Elsa Ruegger
A white woman in profile, with a cello; the photograph is autographed in blue ink
Elsa Ruegger in a 1913 publicity photograph.
BornDecember 6, 1881
Lucerne
DiedFebruary 19, 1924(1924-02-19) (aged 42)
Chicago
NationalitySwiss
Other namesElsa Ruegger-Lichtenstein (after marriage)
OccupationMusician (cellist)
Years active1895-1924
RelativesCharlotte Ruegger (sister)

Elsa Ruegger (December 6, 1881 – February 19, 1924), later Elsa Ruegger-Lichtenstein, was a Swiss cellist, billed as "the greatest woman cellist in the world."[1]

Early life

Elsa Ruegger was born in Lucerne. Her father Julius Ruegger was a government official, and her mother was a music teacher before marriage. Her sisters Valerie (Wally) and Charlotte were also musicians. She started learning the violin as a small girl, but changed to cello while still young.[2] She studied with Édouard Jacobs and Anna Campowski at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, and gave her first public concert in Brussels in 1892, at age 11.[3][4]

Career

Ruegger made a concert tour in Switzerland with her sisters in her teens. In 1895, she played in Berlin, and from there toured more widely as a solo artist. Her London debut came in 1897. In 1899 she was compared to American cellist Leonora Jackson.[5] She helped her mother open a music school in Brussels in 1902.[3]

Elsa Ruegger played with the Boston Symphony in 1903,[6] and with the New York Philharmonic in 1907, then toured the United States[7] performing with British tenor Cecil James,[8] and American violinist Francis MacMillen.[9] "Miss Ruegger possesses poetic gifts of the highest order and is blessed with the true artist temperament," declared one American reviewer in 1907.[10]

From 1908 to 1912 she was a member of the Detroit String Quartet. She played on the American vaudeville stage from 1912 to 1921.[11][12][13] She toured with harpist Zhay Clark in 1917 and 1918.[14] She taught music in Brussels in 1921 and 1922.[2] Although she was billed as "the greatest woman 'cellist in the world", she did not like the description. "I don't believe that it is possible to draw any sex line in art," she told a Detroit newspaper in 1908.[1]

Personal life

Elsa Ruegger married violinist Edmund Lichtenstein in 1908.[15] She died in 1924, aged 42 years, in Chicago.[16] Her gravesite is in Detroit.[17]

References

  1. 1 2 "Artistic Temperament Very Strong Among the Detroiters". Detroit Free Press. 1908-10-01. p. 3. Retrieved 2020-05-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. 1 2 Pan Pipes of Sigma Alpha Iota. G. Banta Publishing Company. 1923. pp. 30–31.
  3. 1 2 Gamba (December 1900). "Elsa Ruegger". The Strad. 11: 249.
  4. ↑ International Who's who in Music and Musical Gazetteer. Current Literature Publishing Company. 1918. p. 543.
  5. ↑ "News of the Musical World". The Times. 1899-07-16. p. 28. Retrieved 2020-05-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "Elsa Ruegger Coming". The Morning Journal-Courier. 1903-02-19. p. 5. Retrieved 2020-05-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ Ammer, Christine (2001). Unsung: A History of Women in American Music. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-57467-061-5.
  8. ↑ "Elsa Ruegger in Albany and Baltimore". Musical Courier. 54: 32. March 20, 1907.
  9. ↑ "Another Ruegger-Macmillen Recital". Musical Courier. 54: 26. March 27, 1907.
  10. ↑ "Two Excellent Concerts". Musical Courier. February 13, 1907. p. 19. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
  11. ↑ "Elsa Ruegger, the Cellist, to Appear On Orpheum Bill". San Francisco Call. 8 September 1912. p. 22. Retrieved May 10, 2020 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  12. ↑ "Top Notch Music on Orpheum Bill". The Spokesman-Review. 1913-08-11. p. 6. Retrieved 2020-05-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ "Variety Marks Orpheum Bill". Sacramento Union. 24 January 1921. p. 2. Retrieved May 10, 2020 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  14. ↑ "Orpheum Theatre". San Pedro Daily News. 18 July 1917. p. 3. Retrieved May 10, 2020 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  15. ↑ "Detroit Violinist and Leading 'Celliste to Wed in Few Days". Detroit Free Press. 1909-08-11. p. 3. Retrieved 2020-05-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ↑ "Elsa Ruegger, Noted 'Cellist, Succumbs". Detroit Free Press. 1924-02-21. p. 13. Retrieved 2020-05-10 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ↑ "Mme. Elsa Ruegger Buried in Detroit". The Boston Globe. 1924-02-22. p. 10. Retrieved 2020-05-10 – via Newspapers.com.
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