Leonora Speyer

American violinist, writer (1872–1956)

Louis Howland

(m. 1894⁠–⁠1902)

Edgar Speyer

(m. 1902; died 1932)

Children4

Leonora Speyer, Lady Speyer (née von Stosch; 7 November 1872 – 10 February 1956), was an American poet and violinist.

Life

She was born in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Count Ferdinand von Stosch of Manze in Silesia, who fought for the Union in the American Civil War, and Julia Schayer, who was a writer.

She studied music in Brussels, Paris, and Leipzig, and played the violin professionally under the batons of Arthur Nikisch and Anton Seidl, among others. She first married Louis Meredith Howland in 1894,^[3] but they divorced in Paris in 1902.^[4] She then married banker Edgar Speyer (later Sir Edgar), of London, where the couple lived until 1915.^[5]

Sir Edgar had German ancestry and following anti-German attacks on him that year,^[5] they moved to the United States and took up residence in New York, where Speyer began writing poetry. She won the 1927 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for her book of poetry Fiddler's Farewell.^[6]

She had four daughters: Enid Howland with her first husband and Pamela, Leonora, and Vivien Claire Speyer with her second husband.^[4]^[5]

Awards

Golden Rose Award
Pulitzer Prize

Legacy

American composer Gertrude Martin Rohrer (1875-1968) used Speyer’s text for her vocal quartet Wood-nymph.^[7]

Selected works

"April on the Battlefields", The Second Book of Modern Verse (1919). about.com
"A Note from the Pipes", The Second Book of Modern Verse (1919). about.com
"Suddenly", Anthology of Magazine Verse for 1920, Bartleby.com
"Song", Anthology of Magazine Verse for 1920, Bartleby.com
Oberammergau, etched, printed and bound by Bernhardt Wall, 1922, 50 copies plus 3 Etcher's Copies
"Measure Me Sky", "The Pet" The Bookman Anthology at the Wayback Machine (archived October 22, 2009)
American Poets, An Anthology Of Contemporary Verse (1923)
Fiddler's Farewell (1926) (full text at Wikisource)
Slow Wall; poems, new and selected (1939)
Slow wall; poems, together with Nor without music (1944)

Translation

Hans Trausil (1919). Holy Night; A Yule-Tide Masque. Sunwise Turn.

Notes

^ Ryan, Laura T. (2007). "Writers born on this day". syracuse.com. Retrieved September 25, 2008.
^ "Leonora Speyer, Pulitzer Poet". The New York Times. February 11, 1956. p. 16. Retrieved November 29, 2008.
^ "Art Inventories Catalog". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved November 30, 2008.
^ ^a ^b "Miss Enid Howland to Wed J.R. Hewitt". The New York Times. August 13, 1919. p. 11. Retrieved November 29, 2008.
^ ^a ^b ^c Barker, Theo (2004). "Speyer, Sir Edgar, baronet (1862–1932)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/36215. Retrieved September 5, 2008. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^ "Poetry X » Poetry Archives » Leonora Speyer » "Biography"". Archived from the original on February 9, 2012. Retrieved February 4, 2008.
^ Office, Library of Congress Copyright (1926). Catalog of Copyright Entries. Fourth Series. Copyright Office, Library of Congress.