Edith Bideau
Edith Bideau | |
|---|---|
 Edith Bideau, from a 1920 publication. | |
| Born | Edith Mae Bideau November 6, 1888 |
| Died | 1958 (aged 69–70) |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | E. B. Normelli, Edith Normelli |
| Occupation(s) | singer, music educator |
| Years active | 1912-1958 |
Edith Mae Bideau (November 6, 1888 — 1958), later Edith Bideau Normelli, was an American soprano and music educator from Kansas.
Early life
[edit]Edith Mae Bideau was from Chanute, Kansas, the daughter of Georges K. Bideau and Jennie Hale Bideau. Her father was a councilman in Chanute.[1] She earned bachelor's degrees from Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas in 1911, where she wrote the school song, "Hail! Old Baker";[2] and from Kansas State University in 1912.[3] She pursued further music studies in Italy, and with Richard Hageman in New York.[4][5][6]
Career
[edit]Bideau taught voice and was director of the vocal department at the State Normal School in Pittsburg, Kansas from 1916 to 1919.[7][8][9] At the beginning of World War I, she was in Italy, and there were concerns for her safety.[10][11] When she returned to the United States, she gave concerts for troops stationed in Kansas.[12] She was director of music and instructor in church music at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois in 1935.[13] She taught voice at Iola, Kansas in 1947.[14]
Bideau was a concert and oratorio soloist in Chicago and Pittsburgh.[15] She made her New York debut in 1920, at Aeolian Hall. "Her voice is a soprano of very pure quality, a voice that is at its best in lyric matters," noted one reviewer.[16] Another witness, however, reported that "she was altogether too nervous to inspire critical confidence."[17][18] She toured the midwest as a performer in 1921.[19] On Christmas Day in 1921, she sang solos at six different events in New York City.[20] She wrote "Tone Coloring in Singing" an essay published in Étude magazine in 1955.[21]
Personal life
[edit]Edith Bideau married Swedish diplomat Carl Gustav Normelli in 1920.[22] She was widowed when Normelli died in 1957, and she died in 1958, aged 69 years; her grave is in Kansas. Kansas legislator Edwin Bideau was her great-nephew, her brother Edwin Hale Bideau's grandson.[23]
References
[edit]- ^ "Junior Recital of Miss Edith Bideau" The Chanute Daily Tribune (May 18, 1910): 3. via Newspapers.com
- ^ Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical compositions, Part 3 (Library of Congress Copyright Office 1910): 782.
- ^ Kansas State College of Pittsburg, Annual Catalogue (June 1916): 18.
- ^ "Interesting Alpha Chis" The Lyre of Alpha Chi Omega (July 1920): 370.
- ^ Florence Arzelia Armstrong, History of Alpha Chi Omega Fraternity (1885-1921) (Banta Publishing 1922): 390-391.
- ^ "Hageman Enjoys Busiest Autumn" Musical Courier (November 6, 1919): 57.
- ^ C. E. W., "Edith Bideau" The Music News (September 21, 1917): 6.
- ^ Gene E. Vollen, "Music at Pittsburg State: Part 4: The Building of the Program" Music Notes 8(1)(Spring 1993): 1.
- ^ "Edith Bideau to Teach" The Daily Gazette (June 7, 1916): 3. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Kansas Soloist in Europe" The Evening Herald (August 22, 1914): 1. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Message from Miss Edith Bideau" The Neodesha Daily Sun (August 27, 1914): 3. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "To Entertain the Soldiers" Parsons Daily Eclipse (May 8, 1919): 6. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Seabury-Western Theological Seminary" The Living Church Annual (1935): 80.
- ^ "Dr. Normelli to Teach Voice in Iola" Iola Register (July 11, 1947): 6. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "About the Campus" The Techne (November 1923): xlviii.
- ^ "Edith Bideau in Admirable Debut" Musical America (March 6, 1920): 6.
- ^ "Metropolitan Musings" The Musical Monitor (March 1920): 239.
- ^ "Edith Bideau's New York Debut" Musical Courier (February 19, 1920): 16.
- ^ "Edith Bideau to Take Tour" University Daily Kansan (September 29, 1921): 1. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Mrs. Normelli in New York" The Chanute Daily Tribune (December 28, 1921): 4. via Newspapers.com
- ^ Edith Bideau Normelli, "Tone Coloring in Singing" Étude (August 1955): 22, 62.
- ^ "Edith Bideau Wed to Swedish Consul" Musical America (March 20, 1920): 21.
- ^ Edwin Bideau obituary, Topeka Capital-Journal (September 7–9, 2013).