His father was Maurice Artôt (1772–1829), first horn-player at the theatre in Brussels. His mother was Jean ...
's ''Souvenirs de Bellini''. Urso later appeared 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 ...
,
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, and other American cities. She was exceedingly successful, especially in concerts with Alboni and Sontag. In 1855 she and her parents established a residence in
Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...
. Urso played with the Philharmonic Society in Boston in 1863, and later that same year in New York with the New York Philharmonic. In 1863–1864 she toured
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
with the Patrick S. Gilmore band and in 1864–1865 went on tour in Canada. In June 1865 she appeared to great acclaim in Paris. For the next thirty years she toured the United States and abroad, including
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and
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. She stopped performing in 1895 and lived in New York, where she taught privately and at the National Conservatory of Music. She died in New York and is buried in the Green-Wood Cemetery.


Notes


Sources


Encyclopædia Britannica article on Camilla Urso
* Kagan, Susan (1977).
Camilla Urso: A Nineteenth-Century Violinist's View
. The University of Chicago Press. Vol. 2. * Lawrence, Vera Brodsky (1995). ''Strong on Music: The New York Music Scene in the Days of George Templeton Strong. Volume II. Reverberations, 1850–1856''. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. . *
"Urso, Camilla", vol. 19, p. 764
at
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
. *
Pierre, Constant Constant Pierre (24 August 1855 – 12 February 1918) was a French musicologist.Robert 2001 Early life and career as a bassoonist Born Constant-Victor-Désiré Pierre in Passy, near Paris, he entered the Conservatoire de Paris in 1878 and stud ...
, editor (1900). ''Le Conservatoire national de musique et de déclamation. Documents historiques et administratifs''. Paris: Imprimerie National. 1031 pages
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at
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
. * Schiller, Jennifer (2006). "Camilla Urso: Pioneer Violinist". ProQuest Information and Learning Company.


External links

* "Urso, Camilla" in ''The New International Encyclopaedia'' New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1905
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at the
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
. * Turgeon, J. O. (1865). ''Biographie de Camille Urso''. Montreal: Plinguet & LaPlante
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at the
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
.
Camilla Urso Collection
at the Library of the University of South Carolina {{DEFAULTSORT:Urso, Camilla Urso Camilla 1902 deaths Musicians from Nantes Pupils of Lambert Massart 19th-century French women classical violinists Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery 19th-century American musicians American classical violinists French emigrants to the United States French people of Italian descent Conservatoire de Paris alumni