Josephine Trott
I, like others, have found very little information on Josephine Trott. The best I have found is the following article written by Cora Cooper for the February 2006 edition of the American String Teachers Journal. I found it fun and interesting to read.
On the Trail of Josephine Trott: A Continuing Detective Story
Who was Josephine Trott? Her wonderful work, Melodious Double Stops, has become a staple of violin pedagogy. The Puppet Show, a fun beginner’s piece featuring left-hand pizzicato, is included in Barbara Barber’s Solos for Young Violinists. Several years ago my curiosity spurred me to action. What was her background? Where did she study? Was she British? French? Did she write anything else? It didn’t seem possible that she could have written these methodically sound etude books, and then just disappeared from the radar screen. I decided to become a detective on her trail.
From library catalogues, I had her birth year of 1874. If I knew the year she died, I could find obituaries that would give me details of her life. My first step, on the advice of a colleague, was to contact the Royalties department at Schirmer to find out if she had descendants who were now receiving profits from her works. The man I spoke with informed me that all her royalties are sent to the Josephine Trott Memorial Scholarship Fund of the National Federated Music Clubs. A clue! Looked like Trott was probably American. In hopes that they could tell me when the scholarship program began, I contacted the NFMC main office, who referred me to the woman in charge of the scholarship awards, who referred me to Viola Heinie of the Denver Musicians Society. Denver? Who knew! Ms. Heinie gave me a juicy tidbit—that Trott was a single woman teaching violin in Denver, who adopted a young girl by the name of Riccarda McQuie. She also gave me the name and number of Bea Booth, age 101 in 2003, who might be able to tell me more.
The conversation I had with Ms. Booth was fascinating and frustrating. I felt I was coming so close to information, but still couldn’t get specifics. She confirmed that Trott had adopted Riccarda as a foster child. She also relayed the information that Trott had studied the violin in France, and that she later took her adopted daughter (who later played in the Denver Symphony for 29 years) to study with the same teacher. Trott herself had been a force in the creation of the Denver Symphony (then called the Civic Symphony) in 1922. McQuie was deceased, and the whereabouts of her children unknown.
It looked like I was at a dead-end for information from anyone living. What could Trott herself tell me?
A search of WorldCat, the British Library and the Library of Congress catalogue showed me that Trott left a greater legacy than Melodious Double Stops and The Puppet Show. In addition to these works, she wrote a shifting book, a scale book, a beginning method book, a first-position etude book, and at least three other short pieces, all of which were out-of-print. Trott was also the author of five books, two of which are written in French, and the translator of a book on William the Conqueror from French to English. Most of these books were published under the pseudonym of “Colin Shepherd.”
The first of these publications dates from 1908, when she would have been 34 years old. It is called Studies in Shifting, by “J. Trott,” and was published by Clayton F. Summy of Chicago, and Weekes & Co. of London. The copy I was able to look at through interlibrary loan bore a fascinating inscription in her handwriting—“M. Edouard Deru in cordial appreciation Josephine Trott”—underneath which is stamped, “Edouard Deru 1875-1928 Violinist to the King and Queen of Belgium.” Deru won many awards as a pupil at the Conservatory of Verviers. He toured France, Holland and Germany, and in 1906 taught violin to the then future Queen Elizabeth. He came to the United States, and died here. His widow established a violin competition in Belgium in 1928 that continues to this day. Were he and Trott colleagues, or students together? Did she study with him? We may never know.
In her forward to these shifting studies, Trott writes, “Several of these ideas have been suggestions of noted European teachers and have proven to be of great practical value in developing finger strength and accuracy of intonation.” The material is along the lines seen later in Yost and Dounis exercises, with multiple combinations of fingers and positions.
Her next publication is a book written with Ruth Ewing entitled The Book of the Beastie. From 1912, the book is a collection of stories, poems, and photographs meant to educate children and adolescents in the humane treatment of animals. Add “animal rights activist” to the list of Trott’s accomplishments.
