Pauline Arnoux MacArthur explained

Pauline Arnoux MacArthur
Birth Name:Pauline Arnoux
Birth Place:New York
Death Place:New York
Nationality:American
Occupation:Librettist, writer, clubwoman

Pauline Arnoux MacArthur (1867 – May 22, 1941) was an American clubwoman, writer, pianist and librettist.

Early life

Pauline Arnoux was the daughter of judge William H. Arnoux and Pauline Arnoux.[1] [2] She claimed to be Austrian royalty, through a grandmother who was a princess.[3]

Career

Activism

MacArthur was active in social causes, including bringing concerts to prisons[4] and to settlement houses. She was president of the Women's Auxiliary of the University Settlement Society of New York. During World War I, MacArthur was founder and president of Le Cercle Rochambeau, a women's war relief organization, and president of the National Association for Mothers of Defenders of Democracy.[5] She had an apartment on the Champs-Élysées in Paris,[6] and may have been involved in the Allied secret service during the war.She wrote "Short Talk on Suffrage" (1915), noting that "We suffer from inertia and from the dread of big changes which seem in the nature of upheavals. We will often go on reading in a failing light rather than move and turn on a full light."

She was active in the National Council of Women's Department of Community Music, and founder and president of New York's Thursday Musical Club.[7] She was not a professional pianist, but played socially, on the radio,[8] and at benefit concerts with other musicians.[9]

The Apocalypse

As a librettist, MacArthur was known as co-writer (with Henri Pierre Roché) of The Apocalypse (1921), a dramatic oratorio.[10] The Apocalypse was based on Biblical themes (with sections titled "Belshazzar's Feast", "Armageddon", "Babylon", and "The Millennium"), but also had clear references to the more recent trauma of World War I.[11] The National Federation of Music Clubs held a contest, and awarded $5000 to the MacArthur/Roché libretto and the music by Paolo Gallico.[12] The Apocalypse was first performed at the Federation's biennial meeting in Davenport, Iowa, in 1921; the following year, was performed by the Oratorio Society of New York, at Carnegie Hall.[13]

Personal life

Pauline Arnoux married lawyer and diplomat John Roofe MacArthur II in 1889. They divorced in 1930.[14] [15] She died in 1941, in New York, aged 73 years.[16]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: BRIDES AND GROOMS.; MISS PAULINE ARNOUX BECOMES MRS. JOHN ROOFE MACARTHUR.. June 28, 1889. The New York Times. 4. en. 2019-12-13.
  2. News: Mrs. Pauline Arnoux. April 13, 1906. New-York Tribune. December 13, 2019. 7. Newspapers.com.
  3. News: Mrs. MacArthur, Claimant to Throne of Austria, Dead. 1941-05-23. The Boston Globe. 2019-12-14. 18. Newspapers.com.
  4. MacArthur. Pauline. September 1917. Music in the Prisons. Musical Monitor. 18–10.
  5. May 1918. The National Association for Mothers of Defenders of Democracy. Musical Monitor. 7. 439.
  6. News: Mrs. MacArthur, Claimant to Throne of Austria, Dead. 1941-05-23. The Boston Globe. 2019-12-14. 18. Newspapers.com.
  7. November 16, 1922. Oratorio Society to Present 'The Apocalypse'. Musical Courier. 23.
  8. News: 14 Jan 1932 Radio Programs Meyers Parmet. 1932-01-14. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 2019-12-14. 8.
  9. News: Concert for Christ Church. 1910-01-29. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 2019-12-14. 8. Newspapers.com.
  10. Book: The Apocalypse: Dramatic Oratorio in a Prologue and Three Parts, for Chorus of Mixed Voices with Soli and Piano Accompaniment. Gallico. Paolo. MacArthur. Pauline Arnoux. Roché. Henri Pierre. 1922. G. Schirmer. en.
  11. Book: The Bible in Music: A Dictionary of Songs, Works, and More. Long. Siobhán Dowling. Sawyer. John F. A.. 2015-09-03. Rowman & Littlefield. 978-0-8108-8452-6. 17–18. en.
  12. News: National Music Prize List is Made Public. 1921-03-20. The Wilmington Morning Star. 2019-12-14. 17. Newspapers.com.
  13. November 30, 1922. New York Oratorio Society: The Apocalypse. Musical Courier. 42.
  14. News: News Briefs. 1930-10-09. The Daily Sentinel. 2019-12-13. 9. Newspapers.com.
  15. News: Rich Husband So Miserly He Almost Starved Family. 1930-10-09. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 2019-12-14. 32. Newspapers.com.
  16. News: Pauline A. MacArthur. 1941-05-23. The Semi-Weekly Spokesman-Review. 2019-12-14. 5. Newspapers.com.