Edith Bideau (November 6, 1888 — 1958), later Edith Bideau Normelli, was an American soprano and music educator from Kansas.

Early life

Edith Mae Bideau was from Chanute, Kansas, the daughter of Georges K. Bideau and Jennie Hale Bideau. Her father was a councilman in Chanute. She earned bachelor's degrees from Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas in 1911, where she wrote the school song, "Hail! Old Baker"; and from

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public insti ...

in 1912. She pursued further music studies in Italy, and with Richard Hageman in New York.

Career

Bideau taught voice and was director of the vocal department at the

State Normal School A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turni ...

Pittsburg, Kansas Pittsburg is a city in Crawford County, Kansas, United States, located in southeast Kansas near the Missouri state border. It is the most populous city in Crawford County and southeast Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the ci ...

from 1916 to 1919. At the beginning of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, she was in Italy, and there were concerns for her safety. When she returned to the United States, she gave concerts for troops stationed in Kansas. She was director of music and instructor in church music at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in

Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Chicago Loop, Downtown Chicago, ...

in 1935. She taught voice at Iola, Kansas in 1947. Bideau was a concert and oratorio soloist in Chicago and Pittsburgh. 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. Another witness, however, reported that "she was altogether too nervous to inspire critical confidence." She toured the midwest as a performer in 1921. On Christmas Day in 1921, she sang solos at six different events in New York City. She wrote "Tone Coloring in Singing" an essay published in ''Étude'' magazine in 1955.

Personal life

Edith Bideau married Swedish diplomat Carl Gustav Normelli in 1920. 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.Edwin Bideau obituary
''Topeka Capital-Journal'' (September 7–9, 2013).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bideau, Edith 1888 births 1958 deaths American women in World War I American sopranos American women music educators People from Pittsburg, Kansas 20th-century American people