Melodious Foundation Studies and 28 Melodious Studies in the First Position were both published by Schirmer in 1917. While there is a copy of the first book at the Library of Congress, the second I have only found in London at the British Library. The word “melodious” was certainly a favorite motif for Trott. My guess is that she used it to signify the difference between dry technical studies like Sevcik (and her own shifting and scale books), and etudes in which technique is placed in a musical context. The foundation studies book is more of a beginner’s method, with some fun original duets towards the end. The 28 Melodious Studies are all in duet format, and are excellent.
We know from Bea Booth’s testimony that Trott was living in Denver before her next published works appeared in the 1920’s. No doubt her spare time was claimed by her work starting the symphony, whose first concert took place on May 4, 1922. The Puppet Show was published in 1923. The following year Schirmer published her Daily Scale Studies for the Violin, which for some reason is written in English and Spanish. It is an interesting book, with a novel approach to the study of scales. It begins more as a position etude book. There are about four pages of finger patterns in nine different sections, in first position. The exercises are then repeated up a step in second position, then third, all the way through eighth position. There is no particular key; just “white key” notes except for the finger independence exercises in the ninth section for each position. In these exercises, each finger slides back and forth by a half-step before moving on to the next. When we get to the actual scales, the book begins with two-octave scales beginning on the first finger (starting with Ab). The major scale is written out, with accidentals instead of key signatures, and the instruction is “First play the major scales, then the two minors.” What a trusting woman she must have been! Scales starting on the second and third fingers are given the same treatment. The book finishes off with three-octave scales, with quite modern fingering (shifting after the third finger, rather than a 1-2 1-2 pattern, and using a fourth-finger extension at the top), and a variety of arpeggios.
In 1925, her magnum opus, Melodious Double Stops, Book I, was first published...
That year (1925) also saw the publication of a book entitled George Hamlin, American Singer, 1868-1923, by a firm in Denver. Hamlin died in New York; it is unknown what connection Trott may have had to him to prompt her to write “a resume of his career.” Schirmer also published Two Tuneful Sketches, character pieces for violin and piano, in 1925. Of these two first-position works (“The Town Clock” and “At Dancing School”), I have only seen the first. The violin part is just one page, and like The Puppet Show, it is an ABA form. The outer sections are a lively 6/8 gigue-like tune in F major, while the slower contrasting section is in 2/4, Bb major, and features some simple double stops. Another short piece, In a Spanish Garden, was published by Schirmer in 1926. In A minor, the one-page violin part ventures into third and fourth positions with snappy Spanish rhythms. (N.B. Update: all three pieces are included in the anthology!)
Five years go by before the trail begins again with book two of Melodious Double Stops, published in 1931. This volume bears the dedication, "To Louis Persinger, in friendship and admiration." According to Groves, Persinger (born in 1887) had early lessons in Colorado, appearing in public at the age of 12. Hmmmm. Trott would have been thirteen years his senior. Could they have been students of the same Colorado teacher?
The second volume of Melodious Double Stops was Trott’s last published musical work. However, she published four books in 1932 and 1933. Two of these are written in French and targeted at children. One, Deux Enfants du Far-West, is an adventure story featuring a young girl and boy in the American west. The girl, “Sylvia,” is also the principal character in On demande une maman, Trott’s last published work. Published under the pseudonym of Colin Shepherd, it is a fictionalized account of a six-year-old’s life in an orphanage. It is actually the story of Trott becoming the foster parent of Riccarda McQuie. In the preface, publisher Henri Bourrelier writes, “The story told here... is special because it is true. Miss Colin Shepherd, professor of violin at the Conservatory of Denver, writer, journalist, and author of the celebrated adventure novel Deux Enfants du Far-West, wants to share the emotions of a foster-mother with us through the sweet soul of her little Sylvia.” In addition to writing these books in French, Trott published an English translation of a book on William the Conqueror by Lucie Delarue-Mardrus in 1932. That year also saw the publication of Jean Kay in Paris, a novelette in English which reads a bit like a Bridget Jones’ Diary from a more innocent time. One chapter begins, “Doesn’t it always happen that way? Here I was, writing long-neglected home letters like mad as the boat-train was leaving at nine-thirty next morning and all mail for U.S.A. must be posted before six in the afternoon. I had finished a short note to Bill, telling him that the Atlantic Ocean was no wider nor more impossible to bridge than the break in our friendship. (I quite prided myself on the neatness of that remark!) And I mentioned casually, but artistically, the charming young Frenchman who was so devoted to me on the boat, and who lives in Paris. I felt a little poetic exaggeration was permissible under the circumstances. And I was just in the midst of a very important letter to the folks—asking for my money P.D.Q. if you must know, as my month’s allowance was practically gone already—when my last stub pen gave up the ghost.”
