| Alice Verne-Bredt | |
| Birth Name: | Alice Barbara Würm |
| Birth Date: | 1864 |
| Birth Place: | Southampton |
| Death Date: | 1958 |
| Death Place: | London |
| Nationality: | English |
| Known For: | Innovator of percussion bands for children in Great Britain. |
| Spouse: | William Bredt |
| Relatives: | Adela Verne (sister) Mathilde Verne (sister) Mary Wurm (sister) John Vallier (nephew) |
| Occupation: | Pianist |
Alice Barbara Verne-Bredt (née Würm; 1864 - 1958) was an English piano teacher, violinist and composer.[1] Three of her sisters were also noted pianists: Adela Verne, Mathilde Verne and Mary Würm (who returned to Germany and retained the original family name).
The sixth of ten children,[1] she was born as Alice Barbara Würm in Southampton to Bavarian professional musicians who emigrated to England in the 1850s.[2] Her father, a music teacher who specialised in zither, violin, and piano, worked as an organist.[3] Her mother was a violinist who taught her the violin from a very early age.[4] Later in her childhood she moved to London, where she lived all her life,[4] and there was taught piano by Robert and Clara Schuman's daughter, Marie.[5]
Alice wanted to become a singer, but typhoid fever affected her voice.[1] In 1893, her family anglicized their surname from Würm to Verne,[2] and Alice married William Bredt, an amateur musician and conductor. Both greatly contributed to the success of the piano school set up in London by her sister Mathilde in 1909.[1] During the same period she also established The Twelve O'Clock Concerts, a successful concert series for chamber music at the Aeolian Hall in London, where some of her own chamber music was performed.[3]
Alice took over the school's junior department, where Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, later Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, had a wedding march written especially for her.[2] There she became a pioneer of children's music education and an innovator in the use of percussion bands for that purpose. She died in London in 1958.[2]
Few of her works were published. Perhaps the best known is the Phantasie Trio of 1908 for piano, violin and cello, which won a supplementary prize in the annual Cobbett chamber music competition, inaugurated two years before.[6] It was recorded in 2005 by the Summerhayes Piano Trio.[7]