Thelma Given Explained

Thelma Given Verdi
Birth Date:	9 March 1896
Birth Place:	Columbus, Ohio, U.S.
Death Place:	Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.

Thelma Mary Given Verdi (March 9, 1896 — December 25, 1977) was an American violinist and child musical prodigy.

Early life

Thelma Mary Given was born in Columbus, Ohio, and raised in Decatur, Illinois,^[1] the daughter of James Frederick Given and Emma Jones Given.^{[2] [3]} Her musical abilities were recognized by age 5.^[4] She studied with Leopold Auer in Russia.^[5] She toured Europe with Auer as a teenager, and was caught in the tumult of war and the Russian Revolution for almost a year^[6] before she and her mother were able to return to the United States.^[7]

Career

Given made her American debut at Carnegie Hall in 1918.^[8] She returned to the Carnegie Hall stage several times.^{[9] [10]} She toured in the United States and Europe^[11] in the 1920s and 1930s, given recitals and as guest soloist with orchestras.^{[12] [13]} She played a Guarneri violin made in 1738.^[14]

Personal life

Given lived much of her adult life living with her mother and brother Eben Given (a painter), at Saranac Lake,^[15] and in the arts colony at Provincetown, Massachusetts,^[16] in social circles that included playwright Eugene O'Neill.^[17] She married in 1943, as the third wife of Minturn de Suzzara Verdi, a New York lawyer.^[18]

Thelma Given Verdi was widowed in 1970,^[19] and she died on Christmas Day, 1977, aged 81 years, in Boston, Massachusetts, after a stroke. Papers associated with Thelma Given, including concert programs, letters, and a clippings album of reviews, are archived by the Provincetown History Preservation Project.^[20]

Notes and References

1. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12674225/thelma_given_1919/ "Thelma Given Tells New York of Early Desire for Career"
2. http://provincetownhistoryproject.com/archives/409 Thelma Given's Biography
3. https://books.google.com/books?id=ONtHAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22J.+Fred+Given%22&pg=PA808 Past and Present of the City of Decatur and Macon County, Illinois
4. Peter Merritt, "Miss America – Alias Thelma Given" Everybody's Magazine (February 1919): 16.
5. https://www.nytimes.com/1977/12/28/archives/thelma-given-verdi-81-violinist-who-was-a-renowned-child-prodigy.html "Thelma Given Verdi, 81, Violinist Who Was a Renowned Child Prodigy"
6. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12674457/thelma_given_1915/ "Apprehension for Women in Europe"
7. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12674354/thelma_given_1923/ "Concert Stage Claims Former Decatur Girl"
8. https://books.google.com/books?id=7SIqQHZL2_wC&dq=Thelma+GIven&pg=PA30 Advertisement
9. https://books.google.com/books?id=7SIqQHZL2_wC&dq=Thelma+GIven&pg=RA3-PA8 "Thelma Given's New York Recital, Oct. 18"
10. https://search-proquest-com/news/docview/104707265/D50BC6DA58234ADCPQ/2 "Recital by Thelma Given"
11. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12674725/thelma_given_91928/ "Thelma Given is On Her Third European Tour"
12. https://books.google.com/books?id=gNtFAQAAMAAJ&dq=Thelma+GIven&pg=RA5-PA41 "Haensel and Jones to Direct Tours of Thelma Given"
13. https://books.google.com/books?id=sFVGAQAAMAAJ&dq=Thelma+GIven&pg=PA137 "Thelma Given at Carnegie Hall"
14. It is not known where her violin ended up. "Deaf Girl 'Hears' Music" Decatur Daily Review (February 19, 1936): 12. via Newspapers.com
15. https://books.google.com/books?id=7SIqQHZL2_wC&dq=Thelma+GIven&pg=RA2-PA26 "Thelma Given at Spion-Kop"
16. https://books.google.com/books?id=0PM6AQAAMAAJ&dq=Thelma+GIven&pg=RA5-PA26 "Thelma Given Summering At Provincetown"
17. Louis Scheaffer, O'Neill: Son and Artist (Rowman & Littlefield 2002): 97-98.
18. https://search-proquest-com/news/docview/106735868/F882A9F17D334457PQ/2 "Miss Thelma Given Wed"
19. https://search-proquest-com/news/docview/118017646/4A8535D6356B4295PQ/2 "Minturn deS. Verdi"
20. https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search?f%5Brelated_item_host_ssim%5D%5B%5D=Thelma+Given+Collection Thelma Given Collection