Why the sudden literary output, and why in French? Perhaps this is the time during which she brought Riccarda to study with her former teacher in France, and had time on her hands? Could the amorous adventures of Jean Kay on her first trip to Europe have been inspired by the antics of her adopted daughter?
The last, and perhaps most tantalizing, piece of information I have is an entry in the 1938 Macmillan Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians, which reads, “Trott, Josephine, contemporary violinist, teacher, and composer; studied and taught at Berlin and Paris. She has published excellent study material for her instrument.” I wonder how it is that such an accomplished American woman is barely known in this country, yet included in a London encyclopedia? That some of her works, published in this country, can only be viewed at the British Library?
At this point the trail runs cold. Trott would have been sixty-four in 1938, certainly a reasonable age for retirement, and towards the maximum life expectancy for that time. As a professional violinist, teacher, composer, single mother, bilingual author, all in the days when women had only recently gotten the vote, Josephine Trott is a fascinating figure with a legacy beyond Melodious Double Stops.
Postscript: After this article was published in the AST Journal, I was sent a copy of Trott's obituary. She died in 1950 in Topeka, Kansas-- 50 miles from where I live!
This article is also published on the author's website violinmusicbywomen.com, which I accessed August 1, 2016. She posted the above article there, along with photos of Josephine Trott, in a few articles spanning from March to May 2012.
On the Trail of Josephine Trott: A Continuing Detective Story
Who was Josephine Trott? Her wonderful work, Melodious Double Stops, has become a staple of violin pedagogy. The Puppet Show, a fun beginner’s piece featuring left-hand pizzicato, is included in Barbara Barber’s Solos for Young Violinists. Several years ago my curiosity spurred me to action. What was her background? Where did she study? Was she British? French? Did she write anything else? It didn’t seem possible that she could have written these methodically sound etude books, and then just disappeared from the radar screen. I decided to become a detective on her trail.
From library catalogues, I had her birth year of 1874. If I knew the year she died, I could find obituaries that would give me details of her life. My first step, on the advice of a colleague, was to contact the Royalties department at Schirmer to find out if she had descendants who were now receiving profits from her works. The man I spoke with informed me that all her royalties are sent to the Josephine Trott Memorial Scholarship Fund of the National Federated Music Clubs. A clue! Looked like Trott was probably American. In hopes that they could tell me when the scholarship program began, I contacted the NFMC main office, who referred me to the woman in charge of the scholarship awards, who referred me to Viola Heinie of the Denver Musicians Society. Denver? Who knew! Ms. Heinie gave me a juicy tidbit—that Trott was a single woman teaching violin in Denver, who adopted a young girl by the name of Riccarda McQuie. She also gave me the name and number of Bea Booth, age 101 in 2003, who might be able to tell me more.
The conversation I had with Ms. Booth was fascinating and frustrating. I felt I was coming so close to information, but still couldn’t get specifics. She confirmed that Trott had adopted Riccarda as a foster child. She also relayed the information that Trott had studied the violin in France, and that she later took her adopted daughter (who later played in the Denver Symphony for 29 years) to study with the same teacher. Trott herself had been a force in the creation of the Denver Symphony (then called the Civic Symphony) in 1922. McQuie was deceased, and the whereabouts of her children unknown.
It looked like I was at a dead-end for information from anyone living. What could Trott herself tell me?
