Mildred Couper (December 10, 1887 in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
,
Argentina
Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
– August 9, 1974 in
Santa Barbara,
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
) was a prominent composer and
pianist
A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...
, and one of the first American musicians to experiment with
quarter-tone music. She was based in Santa Barbara,
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
.
Early life
Mildred Cooper was born in Buenos Aires, the daughter of Reginald Cooper and Harriet Hathaway Jacobs (1849-1931). Her father was born in England; her mother was born in Argentina to Wilson Jacobs III and Harriet Hathaway Moores, both American-born. She began her serious musical studies at the Williams Conservatory in Argentina, and pursued further training in
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
and
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, where she studied piano with
Moritz Moszkowski and composition with
Nadia Boulanger
Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher, conductor and composer. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organis ...
.
Career
Couper taught piano for nine years at the
David Mannes Music School in New York. She moved with her children to California in 1927 and established a studio in Santa Barbara, where she started her experiments with two pianos by tuning the first a quarter tone higher than the second. This increased the normal 88 pitch levels to 176, expanding so the gamut by a quarter step to emphasize the character of the harmony. Her first work in this medium was the ballet ''Xanadu'' (1930), which was performed in the production of
Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of Realism (theatre), realism, earlier associated with ...
's ''
Marco Millions'' in the
Lobero Theatre
The Lobero Theatre is an historic building in Santa Barbara, California, United States. The theater was originally built as an opera house, in a refurbished adobe school building, by Italian immigrant José Lobero in 1873. Located downtown at t ...
. Mildred Couper also wrote incidental music for plays at the Lobero and also a dance-opera, ''And on Earth Peace'', with libretto by Scottish-Argentine artist Malcolm Thurburn.
Personal life
Mildred Cooper married American expatriate artist Richard Hamilton Couper in 1910, and they had two children, Clive (1913-2004) and Rosalind (1915-2016), both born in Rome. At the outbreak of
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
the Coupers moved to
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. She was widowed soon after, when her husband died during the
1918 influenza pandemic
The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the Influenza A virus subtype H1N1, H1N1 subtype of the influenz ...
. She died in Santa Barbara, California, in 1974, aged 86 years. Her papers are archived in the Department of Special Collections at the
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...
.
Trivia
Mildred Cooper's first cousin Harry Norman Jacobs (1877-1951) was the grandfather of Argentine-born composer Carlos Micháns(-Jacobs) (1950-), who resides in the Netherlands since 1982.
A biography and some music samples are available at https://wingedsun.com/couper-m/
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Couper, Mildred
American women classical composers
American classical composers
American women classical pianists
Microtonal musicians
1974 deaths
1887 births
Musicians from Santa Barbara, California
Composers from Buenos Aires
Argentine emigrants to the United States
Mannes College The New School for Music faculty
20th-century American women pianists
Classical musicians from California
20th-century American classical pianists
American music educators
American women music educators
American women academics
Argentine classical composers
Argentine women classical composers
Argentine classical pianists
Argentine music educators
Argentine women music educators
Argentine academics
Argentine women academics