Date of Graduation
2007
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
MM
Committee Chair
Christopher Wilkinson
Abstract
Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge was one of the most important patrons of music in the United States and Europe in the 20th century. Raised as a member of Chicago’s upper middle class, Coolidge was prepared for a life as a wife and mother. An amateur pianist, she regularly performed at many of Chicago’s musicales. Coolidge had ambitions of pursuing a concert career which was discouraged by her family and social values. After the deaths of her father, mother, and husband she devoted her work to music. She brought chamber music into the public domain, as it once was reserved for private performances. Her philanthropy was compensation for her own ambitions to pursue a career as a concert pianist and became her stage for public performance. She first built a colony, known as South Mountain, and Auditorium in Pittsfield, Massachusetts and set up a Festival designed specifically for the performance of chamber music. She turned to the Library of Congress to broaden her philanthropic work and established a Foundation and provided financial assistance for the building of an Auditorium. Concurrent with her work in Pittsfield and at the Library of Congress she sponsored Festivals and concerts throughout Europe and the United States. Coolidge’s philanthropy brought more recognition to chamber music and also commission composers such as Aaron Copland, Igor Stravinsky, and Anton Webern.
Recommended Citation
Tome, Vanessa P., "Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge: A life of philanthropy in the twentieth century." (2007). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD). 11012.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/11012