Regina Watson

Regina Cohn Watson (April 23, 1845 – July 31, 1913) was a composer, pianist, and teacher^[1] who was born in Germany. Her family later moved to America, first to Detroit, then to Chicago, where Regina lived for the rest of her life. In 1873, she married Lewis H. Watson, a Civil War veteran who had fought with an infantry unit from Maine.^[2]

Regina Watson studied music with Franz Liszt and Karl Tausig in Europe, and with Bernhard Ziehn,^[3] probably in Chicago. After she moved to America, she gave lecture recitals on topics such as medieval French music,^[4] Italian music, and folk songs.^[5] She performed as a piano soloist in recitals and with orchestras.^[6] She belonged to the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP)^[7] and helped found the Musical Art Society of Chicago.^[8]

Watson is best remembered today as a piano teacher.^[9] Her students included Teresa Carreno,^[10] Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge,^[11] Phyllis Fergus Hoyt,^[12] Peter Lutkin, Veronica Murphy,^[13] and Theodora Sturkow-Ryder.^[14]

Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge organized an effort in 1916 to build^[15] and name a studio at the MacDowell Colony in Watson's memory.^[16] Composer Amy Beach used the Regina Watson Studio during her residency at the Colony.^[17] It was renovated in 1993 and became the MacDowell Colony's first barrier-free studio that was accessible to everyone.^[18]

Watson's music was published by the Clayton F. Summy Company.^[19] Her compositions include:

Piano

• Arabian Night^[20]
• Bourree la Gigue^[21]
• Cradle Song
• Dansons la Gigue
• Mazourka Etude
• Mignon, a Portrait
• Scherzino

Vocal

• "Aus Drang und Lieb fuer Dich"
• "Countess Laura" (text by George Henry Boker)
• "Cupid's Blunder"
• "Explanation"
• "Lune Blanche"

References

1. Stern, Susan, 1953– (1978). Women composers : a handbook. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-1138-3. OCLC 3844725.
2. Watson, Regina (30 October 2020). "ancestry.com". Retrieved 30 October 2020.
3. O'Brien, Howard Vincent (1912). The Trimmed Lamp: A Periodical of Life and Art. H.V. O'Brien.
4. The Musician. Hatch Music Company. 1897.
5. The Étude and Musical World. T. Presser. 1896.
6. Association, Music Teachers National (1921). Papers and Proceedings of the Music Teachers' National Association. The Association.
7. McNamara, Daniel Ignatius (1948). The ASCAP Biographical Dictionary of Composers, Authors and Publishers. T. Y. Crowell Company.
8. Watson, Regina (2 August 1913). "Inter Ocean Newspaper". Chicago Illinois. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
9. Block, Adrienne Fried (2000). Amy Beach, Passionate Victorian: The Life and Work of an American Composer, 1867–1944. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-513784-2.
10. Kijas, Anna (September 2019). "The Life of Teresa Carreno (1853-1917), A Venezuelan Prodigy and Acclaimed Artist". Music Library Association Notes Philadelphia. 76 (1).
11. Coolidge, Elizabeth Sprague. "Chamber Music: The Life and Legacy of Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge/The Making of a Patron". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-10-31.
12. The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography: Being the History of United States as Illustrated in the Lives of the Founders, Builders, and Defenders of the Republic, and of the Men and Women who are Doing the Work and Moulding the Thought of the Present Time. J. T. White. 1970.
13. The Musical Monitor. Mrs. David Allen Campbell, Publisher. 1918.
14. The Musical Blue Book of America, ...: Recording in Concise Form the Activities of Leading Musicians and Those Actively and Prominently Identified with Music in Its Various Departments ... Musical Blue Book Corporation. 1922.
15. Harback, Barbara; Touliatos-Miles, Diane (2020-06-01). Women in the Arts: Eccentric Essays in Music, Visual Arts and Literature. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5275-5392-7.
16. Mansfield, Howard (2006). Where the Mountain Stands Alone: Stories of Place in the Monadnock Region. University Press of New England. ISBN 978-1-58465-556-5.
17. Jenkins, Walter S., 1909-1990. (1994). The remarkable Mrs. Beach, American composer : a biographical account based on her diaries, letters, newspaper clippings, and personal reminiscences. Baron, John H. Warren, Mich.: Harmonie Park Press. ISBN 0-89990-069-0. OCLC 30594003.
18. "Watson - Studios". MacDowell. Retrieved 2020-10-31.
19. Fallows, Samuel; Buckley, Edmund; Mathews, Shailer (1910). The World To-day. Current Encyclopedia Company.
20. The Etude. T. Presser. 1901.
21. Cohen, Aaron I. (1987). International encyclopedia of women composers (Second edition, revised and enlarged ed.). New York. ISBN 0-9617485-2-4. OCLC 16714846.