A search of WorldCat, the British Library and the Library of Congress catalogue showed me that Trott left a greater legacy than Melodious Double Stops and The Puppet Show. In addition to these works, she wrote a shifting book, a scale book, a beginning method book, a first-position etude book, and at least three other short pieces, all of which were out-of-print. Trott was also the author of five books, two of which are written in French, and the translator of a book on William the Conqueror from French to English. Most of these books were published under the pseudonym of “Colin Shepherd.”
The first of these publications dates from 1908, when she would have been 34 years old. It is called Studies in Shifting, by “J. Trott,” and was published by Clayton F. Summy of Chicago, and Weekes & Co. of London. The copy I was able to look at through interlibrary loan bore a fascinating inscription in her handwriting—“M. Edouard Deru in cordial appreciation Josephine Trott”—underneath which is stamped, “Edouard Deru 1875-1928 Violinist to the King and Queen of Belgium.” Deru won many awards as a pupil at the Conservatory of Verviers. He toured France, Holland and Germany, and in 1906 taught violin to the then future Queen Elizabeth. He came to the United States, and died here. His widow established a violin competition in Belgium in 1928 that continues to this day. Were he and Trott colleagues, or students together? Did she study with him? We may never know.
In her forward to these shifting studies, Trott writes, “Several of these ideas have been suggestions of noted European teachers and have proven to be of great practical value in developing finger strength and accuracy of intonation.” The material is along the lines seen later in Yost and Dounis exercises, with multiple combinations of fingers and positions.
Her next publication is a book written with Ruth Ewing entitled The Book of the Beastie. From 1912, the book is a collection of stories, poems, and photographs meant to educate children and adolescents in the humane treatment of animals. Add “animal rights activist” to the list of Trott’s accomplishments.
Melodious Foundation Studies and 28 Melodious Studies in the First Position were both published by Schirmer in 1917. While there is a copy of the first book at the Library of Congress, the second I have only found in London at the British Library. The word “melodious” was certainly a favorite motif for Trott. My guess is that she used it to signify the difference between dry technical studies like Sevcik (and her own shifting and scale books), and etudes in which technique is placed in a musical context. The foundation studies book is more of a beginner’s method, with some fun original duets towards the end. The 28 Melodious Studies are all in duet format, and are excellent.
We know from Bea Booth’s testimony that Trott was living in Denver before her next published works appeared in the 1920’s. No doubt her spare time was claimed by her work starting the symphony, whose first concert took place on May 4, 1922. The Puppet Show was published in 1923. The following year Schirmer published her Daily Scale Studies for the Violin, which for some reason is written in English and Spanish. It is an interesting book, with a novel approach to the study of scales. It begins more as a position etude book. There are about four pages of finger patterns in nine different sections, in first position. The exercises are then repeated up a step in second position, then third, all the way through eighth position. There is no particular key; just “white key” notes except for the finger independence exercises in the ninth section for each position. In these exercises, each finger slides back and forth by a half-step before moving on to the next. When we get to the actual scales, the book begins with two-octave scales beginning on the first finger (starting with Ab). The major scale is written out, with accidentals instead of key signatures, and the instruction is “First play the major scales, then the two minors.” What a trusting woman she must have been! Scales starting on the second and third fingers are given the same treatment. The book finishes off with three-octave scales, with quite modern fingering (shifting after the third finger, rather than a 1-2 1-2 pattern, and using a fourth-finger extension at the top), and a variety of arpeggios.
In 1925, her magnum opus, Melodious Double Stops, Book I, was first published...
That year (1925) also saw the publication of a book entitled George Hamlin, American Singer, 1868-1923, by a firm in Denver. Hamlin died in New York; it is unknown what connection Trott may have had to him to prompt her to write “a resume of his career.” Schirmer also published Two Tuneful Sketches, character pieces for violin and piano, in 1925. Of these two first-position works (“The Town Clock” and “At Dancing School”), I have only seen the first. The violin part is just one page, and like The Puppet Show, it is an ABA form. The outer sections are a lively 6/8 gigue-like tune in F major, while the slower contrasting section is in 2/4, Bb major, and features some simple double stops. Another short piece, In a Spanish Garden, was published by Schirmer in 1926. In A minor, the one-page violin part ventures into third and fourth positions with snappy Spanish rhythms. (N.B. Update: all three pieces are included in the anthology!)
