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Guide to the Camilla Urso Collection
h2009.4  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Descriptive Summary
  • Information for Researchers
  • Biography of Camilla Urso
  • Scope and Contents of the Collection
  • Arrangement
  • Index Terms

  • Descriptive Summary

    Title: Camilla Urso Collection
    Creator: Urso, Camilla
    Dates: 1892-1969
    Quantity: .25 feet (1 box)
    Repository: Libraries of the Claremont Colleges. Special Collections, Honnold/Mudd Library.
    800 N. Dartmouth Ave.
    Claremont University Consortium
    Libraries of the Claremont Colleges
    Claremont, California 91711
    Collection Number: h2009.4
    Languages: Languages represented in the collection: English
    Physical location: Special Collections. Honnold/Mudd Library.

    Information for Researchers

    Restrictions on Access

    This collection is open for research.

    Publication Rights

    Property rights resides with Special Collections, Honnold/Mudd Library. For permission to reproduce or to publish, please contact Special Collections staff.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], Camilla Urso Collection. Special Collections, Honnold/Mudd Library, Claremont University Consortium.

    Acquisition Information

    Unknown

    Processing Information

    Arranged and processed by Jamie Weber in 2009.

    Accruals

    No additions to the collection are anticipated.

    Biography of Camilla Urso

    Camilla Urso (born 1842, Nantes, France died 1902, New York, N.Y., U.S.A.) was the daughter of an Italian flutist and a Portuguese singer. Urso began taking violin lessons when she was six years old, though orchestral instruments were only played by boys and men at the time. After a successful recital a year later, the Urso family moved to Paris where Camilla Urso was the first girl to be admitted to the Paris Conservatoire. By the age of ten, she had already performed in Switzerland, Germany, and France, and graduated with first prize in the final examinations. She made her debut in New York City in September 1852 and gave concerts in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. In 1853 she gave a series of concerts throughout New England with the Germania Musical Society. She did not appear again publicly until 1863, when she performed with the Philharmonic Society in Boston, and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. After 1864, Urso toured with her own concert company, returning to Paris in 1865, and performing in Australia in 1879 and 1894, Brazil and Argentina in 1880, and South Africa in 1895. After settling in New York City in 1895 she continued to tour regularly in the United States and abroad while teaching violin privately and at the National Conservatory. She was asknowledged one of the preeminent violinists of the day and became one of America's foremost performers and music educators, as well as a spokesperson for the cause of women as orchestral players, working with the Women's String Orchestra from 1895 until her death. She died of appendicitis in New York City on january 20, 1902.

    Scope and Contents of the Collection

    This collection contains clippings and pamphlets about Urso's life and career, a program from one of her concerts, a photograph, and an autograph.

    Arrangement

    Series 1 Camilla Urso

    Index Terms

    The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection
    Musicians
    Urso, Camilla, 1842-1902.
    Violinists