Rachel Steinman Clarke Explained

Rachel Steinman Clarke
Birth Date:c. 1882
Birth Place:Włocławek, Poland
Death Place:Miami, Florida, U.S.
Nationality:American
Occupation:Violinist

Rachel Steinman Clarke (c. 1882 – November 4, 1944) was a Polish-born American violinist based in Chicago.

Early life

Rachel Steinman was born in Włocławek, Poland. Her family moved to the United States when Steinman was a child, and she was raised in Des Moines, Iowa, where she graduated from the Highland Park Conservatory of Music. She pursued further violin studies in Chicago and New York, and with Jacques Thibaud in Paris. Her sister Gertrude married actor Raymond Walburn.

Career

Rachel Steinman was playing violin at Iowa events by 1900.[1] [2] She toured on the Chautauqua and lyceum circuits with the Midland Concert Company as a young woman,[3] and as head of the Rachel Steinman Concert Company.[4] [5] She toured with her husband in the Edward Clarke Concert Company, from the 1910s into the 1920s.[6] [7] In 1917, for example, the Clarke company gave 142 concerts in 71 cities in 70 days, driving Clarke's Ford over 4,500 miles through Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin in the process.[8]

Clarke was a member of the Chicago Civic Symphony Orchestra, and on the faculty of the Lyceum Arts Conservatory of Chicago.[9] She also performed for radio concerts.[10] [11] "Miss Steinman is an exceedingly artistic violinist, playing with perfect self composure and so easily and gracefully as to inspire confidence in her music," commented one Iowa reviewer in 1911.[12]

After moving to Florida in 1935,[13] she was a member of the University of Miami Symphony Orchestra.[14]

Personal life

In 1913, Rachel Steinman married Charles Edward Clarke, a Canadian baritone singer, at a Baptist church in Chicago.[15] She died in Miami, Florida in 1944.

Notes and References

  1. News: Choir Benefit Concert. April 25, 1900. Daily Iowa Capital. December 15, 2019. 8. NewspaperArchive.com.
  2. News: Private Piano Recital. 1900-06-08. The Des Moines Register. 2019-12-15. 3. Newspapers.com.
  3. News: Midland Chautauqua. 1906-06-06. The Humeston New Era. 2019-12-15. 3. Newspapers.com.
  4. Web site: Rachel Steinman Clarke. Traveling Culture – Circuit Chautauqua in the Twentieth Century. 2019-12-14.
  5. News: Rachel Steinman is a Genius. 1910-02-17. The Olathe Mirror. 2019-12-15. 6. Newspapers.com.
  6. June–July 1915. To Give Series of Lecture Recitals. The Lyceum News. 5. 10.
  7. https://books.google.com/books?id=uGzwTpUHupAC&dq=Rachel+Steinman+Clarke&pg=PP362 "C. Edward Clarke Began Lyceum Career 10 Years Ago"
  8. October 18, 1917. Edward Clarke Completes Chautauqua Tour. Musical Courier. 75. 11.
  9. Smith. Clay. July 1923. Edward Clarke Company is 15 Years Old. The Lyceum Magazine. 33. 35–36.
  10. March 24, 1922. Broadcasting Music. Music News. 14. 18.
  11. News: Overtones. 1937-05-09. The Miami News. 2019-12-15. 44. Newspapers.com.
  12. News: Chicago Violinist in Recital. 1911-03-01. Evening Times-Republican. 2019-12-15. 6. Newspapers.com.
  13. News: Mrs. Rachel Clarke, Concert Artist, Dies. 1944-11-05. The Miami News. 2019-12-15. 11. Newspapers.com.
  14. News: Clarke Talk. 1939-12-10. The Miami News. 2019-12-15. 49. Newspapers.com.
  15. May 1913. The Work and the Workers. The Lyceumite and Talent. 6. 43.