Cecile Stevens

LRAM
A white woman, head tilted back, with curly hair, wearing a dark scarf around her neck
Cecile Stevens, from a 1922 publication
Born
Cecile Ann Stevens

1896
Sydney
Died9 October 1970
Other namesCecile Molloy (married name)
Alma materRoyal Academy of Music
OccupationViolinist

Cecile Ann Stevens Molloy LRAM (1896 – 9 October 1970) was an Australian violinist.

Early life

Stevens was from Sydney, daughter of composer and organist John Michael Stevens and Kathleen Mary Noonan Stevens.[1][2][3] As a child musician,[4] she was conductor of the Parramatta Convention Orchestra in Sydney. She won a scholarship to attend the Royal Academy of Music in London.[5]

Career

Stevens played a Nicola Amati violin, a gift from her father.[6][7] She played for Princess Mary and entertained wounded troops while performing in Great Britain during World War I, sometimes sharing the bill with Lena Ashwell.[8] She made a two-year tour of English vaudeville theatres.[5]

She toured in Canada and the United States after the war,[8][9] and toured in Australia and New Zealand in 1921.[10][11] "Miss Cecile Stevens is a talented young violinist with a distinguished grace and charm characteristic of her wonderful ability," noted a New Zealand newspaper.[12] She gave radio concerts and made recordings, including a film, in the United States in 1922.[13][14] She returned to London in the early 1920s,[15] and played in London theatres.[16] After she married in 1929, she moved to East Africa.[17][18][19]

Personal life

Stevens married Michael Aloysius Molloy in 1929, in London.[15] She lived with her husband, an Irish veterinary officer,[20] in Tanganyika Territory,[21][22] at least until he retired in 1950.[23]

Stevens died in Sydney on 9 October 1970 and was survived by her husband.[24]

References

  1. ↑ Old Chum (16 May 1926). ""Old Sydney"". Truth. p. 24. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via Trove.
  2. ↑ "Miss Cecile Stevens". Freeman's Journal. 7 March 1912. p. 29. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via Trove.
  3. ↑ "MR. J. M. STEVENS". Truth. 30 November 1913. p. 4. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via Trove.
  4. ↑ "Miss Cecile Stevens". Sydney Morning Herald. 1 November 1911. p. 17. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via Trove.
  5. 1 2 "De Luxe Star Plays for Radio" The Music Trade Review (July 15, 1922): 23.
  6. ↑ "Miss Cecile Stevens". Toowoomba Chronicle. 17 October 1921. p. 6. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via Trove.
  7. ↑ Dougherty, Henry E. (15 May 1922). "Historic Violin is Brought to Los Angeles; Famous Amati, 300 years old, Valued at $40,000". Los Angeles Evening Express. p. 19. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. 1 2 "Miss Stevens Chats with the 'World'". World. 4 November 1921. p. 2. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via Trove.
  9. ↑ "Australian Violinist California Soloist". San Francisco Call. 1 July 1920. p. 3. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  10. ↑ "Amusements: Miss Cecile Stevens". Advocate. 24 November 1921. p. 2. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via Trove.
  11. ↑ "Princess Theatre (advertisement)". Evening Star. 21 April 1921. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via Papers Past.
  12. ↑ "Carrie Lanceley; Bright Entertainment at Opera House". Gisborne Times. 19 May 1921. p. 7. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via Papers Past.
  13. ↑ "New York Favorites Entertaining from Station WJZ" (PDF). Radio Broadcasting News. 1 July 1922. p. 9. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  14. ↑ "Cecile Stevens, Australian Violinist and Art De Luxe Artist, Delights Radio Audience". The Music Trades. 64: 16. 22 July 1922.
  15. 1 2 "Weddings: Molloy-Stevens". Freeman's Journal. 10 October 1929. p. 34. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via Trove.
  16. ↑ "Player's Gossip". Herald. 5 September 1925. p. 22. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via Trove.
  17. ↑ "Melbourne Music Heard in East Africa". The Age. 4 February 1950. p. 6. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ "'She Just Adores Lions'". Sydney Morning Herald. 2 August 1946. p. 5. Retrieved 25 October 2021 – via Trove.
  19. ↑ "Even if You Do Meet a Lion or Two on the Road Life in Africa is Not So Wild". Argus. 25 July 1946. p. 8. Retrieved 25 October 2021 – via Trove.
  20. ↑ Great Britain Colonial Office (1937). Tanganyika Under United Kingdom Administration: Report by Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the General Assembly of the United Nations. H.M. Stationery Office. p. 15.
  21. ↑ "The Life of Melbourne: An Historic Violin". Argus. 27 July 1946. p. 11. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via Trove.
  22. ↑ "First Aid for Rhino". Weekly Times. 8 March 1950. p. 40. Retrieved 25 October 2021 – via Trove.
  23. ↑ "Visitors from Tanganyika". Forbes Advocate. 21 April 1950. p. 2. Retrieved 25 October 2021 – via Trove.
  24. ↑ "Deaths". The Sydney Morning Herald. 12 October 1970. p. 34.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.