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Alma Moodie
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Alma Moodie
Alma Mary Templeton Moodie (12 September 1898 – 7 March 1943) was an Australian violinist who established an excellent reputation in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. She was regarded as being among the foremost female violinists during the inter-war years, along with such players as Erica Morini, Jelly d'Arányi and Kathleen Parlow; and she premiered violin concertos by Kurt Atterberg, Hans Pfitzner and Ernst Krenek. She and Max Rostal were considered the best pre-war proponents of the Carl Flesch tradition. She became a teacher at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt. However, Alma Moodie made no recordings, and she appears in very few reference sources. Despite her former renown, her name became virtually unknown for many years. She appeared in earlier editions of Grove's and Baker's Dictionaries, but does not appear in the more recent editions.
Alma Mary Templeton Moodie was born on 12 September 1898 in regional Queensland, Australia, the daughter of William Templeton Moodie and his wife Susan (née McClafferty). Some sources say she was born in Mount Morgan, others in Rockhampton.
She was an only child. Her father, an ironmonger from Ayrshire, Scotland, died on 9 July 1899, when she was less than one year old. Her mother, a music teacher, was the daughter of Irish immigrants.
She studied violin at Mount Morgan, being taught initially by her widowed mother from a very young age, and from the age of 5 by Louis D’Hage in Rockhampton. She appeared in public recitals at age 6 – a performance in Rockhampton in October 1904 was described by a local reporter from The Morning Bulletin, "Her rendering of Renard's 'Berceuse,' accompanied on the piano by Herr Hage, showed the possibility of surprising musical gifts being developed at an extremely young age. The executive ability displayed in this, and an encore piece – 'Canzonetta' (Daube) – was certainly remarkable." In 1905 she passed her violin examinations with distinction achieving the maximum score.
In 1907, aged 9, she gained a scholarship to the Brussels Conservatory, where she studied with Oskar Back for three years, under the general guidance of César Thomson (later, when she had achieved fame, Back and Thomson would both claim to have been her primary teacher). She was accompanied by her mother, who remained with her until her death when Alma was aged 20. In 1913 she was recommended to Max Reger, who, after hearing her play, wrote to his patron Duke George of Sachsen-Meiningen:
Today a 13-year-old girl [she was actually 15 at the time] — English – played for me; hers is the biggest violin talent I have ever encountered. The 13-year-old played Bach solo sonatas for me, sonatas which are the most difficult to play of any in the whole literature of violin music ... I am not ashamed to admit that there were tears in my eyes while this delicate 13-year-old child played for me. Our Lord God has certainly created one of his miracles.
In Meiningen, Eisenach and Hildburghausen Alma Moodie played concertos with Reger conducting, and she appeared in recital with him. Reger also recommended her to other concert organisers. In 1914, he dedicated to her his Präludium und Fuge for solo violin, Op. 131a, No. 4. The Regers had no children, and Max and Alma became like father and daughter for some time. Her mother had planned to return to Australia, leaving Alma in the care of Max and Elsa Reger, but the start of World War I meant she could not leave Europe. The Moodies stayed in Meiningen for the first few months of the war, and then moved to Brussels. Reger died in 1916, without ever seeing Alma again. Times were very hard in Brussels for Alma and her mother. Alma became thin and ill, and claimed she did not touch her violin for four years. Her mother died of consumption or influenza in the spring of 1918.
Alma returned to Germany in October 1918, where she lived in a 12th-century castle in the Harz mountains as ward of Fürst Christian Ernst zu Stolberg und Wernigerode. It is not known how she came to be associated with him. However, it was while here that she met her future husband. She wanted to resume her violin playing, which had badly deteriorated during the war, and made contact with Carl Flesch in November 1919, who agreed to accept her as a pupil. She continued having lessons with Flesch throughout her travelling career and after the birth of her son. Flesch had a special fondness for Alma Moodie (he wrote 'amongst all the pupils in my course I liked Alma Moodie best').
