White, Maude Valerie
White, Maude Valerie
White, Maude Valerie, English composer; b. Dieppe, France (of English parents), June 23, 1855; d. London, Nov. 2,1937. She studied with W. S. Rockstro in Torquay and Oliver May in London, then was a pupil of G. A. Macfarren at the Royal Academy of Music in London (1876-79), where she became the first woman to win the Mendelssohn Scholarship (1879). She continued her studies with R. Fuchs in Vienna (1883). She traveled extensively through Europe and South America, lived in London, and then for some years in Florence. She was best known as a composer of songs. She publ. her memoirs, Friends and Memories (London, 1914), and My Indian Summer (London, 1932).
Works
The Enchanted Heart, ballet (1912-13); incidental music; Agnus Dei for Chorus and Orch. (1879); about 200 songs to Eng., Ger., Fr., and It. texts; vocal duets; Naissance d’amour for Cello and Piano (1893); many piano pieces.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire