Katherine Frazier

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Katherine Frazier
BornJanuary 28, 1882
Slingerlands, New York
Died1944
Cummington, Massachusetts
Other namesKatharine Frazier
Occupation(s)Musician, educator, arts administrator
RelativesJohn I. Slingerland (great-uncle)

Katherine Maria Frazier (January 28, 1882 – 1944), also seen as Katharine Frazier, was an American musician and arts administrator. In 1923 she opened a theatre in Cummington, Massachusetts, which in 1927 became part of Frazier's Cummington School of the Arts, offering summer residencies, camps, and a performance venue for visual artists, musicians, and writers.

Early life and education[edit]

Frazier was born in Slingerlands, New York, and raised in Amsterdam, New York, the daughter of Leonard A. Frazier and Catharine A. Slingerland Frazier. Her father was a physician.[1] Her mother's uncle was abolitionist Congressman John I. Slingerland. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1902.[2][3] She studied music in Paris in 1908 and 1909.[4]

Career[edit]

Music[edit]

Frazier was a concert harpist,[5][6][7] a member of the Carlos Salzedo Harp Ensemble,[8][9] and director of the Trio Eleu,[10] the Smith College Harp Ensemble[11] and the Phaneian Harp Ensemble.[12] She was also a pianist and organist.[1] She worked at Smith College,[13][14] as head of the harp and piano programs.[15] She was assistant to editor Carlos Salzedo at the Eolian Review,[16] and general secretary of the National Association of Harpists.[17]

Cummington School and Cummington Press[edit]

In 1923 Frazier opened The Music Box, also known as Playhouse-in-the-Hills, in Cummington, Massachusetts,[3] which became part of Frazier's progressive Cummington School of the Arts.[13][18][19] She intended to provide a pastoral setting and minimal distractions[20] for summer residencies,[21] classes,[22] camps, and a performance venue for visual artists, musicians, and writers including Diane Arbus,[23][24] Amy Clampitt,[25] Chaim Gross,[26] Willem de Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler, and Marianne Moore.[27]

Frazier and Harry Duncan were directors of the Cummington Press,[28] a small but influential press[29] that published works by William Carlos Williams,[30] Robert Lowell,[31] Wallace Stevens, and other poets.[32][33] In the early 1940s, she sold her concert harp to fund new equipment for the press.[34]

Publications[edit]

  • "Aim IX" (1921)[35]
  • "The Esthetic and the Exact" (1922, with Vera Gushee)[16]

Personal life and legacy[edit]

Frazier died from cancer in 1944, at the age of 62, in Cummington.[34][36] There was a memorial chamber music concert at the Playhouse-in-the-Hills after her death.[37]

The records of the Cummington School of the Arts from Frazier's years are in special collections at University of Massachusetts Amherst.[27] There are also papers related to Frazier in the Cummington Press records at Emory University.[36] The Cummington Community of the Arts program closed in 1993,[38] and Cummington Press moved to Iowa in 1956 before it closed in 1997;[34] but the Community House still stands and offers art exhibits and other cultural events.[39] There is a Frazier Lane in Cummington.[40]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Dr. Frazier Retires". Altamont Enterprise. May 17, 1912. p. 16 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  2. ^ "Alumnae Notes". The Mount Holyoke. 25 (8): 561. April 1916.
  3. ^ a b "Phases of Work at Music Box Described; Katherine Frazier, Founder, Speaks Before Mount Holyoke College Club". Pittsfield Berkshire Evening Eagle. November 17, 1928. p. 6 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  4. ^ "Notes on Contributors: Katharine Frazier". Eolian Review. 1 (1): 25. December 1921.
  5. ^ "Harpist Entertains at Faculty Club". Connecticut College News. April 24, 1926. p. 1. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
  6. ^ "Fine Concert Promised". Greenfield Daily Recorder. 1917-12-05. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-06-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Unusual Musicale Greatly Enjoyed". The North Adams Transcript. 1929-03-12. p. 20. Retrieved 2023-06-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Salzédo Harp Ensemble; van Dresser, Soloist". Musical Courier. 75: 16. December 27, 1917.
  9. ^ "Member of Salzedo Harp Ensemble". Altamont Enterprise. January 4, 1918. p. 15. Retrieved June 19, 2023 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  10. ^ "Katherine Frazier Activities". The Crescendo. 13 (11): 7. May 1921.
  11. ^ "Smith College Harp Ensemble Heard in Recital of French Music". Musical America. 29: 35. February 15, 1919.
  12. ^ "Music and Dramatics". Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly. 4 (1): 35. April 1920.
  13. ^ a b Liebenow, Carolyn (1999-08-09). "Cummington's arts community forged from nature, creativity". Daily Hampshire Gazette. pp. 1, 4. Retrieved 2023-06-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "News from Northampton". The Smith Alumnae Quarterly. 5: 178. April 1914.
  15. ^ "Opening Recital at Cummington Playhouse". Pittsfield Berkshire Evening Eagle. June 21, 1930. p. 12 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  16. ^ a b Frazier, Katharine, and Vera Gushee. "The Esthetic and the Exact" Eolian Review 1(3)(July 1922): 10-15.
  17. ^ Frazier, Katharine. "A Note to the Members of the N. A. of H., Inc." Eolian Review 1(3)(July 1922): 21.
  18. ^ Foster, Helen H. (1974). Only One Cummington: A Book in Two Parts. Cummington Historical Commission.
  19. ^ "Progressive School in Cummington Hills Extends its Program". The Berkshire Eagle. 1931-06-13. p. 5. Retrieved 2023-06-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ "Plans for Art Center at Cummington Are Announced". The Berkshire Eagle. 1930-11-11. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-06-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ Korelitz, Jeanne Hanff (1990-08-24). "Cummington, A Place For Artists With Space for Children". Daily Hampshire Gazette. pp. 42, 43, 44, 45. Retrieved 2023-06-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "Summer School Director is Speaker; Miss Katherine Frazier of Cummington Addresses Pittsfield Art League". The Berkshire Eagle. 1932-04-15. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-06-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ Bosworth, Patricia (2005). Diane Arbus: A Biography. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-393-32661-1.
  24. ^ O'Heir, Jeff (1990-05-24). "A rural haven for artists". Transcript-Telegram. p. 13. Retrieved 2023-06-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ Spiegelman, Willard (2023-02-28). Nothing Stays Put: The Life and Poetry of Amy Clampitt. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-525-65827-6.
  26. ^ "Playhouse-in-the-Hills Offers Scholarships for Summer Study". The Berkshire Eagle. 1936-04-06. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-06-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. ^ a b "Cummington School of the Arts Records". University of Massachusetts, Special Collections & University Archives. Retrieved 2023-06-18.
  28. ^ Richmond, Mary L. (November 1967). "The Cummington Press". Books at Iowa. 7 (1): 9–31. doi:10.17077/0006-7474.1298. ISSN 2378-4830.
  29. ^ Foster, Ed (1983-12-21). "Cummington--cradle of many poets". Daily Hampshire Gazette. p. 29. Retrieved 2023-06-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  30. ^ Mariani, Paul L. (1994). Lost Puritan: A Life of Robert Lowell. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-393-31374-1.
  31. ^ Hamilton, Ian (2011-09-15). Robert Lowell: A Biography. Faber & Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-28262-3.
  32. ^ Klarén, Ron (1990). "Wallace Stevens and the Cummington Press: A Correspondence, 1941-1951". The Wallace Stevens Journal. 14 (1): 62–70. ISSN 0148-7132. JSTOR 44884172.
  33. ^ Filreis, Alan (2014-07-14). Wallace Stevens and the Actual World. Princeton University Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-1-4008-6170-5.
  34. ^ a b c Reiken, Rick (1997-09-26). "The Hilltown Muse; Why Cummington Lures the Literary". Daily Hampshire Gazette. pp. 8, 9, 10, 11, 22. Retrieved 2023-06-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  35. ^ Frazier, Katharine (December 1921). "Aim IX". Eolian Review. 1 (1): 20–21.
  36. ^ a b "Collection: Cummington Press records and Harry Duncan papers". Emory Libraries ArchivesSpace. Retrieved 2023-06-19.
  37. ^ "Chamber Music Recital to Have Katherine Frazier". The Berkshire County Eagle. 1944-08-02. p. 6. Retrieved 2023-06-19 – via Newspapers.com.
  38. ^ "Cummington arts retreat faces extinction due to financial fate". The Berkshire Eagle. 1994-02-14. p. 10. Retrieved 2023-06-20 – via Newspapers.com.
  39. ^ Johnson, Joanna (2011-06-23). "Coming to Cummington". The Berkshire Eagle. Retrieved 2023-06-18.
  40. ^ Reiken, Rick (1997-08-16). "Cummington Arts Community Thrives". Daily Hampshire Gazette. p. 13. Retrieved 2023-06-19 – via Newspapers.com.

External links[edit]

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