Five years go by before the trail begins again with book two of Melodious Double Stops, published in 1931. This volume bears the dedication, "To Louis Persinger, in friendship and admiration." According to Groves, Persinger (born in 1887) had early lessons in Colorado, appearing in public at the age of 12. Hmmmm. Trott would have been thirteen years his senior. Could they have been students of the same Colorado teacher?
The second volume of Melodious Double Stops was Trott’s last published musical work. However, she published four books in 1932 and 1933. Two of these are written in French and targeted at children. One, Deux Enfants du Far-West, is an adventure story featuring a young girl and boy in the American west. The girl, “Sylvia,” is also the principal character in On demande une maman, Trott’s last published work. Published under the pseudonym of Colin Shepherd, it is a fictionalized account of a six-year-old’s life in an orphanage. It is actually the story of Trott becoming the foster parent of Riccarda McQuie. In the preface, publisher Henri Bourrelier writes, “The story told here... is special because it is true. Miss Colin Shepherd, professor of violin at the Conservatory of Denver, writer, journalist, and author of the celebrated adventure novel Deux Enfants du Far-West, wants to share the emotions of a foster-mother with us through the sweet soul of her little Sylvia.” In addition to writing these books in French, Trott published an English translation of a book on William the Conqueror by Lucie Delarue-Mardrus in 1932. That year also saw the publication of Jean Kay in Paris, a novelette in English which reads a bit like a Bridget Jones’ Diary from a more innocent time. One chapter begins, “Doesn’t it always happen that way? Here I was, writing long-neglected home letters like mad as the boat-train was leaving at nine-thirty next morning and all mail for U.S.A. must be posted before six in the afternoon. I had finished a short note to Bill, telling him that the Atlantic Ocean was no wider nor more impossible to bridge than the break in our friendship. (I quite prided myself on the neatness of that remark!) And I mentioned casually, but artistically, the charming young Frenchman who was so devoted to me on the boat, and who lives in Paris. I felt a little poetic exaggeration was permissible under the circumstances. And I was just in the midst of a very important letter to the folks—asking for my money P.D.Q. if you must know, as my month’s allowance was practically gone already—when my last stub pen gave up the ghost.”
Why the sudden literary output, and why in French? Perhaps this is the time during which she brought Riccarda to study with her former teacher in France, and had time on her hands? Could the amorous adventures of Jean Kay on her first trip to Europe have been inspired by the antics of her adopted daughter?
The last, and perhaps most tantalizing, piece of information I have is an entry in the 1938 Macmillan Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians, which reads, “Trott, Josephine, contemporary violinist, teacher, and composer; studied and taught at Berlin and Paris. She has published excellent study material for her instrument.” I wonder how it is that such an accomplished American woman is barely known in this country, yet included in a London encyclopedia? That some of her works, published in this country, can only be viewed at the British Library?
At this point the trail runs cold. Trott would have been sixty-four in 1938, certainly a reasonable age for retirement, and towards the maximum life expectancy for that time. As a professional violinist, teacher, composer, single mother, bilingual author, all in the days when women had only recently gotten the vote, Josephine Trott is a fascinating figure with a legacy beyond Melodious Double Stops.
Postscript: After this article was published in the AST Journal, I was sent a copy of Trott's obituary. She died in 1950 in Topeka, Kansas-- 50 miles from where I live!
This article is also published on the author's website violinmusicbywomen.com, which I accessed August 1, 2016. She posted the above article there, along with photos of Josephine Trott, in a few articles spanning from March to May 2012.
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Puppet Show Op. 5, No. 1
Wyoming Fine Arts Center Advanced Group Spring Group Concert Director:Dr. Timothy (Terry) Durbin Riki Nagai, violin (probably the performer in front) |
Melodious Double-Stops for Violin, Book 1, No. 5
The performer is not identified, but the video was posted by "Aquadulci Academy." |