Elise Fellows White

Mary Elise Fellows White (November 14, 1873 – March 22, 1953) was an American author, composer, and violinist who recorded for Schirmer records. the only child of Frank and Deborah Swan Fellows. Her father played violin and was White's first violin teacher. When she was 10 years old, White and her mother moved to Boston so she could study at the New England Conservatory of Music with Timothee Adamowski, Campanari, Emery, L.C. Elson, and later Franz Kneisel. with the McKenzie Tour Company trio consisting of soprano Rebecca McKenzie, pianist Bertha O'Reilly, and White.

Family

During this tour, White met her future husband, Bruce M. White, a mine owner and developer.

Writing

White's articles include: College Jazz and What it Symbolizes (Musical Observer) Music Versus Materialism (Musical Quarterly 8; 1922)

White's poems include: Concert (Sonnet) Fifth Symphony (Sonnet) In Memoriam

White encountered several well-known people during her life, including Johannes Brahms while studying in Vienna during the 1890s. She wrote in her diary about seeing Charles Lindbergh in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, on July 25, 1927, only two months after his historic solo flight across the Atlantic. Artist Zaidee Lincoln Morrison, also a Skowhegan native, was one of White's closest friends. White corresponded with Australian composer Percy Grainger about American folk life and folk music.

In 1938, White wrote her autobiography, about which she said, "Let the record be, therefore, not one of joys and sorrows, though they have been intense enough in my life, but let this narrative deal with the surroundings and scenery of the journey rather than with the mishaps and worries of the traveler. Let it be a story of privileges and of opportunities –– not always made the most of, perhaps, but for which I am ever more grateful and more generously rewarded in a wealth of good memories." Prelude in G (1923)

Vocal "A Sigh" "After Long Years" "As Rivers Seek the Sea" "For Remembrance" (with violin obbligato; 1910) "In the Silence" Madrigal (soprano, contralto, 30 female voices, piano and violin; 1927) "My Love is Come" "Out of the Night" "Sargent Industrial School Song" (text by anonymous) "Song of the Dawn" (text by Christina Georgina Rossetti) "Song of the Sea" "Song to Maine" "Spring Song" (with violin obbligato; text by E. F. White; 1916) "Twilight"

See also A Maine Prodigy: The Life & Adventures of Elise Fellows White'' by Dr. Houghton M. White (published by the Maine Historical Society, 2011) Slideshow on Elise Fellows White Download Elise Fellow White's Public Domain Compositions