Ella Scoble Opperman

Ella Scoble Opperman (October 27, 1873 – March 11,1969) was an American pianist, organist, music teacher, and vocal coach. She was the first director and dean of the School of Music at the Florida State College for Women.[1][2] Throughout her life, she learned and worked with prominent musical pedagogues such as Ernest Jedliczka, Leopold Godowsky, Alexandre Guilmant.[3] Ella Opperman had witnessed significant cultural, social, political and educational changes throughout her life. She was born eight years after the Civil War had ended and died five years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Ella Scoble Opperman
BornOctober 27, 1873
Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
Died11 March 1969(1969-03-11) (aged 95)
Tallahassee, Florida, United States
Alma materUniversity of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
OccupationPianist, Music Teacher

Early life

Ella Scoble was born on September 27, 1873, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and grew up in Aurora, Indiana. She was from a well-off family. Her mother was a housewife, and her father was an Alsatian-born store owner and merchant. She had piano lessons from the age of five and performed at the Opera House in Seymour, Indiana, at the age of eight. When she was 16, Ella graduated with an A.B. degree from the Wesleyan College of Cincinnati. Later on, she went to the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music for a Master of Music degree and an Artist Diploma in Piano. She moved to Berlin around the late 1890s and took private piano lessons with Ernest Jedliczka. She also subsequently spent several years in Paris studying music performances.[4][5][6]

Career

Ella's travel journals suggest that she knew both French and German, which allowed her to thoroughly engage in cultural life during the early 1900s. In Paris, she studied piano with Moritz Moszkowski and organ with Alexandre Guilmant from 1907 to 1909. After her return to the US, she attended master's classes with prominent pedagogues such as Leopold Godowsky, Rudolph Ganz, Isador Phillip, and Guy Maier, and also studied organ with Harold Gleason at the Eastman School of Music.[7]

In 1911, after a subsequent period of short-term appointments, Ella was invited to develop a curriculum leading to the bachelor’s degree in FSCW, and to direct the music programs, by the then president of the institution, Edward Conradi. From 1920 until her retirement in 1944, she was the dean of the music school, which in 1930 was accepted into the National Association of Schools of Music, from which she was invited as the Vice President and later as a member of its Ethics Committee.[8][9] She also assumed leadership roles in various national organizations including Music Teacher’s National Association (MTNA) and the Florida State Music Teachers Association (FSMTA).[10][11]

Ella Scoble Opperman died on March 11, 1969, in Tallahassee, Florida.[12]

Honors

In 1943, The Cincinnati Conservatory awarded Ella Scoble Opperman an honorary Doctor of Pedagogy degree.[13]

Books
  • Annals of the School of Music (1947)[14]

References
  1. "19 Nov 1921, p.10". The Miami News. 1921-09-19. p. 10. Retrieved 2021-05-08.
  2. "24 Dec 1917, p.3". The Miami Herald. 1917-12-24. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-05-08.
  3. "Collection: Ella Scoble Opperman Music Collection | Florida State University ArchivesSpace". archives.lib.fsu.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-08.
  4. "Who Was Ella Scoble Opperman? | College of Music". music.fsu.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-08.
  5. "26 Apr 1935, p.12". The Bradenton Herald. p. 12. Retrieved 2021-05-08.
  6. "24 Apr 1913, p.4". The Tampa Tribune. 1913-04-24. Retrieved 2021-05-08.
  7. "23 Feb 1969 Entry". Tallahassee Democrat. 1969-02-23. Retrieved 2021-05-08.
  8. "Ella Scoble Opperman Collection | College of Music". music.fsu.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-08.
  9. The World Musical and Theatrical Guide. 1929. ASIN B001NAQV0O.
  10. "8 Jan 1931, p.3". Pensacola News Journal. 1931-01-08. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-05-08.
  11. Faucett, Bill (2017). The Marching Chiefs of Florida State University: The Band That Never Lost a Halftime Show. McFarland. ISBN 978-1476668321.
  12. "9 Apr 1969, Page 23". Tallahassee Democrat. 1969-04-09. Retrieved 2021-05-08.
  13. "4 Oct 1964, Page 28". Tallahassee Democrat. 1964-10-04. Retrieved 2021-05-08.
  14. Opperman, Ella (1947). Annals of the School of Music. Florida: Tallahassee; Dept. of Public Relations, Florida State University. OCLC 1041278.

Bibliography
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.