Biographical Notes
Biographical Note: Cyrilla Barr
Dr. Cyrilla P. Barr was a musicologist, author, and educator. Born on February 9, 1929, in Carroll, Iowa, she earned a bachelor’s degree in music education from Viterbo College (now Viterbo University) in La Crosse, Wisconsin, in 1956. She earned a master’s degree in music in 1957 from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Barr was an associate professor at Viterbo College from 1957 to 1961 and 1965 to 1974. In 1965, she received her doctorate in musicology from the Catholic University of America. She returned to CUA in 1976 as a full professor and taught until 1999. Later in her life, Barr also taught at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts. She was a noted scholar in music of the Renaissance as well as women patrons in the arts. Her book Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge: American Patron of Music was published in 1998 with the support of the Coolidge family and the Library of Congress Music Division. Barr was the recipient of numerous fellowships, scholarships, and awards throughout her career and was named professor emerita upon her retirement in 1999. She died on January 1, 2021, in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Biographical Note: Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1864 October 30 | Born Elizabeth Penn Sprague in Chicago, Illinois, to Albert Arnold (1835–1915) and Nancy Ann Atwood Sprague (1837-1916) |
| circa 1872 | Began piano lessons with Regina Cohn Watson |
| 1891 | Married Frederic Shurtleff Coolidge (died 1915) |
| 1894 January 23 | Son Albert Sprague Coolidge born (died 1977) |
| 1904 | Settled in Pittsfield, Massachusetts |
| 1915 | Used half of her inheritance to establish a pension fund for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in her father's name |
| circa 1915 | Began studying composition with Rubin Goldmark, Percy Goetschius, Arthur Whiting, Antonio Brescia, and Daniel Gregory Mason Composed string quartet |
| 1916 May | Offered a contract to Hugo Kortschak's quartet to move to the East Coast and form the Berkshire Quartet |
| 1917 | Built Albert Arnold Sprague Memorial Hall at Yale University for the music department |
| 1918 | Inaugurated the South Mountain (later Berkshire) Chamber Music Festival outside of Pittsfield |
| 1918-1924 | Sponsored seven annual Berkshire Chamber Music Festivals |
| 1922 | Met Carl Engel, chief of the Library of Congress Music Division Gave Berkshire competition music manuscripts to Library of Congress and suggested the institution host a series of concerts to feature them |
| 1923-circa 1939 | Funded extensive music tours in Europe |
| 1924 February | Berkshire Quartet performances at the Freer Gallery of Art included six works dedicated to and/or commissioned by Coolidge |
| 1924 October 23 | Sent a letter to Librarian of Congress Herbert Putnam expressing her intent to build an auditorium and establish an endowment in support of chamber music |
| 1925 March 3 | President Coolidge signed into law the Coolidge Foundation at the Library of Congress to organize concerts in the auditorium and to commission new chamber works |
| 1925 October 28-30 | First Library of Congress festival with commissioned works by Charles Martin Loeffler, Frederick Stock, and Ildebrando Pizzetti |
| 1926-1938 | Awarded several honorary degrees |
| 1931 | Inducted as a Chevalier of France's Legion of Honor |
| 1933 | Moved to Washington, D.C. |
| 1934-1935 | Sponsored nineteen musical radio broadcasts |
| 1935 | Awarded Order of the Crown of Belgium |
| 1936 | Began chamber music radio series on NBC |
| 1944 | Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring, a Coolidge commission, premiered at Library of Congress, choreographed by Martha Graham |
| 1947 | Composed Sonata for Oboe and Piano |
| 1953 November 4 | Died in Cambridge, Massachusetts |