Date of Award
Fall 11-28-2022
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelors in Arts (B.A.)
Organizational Unit
College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, Lamont School of Music, Musicology and Ethnomusicology
First Advisor
Petra Meyer-Frazier
Second Advisor
Jack Sheinbaum
Third Advisor
Zoe Weiss
Keywords
Camilla Urso, Nineteenth-century musicians, Female violinists, American music
Abstract
Camilla Urso (1840-1902) was the first nationally famous female violinist in the United States. Between 1852-1902, Urso gave over a thousand concerts in the United States, becoming a musical celebrity on par with the Swedish soprano Jenny Lind. Through her public visibility, Urso transformed nineteenth-century American violin playing from a male-dominated field into an acceptable and even fashionable field for women. Despite her nineteenth-century fame, today Urso is mostly forgotten. Over the course of six chronological chapters, this thesis presents a contextual biography of Urso’s American concert career. Utilizing archival sources, digitized newspapers, and digital mapping methodologies, I argue Urso’s life and celebrity persona shifts expected geographical, cultural, and gendered narratives of nineteenth-century American musical culture.
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
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Publication Statement
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Recommended Citation
Nagel-Frazel, Maeve, "Becoming Camilla Urso: A Female Celebrity Violinist and the Transformation of American Musical Culture" (2022). Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals. 12.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/undergraduate_theses/12