{{short description|American music manager}}
{{Infobox person | name = Alma Voedisch | image = AlmaVoedisch1917.tif | alt = A white woman wearing a slouchy brimmed hat, a dark suit, and a light-colored blouse | caption = Alma Voedisch, from a 1917 publication | other_names = | birth_name = | birth_date = June 23, 1878 | birth_place = Menomonie, Wisconsin | death_date = January 9, 1949 | death_place = Chicago | occupation = Musicians' manager, tour agent | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = | spouse(s) = | relatives = }}
'''Alma Voedisch''' (June 23, 1878 – January 9, 1949) was an American musicians' manager and tour agent.
== Early life == Voedisch was born in Menomonie, Wisconsin,<ref>{{Cite news |date=1929-07-04 |title=Wins Success in Concert Bookings |pages=4 |work=The Dunn County News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105640368/wins-success-in-concert-bookings/ |access-date=2022-07-15 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=1938-07-15 |title=Rotary Entertained by Voedisch Sisters |pages=2 |work=Leader-Telegram |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105641509/rotary-entertained-by-voedisch-sisters/ |access-date=2022-07-15 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> the daughter of Christian Voedisch and Eula (Julia) V. Koethke. Her parents were both born in Germany. She studied piano as a young woman.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=1912-05-09 |title=Alma Voedisch to Sail for Europe |pages=1 |work=The Dunn County News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105641134/alma-voedisch-to-sail-for-europe/ |access-date=2022-07-15 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
== Career == Voedisch was business manager of the ''Western Musical Herald'' before 1912.<ref name=":1" /> She managed and booked musical acts in the midwest, including Julia Claussen,<ref>{{Cite journal |last= |first= |date=September 25, 1915 |title=Alma Voedisch Visits Hubbard's Lodge |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mkc0AQAAMAAJ&q=Alma+Voedisch&pg=RA20-PA33 |journal=Musical America |volume=22 |pages=33 |via=}}</ref> Yvonne de Tréville, Saba Doak, Theodore Spiering, George Hamlin, Theodora Sturkow-Ryder,<ref>{{Cite journal |date=July 30, 1913 |title=Chicago |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pek6AQAAMAAJ&q=Alma+Voedisch&pg=RA5-PA16 |journal=Musical Courier |volume=67 |pages=16}}</ref> and Leopold Godowsky.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1922-12-11 |title=Alma Voedisch is Firm Believer in Importance of Music in Development of Town Community Life |pages=11 |work=Press-Telegram |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105640242/alma-voedisch-is-firm-believer-in/ |access-date=2022-07-15 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She also booked tours for the Minnesota Orchestra,<ref>{{Cite news |date=1910-10-06 |title=Business Staff Enlarged |pages=11 |work=Star Tribune |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105640128/business-staff-enlarged/ |access-date=2022-07-15 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1910-08-25 |title=Great Orchestra to be Heard Here |pages=1 |work=The Dunn County News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105641802/great-orchestra-to-be-heard-here/ |access-date=2022-07-15 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> the Ukrainian National Chorus,<ref>{{Cite news |last= |first= |date=1922-08-08 |title=Ukrainian Chorus May be Heard Here |pages=3 |work=Joplin Globe |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5770175/joplin-globe/ |access-date=2020-11-25 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Sibyl Sammis-MacDermid,<ref>{{Cite journal |date=July 16, 1913 |title=MacDermid Engagements |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Musical_Courier_and_Review_of_Recorded_M/pek6AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Sammis&pg=RA2-PA27&printsec=frontcover |journal=Musical Courier |pages=27}}</ref> and the Boston Grand Opera.<ref>{{Cite journal |last= |first= |date=October 16, 1915 |title=Alma Voedisch Presents Boston Opera Artists |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mkc0AQAAMAAJ&q=Alma+Voedisch&pg=RA20-PA33 |journal=Musical America |volume=22 |pages=21 |via=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |date=October 7, 1915 |title=Alma Voedisch to Manage Concert Bureau of Max Rabinoff's New Opera Company |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_music-magazine-and-musical-courier_1915-10-07_71_14/page/32/mode/2up?q=Alma+Voedisch |journal=Musical Courier |volume=71 |issue=14 |pages=32 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> She opened an office for theatrical management in New York in 1917.<ref>{{Cite journal |last= |first= |date=October 11, 1917 |title=Alma Voedisch Opens Office on Forty-Second Street, New York |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wew6AQAAMAAJ&q=Alma+Voedisch&pg=RA14-PA41 |journal=Musical Courier |volume=75 |pages=41 |via=}}</ref> She encouraged and supported the development of local music associations,<ref>{{Cite news |date=1916-02-06 |title=Pushes Founding of Local Grand Opera Association |pages=42 |work=The Indianapolis Star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105640712/pushes-founding-of-local-grand-opera/ |access-date=2022-07-15 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1930-05-29 |title=Miss Alma Voedisch Pays Visit to City |pages=22 |work=Altoona Mirror |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105641088/miss-alma-voedisch-pays-visit-to-city/ |access-date=2022-07-15 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> and credited clubwomen for their flourishing: "Were it not for the women's clubs, which back attractions at considerable financial risk, appearances of world famous artists would be confined to only a few of the larger cities", she said in 1922.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1922-10-13 |title=Women are Art Aides |pages=1 |work=The Bee |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105640850/women-are-art-aides/ |access-date=2022-07-15 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
Voedisch led her first group tour of Europe in 1926, touring factories and palaces, and attending concerts, pageants, and operas.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1926-10-21 |title=Tells of Sights Seen in Europe |pages=8 |work=The Dunn County News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105640438/tells-of-sights-seen-in-europe/ |access-date=2022-07-15 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She continued traveling in Europe annually into the late 1930s.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=1935-08-15 |title=Eastern Germany Grips Traveler |pages=7 |work=The Dunn County News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105640624/eastern-germany-grips-traveler/ |access-date=2022-07-15 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1938-09-21 |title=World Traveler Writes of Trans-Atlantic Trip |pages=1 |work=The Dunn County News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105641391/world-traveler-writes-of-trans-atlantic/ |access-date=2022-07-15 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She wrote about seeing Hitler and Mussolini in Nurnberg in 1937.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1937-09-23 |title=Sees Hitler |pages=11 |work=The Dunn County News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105648495/sees-hitler/ |access-date=2022-07-15 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> In her later years she took charge of her family business, Voedisch Bros. Wholesale Sporting Goods, after her brothers died.<ref name=":2" />
== Personal life == Voedisch died in Chicago in 1949, aged 70 years.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last= |first= |date=1949-01-12 |title=Alma Voedisch |pages=11 |work=The Dunn County News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63967044/alma-voedisch/ |access-date=2020-11-25 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Voedisch, Alma}} Category:1878 births Category:1949 deaths Category:American music people Category:Theatrical management Category:People from Menomonie, Wisconsin Category:American people of German descent