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Alma Moodie
Alma Mary Templeton Moodie (12 September 1898 – 7 March 1943) was an Australian violinist who established an excellent reputation in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. She was regarded as being among the foremost female violinists during the inter-war years, along with such players as Erica Morini, Jelly d'Arányi and Kathleen Parlow; and she premiered violin concertos by Kurt Atterberg, Hans Pfitzner and Ernst Krenek. She and Max Rostal were considered the best pre-war proponents of the Carl Flesch tradition. She became a teacher at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt. However, Alma Moodie made no recordings, and she appears in very few reference sources. Despite her former renown, her name became virtually unknown for many years. She appeared in earlier editions of Grove's and Baker's Dictionaries, but does not appear in the more recent editions.
Alma Mary Templeton Moodie was born on 12 September 1898 in regional Queensland, Australia, the daughter of William Templeton Moodie and his wife Susan (née McClafferty). Some sources say she was born in Mount Morgan, others in Rockhampton.
She was an only child. Her father, an ironmonger from Ayrshire, Scotland, died on 9 July 1899, when she was less than one year old. Her mother, a music teacher, was the daughter of Irish immigrants.
She studied violin at Mount Morgan, being taught initially by her widowed mother from a very young age, and from the age of 5 by Louis D’Hage in Rockhampton. She appeared in public recitals at age 6 – a performance in Rockhampton in October 1904 was described by a local reporter from The Morning Bulletin, "Her rendering of Renard's 'Berceuse,' accompanied on the piano by Herr Hage, showed the possibility of surprising musical gifts being developed at an extremely young age. The executive ability displayed in this, and an encore piece – 'Canzonetta' (Daube) – was certainly remarkable." In 1905 she passed her violin examinations with distinction achieving the maximum score.
In 1907, aged 9, she gained a scholarship to the Brussels Conservatory, where she studied with Oskar Back for three years, under the general guidance of César Thomson (later, when she had achieved fame, Back and Thomson would both claim to have been her primary teacher). She was accompanied by her mother, who remained with her until her death when Alma was aged 20. In 1913 she was recommended to Max Reger, who, after hearing her play, wrote to his patron Duke George of Sachsen-Meiningen:
Today a 13-year-old girl [she was actually 15 at the time] — English – played for me; hers is the biggest violin talent I have ever encountered. The 13-year-old played Bach solo sonatas for me, sonatas which are the most difficult to play of any in the whole literature of violin music ... I am not ashamed to admit that there were tears in my eyes while this delicate 13-year-old child played for me. Our Lord God has certainly created one of his miracles.
In Meiningen, Eisenach and Hildburghausen Alma Moodie played concertos with Reger conducting, and she appeared in recital with him. Reger also recommended her to other concert organisers. In 1914, he dedicated to her his Präludium und Fuge for solo violin, Op. 131a, No. 4. The Regers had no children, and Max and Alma became like father and daughter for some time. Her mother had planned to return to Australia, leaving Alma in the care of Max and Elsa Reger, but the start of World War I meant she could not leave Europe. The Moodies stayed in Meiningen for the first few months of the war, and then moved to Brussels. Reger died in 1916, without ever seeing Alma again. Times were very hard in Brussels for Alma and her mother. Alma became thin and ill, and claimed she did not touch her violin for four years. Her mother died of consumption or influenza in the spring of 1918.
Alma returned to Germany in October 1918, where she lived in a 12th-century castle in the Harz mountains as ward of Fürst Christian Ernst zu Stolberg und Wernigerode. It is not known how she came to be associated with him. However, it was while here that she met her future husband. She wanted to resume her violin playing, which had badly deteriorated during the war, and made contact with Carl Flesch in November 1919, who agreed to accept her as a pupil. She continued having lessons with Flesch throughout her travelling career and after the birth of her son. Flesch had a special fondness for Alma Moodie (he wrote 'amongst all the pupils in my course I liked Alma Moodie best').
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