Edna White

Flora Edna White (October 23, 1892 – June 25, 1992), known professionally as Edna White, was an American trumpet soloist, singer, vaudeville performer, and composer. A child prodigy, White began her professional career as a soloist in 1901 at the age of eight. She studied at the New York Institute of Musical Art in 1907. She was one of the first soloists to perform on trumpet rather than cornet.

White was billed as the "only woman solo trumpeter in the world". She created several all-female brass ensembles. In the 1920s, White made solo recordings for Edison Records. She collaborated with composers Virgil Thomson and George Antheil. Her 1949 recital in Carnegie Hall was the first given there by a trumpeter.

Biography Early life and education Edna White was born in Stamford, Connecticut on October 23, 1892, to Herbert John White and Harriet Linwood Stone. She was the second of six children. Herbert was a mechanical engineer and an amateur cornetist who hoped for a son who would also play. Edna received her first cornet as a seventh birthday present.

By 1901 when the family moved to Brooklyn, Edna was talented enough to join her father at rehearsals for the Amacita Band. On May 3, 1901, she was the amateur ensemble's featured soloist at their annual Carnegie Hall concert, performing a tune from Gioachino Rossini's Stabat Mater and two encores.

The performance led to White's engagement as a soloist for the summer concert season at the popular seaside resort town of Ocean Grove, New Jersey. She performed there from 1901 to 1910. During the 1903 season, she studied with Anna Park and performed a duet with her.

In 1904, Frank Damrosch invited White to study at the New York Institute of Musical Art, which he established the following year. White studied with Adolphe Dubois, principal trumpet of the New York Symphony Orchestra. Dubois convinced White to switch from cornet to trumpet.

Edna White died in 1992, four months short of her 100th birthday.

Edna left the group when she got pregnant in 1916. They kept performing with Katherine Rankin playing Edna's parts. She reclaimed the rights to her ensemble's name and formed a new group she called the Gloria Trumpeters.

John Philip Sousa attended the performance and invited White to perform with his band, but he died a month later. Vincent Bach sent White a congratulatory note after the concert. Shortly afterward, White appeared with the Philip James Little Symphony and embarked on a tour with her quartet. White had a heart attack early in the tour, ending it prematurely.

The New York Herald Tribune raved, "There seems nothing that [White] cannot attain with her instrument, and she looked an impressive figure in her blue velvet, and with a rack of 'spare' trumpets beside her, gleaming as golden as her hair." In November 1954, White appeared in a concert given by the Early Music Foundation at Carnegie Recital Hall, performing music by Johann Hermann Schein, Joseph Schmidt, and Johann Christoph Pezel.

White returned to Carnegie Hall for a retirement concert called "Farewell to My Trumpet" on February 17, 1957. The program included Thomson's "At the Beach," the "Inflammatus" from Rossini's Stabat Mater, "The Carnival of Venice" with variations by Arban, Clarke, and White.

Retirement White remained active as a composer and writer when she was done performing. In 1958, she wrote the music and libretto for an operetta called Hills of Tennessee. She also composed a Suite for Solo Trumpet and Symphony Orchestra which was premiered in 1980 by trumpeter Stephen Schaffner and the Pioneer Valley Symphony. It was recorded by Gaeton Berton with the Maryland Theater Orchestra.