Weisse, Sophie, 1852-1945 (Scottish music teacher)
Dates
- Existence: 1852 - 1945
Biography
Sophie Weisse was born in Edinburgh in 1852 to a German father and Lithuanian mother. Little is known of her early life and education. In 1892, she founded the all-girls school of Northlands in Surrey, which she ran for twenty-five years. Although Northlands was a school of general education, music was given a particularly prominent place in the curriculum, and musical celebrities were often invited to visit and perform. Weisse employed the young Donald Tovey as a pianist at the school’s concerts, which provided a launch for his career as a musician and composer. Weisse had discovered Tovey’s talent at the age of four and had managed all aspects of his education. She further supported his career by funding the publication of his works between 1903 and 1913. Weisse and Tovey maintained a lifelong relationship. When Tovey was appointed to Edinburgh University’s Reid Chair of Music in 1914, Weisse followed him to Edinburgh. As Reid Professor, Tovey bestowed on Weisse an honorary degree of Doctor of Music in 1936. Weisse died in Guildford in 1945.
Weisse was a major benefactor of the University of Edinburgh. On Tovey’s death in 1941, she gifted 18 Buccleuch Place to the University as 'The Tovey Memorial Rooms', with the intention that it be used for student study. She also gifted the University portraits of Tovey and herself by Philip de Laszlo and endowed the Tovey Memorial Prize as an annual award for the most promising undergraduate composer or performer in the Faculty of Music. Her collection of around 600 books and scores relating to Beethoven was purchased by the University in 1948.
Found in 95 Collections and/or Records:
Letter to Sophie Weisse from Sir Donald Francis Tovey, 21 October 1894
Letter, 21 October 1894, Oxford, Donald Tovey to Sophie Weisse. News of a tutorial with Farmer and a request that Tovey continue lessons with Parry. Photocopy of Holograph signed.
Letter to Sophie Weisse from Sir Donald Francis Tovey, 14 October 1894
Letter, 14 October 1894, Oxford, Donald Tovey to Sophie Weisse. Description of Tovey settling in to his Balliol room and requesting his tennis racket be sent. Holograph signed.
Letter to Sophie Weisse from Sir Donald Francis Tovey, 21 October 1894
Letter, 21 October 1894, Oxford, Donald Tovey to Sophie Weisse. Describing a music lesson with Mr. Farmer and a discussion of his loyalty to Dr. Parry. Holograph signed.
Letter to Sophie Weisse from Sir Donald Francis Tovey, 01 December 1894
Letter, 1 December 1894, Oxford, Donald Tovey to Sophie Weisse. Discussion of Tovey's progress in classical scholarship, and his anxiety over balancing music scholarship and classical scholarship. Holograph signed.
Letter to Sophie Weisse from Sir Donald Francis Tovey, c1895
Letter, [1895], Oxford, Donald Tovey to Sophie Weisse. Criticism of a concert Tovey attended, description of a concert Tovey gave and description of Tovey's Oxford contemporaries. Holograph signed.
Letter to Sophie Weisse from Sir Donald Francis Tovey, c1895
Letter, [n.d], Oxford, Donald Tovey to Sophie Weisse. Expressing Tovey's anxiety over his tiredness and inability to study. Holograph signed.
Letter to Sophie Weisse from Sir Donald Francis Tovey, c1895
Letter, [January 1895], Oxford, Donald Tovey to Sophie Weisse. Thanking Miss Weisse for sending scores. Holograph unfinished.
Letter to Sophie Weisse from Sir Donald Francis Tovey, 09 May 1895
Letter, 9 May 1895, Oxford, Donald Tovey to Sophie Weisse. Description of Tovey's busy schedule and University music exams. Holograph signed, with envelope.
Letter to Sophie Weisse from Sir Donald Francis Tovey, 27 April 1895
Letter, 27 April 1895, Oxford, Donald Tovey to Sophie Weisse. Covering note for letter from Hipkins to Tovey. Holograph signed, with letter 26 April 1895, from Alfred Hipkins to Donald Tovey, consoling Tovey for not receiving an Oxford music scholarship, with envelope.
Letter to Sophie Weisse from Sir Donald Francis Tovey, 15 March 1895
Letter, 15 March 1895, Oxford, Donald Tovey to Sophie Weisse. Discussion of technique and spontaneity in music and criticism of a music committee. Holograph signed, in pencil, with stamped envelope.
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