{{Short description|American soprano singer}} {{Infobox person | name = Edith Bideau | image = EdithBideau1920.jpg | alt = refer to caption | caption = Edith Bideau, from a 1920 publication. | birth_date = November 6, 1888 | birth_place = Chanute, Kansas, US | death_date = {{death year and age|1958|1888}} | death_place = | other_names = Edith Normelli | occupation = singer, music educator | years_active = 1912-1958 | known_for = | notable_works = }}
'''Edith Mae 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.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29222485/edith_bideau_1910/ "Junior Recital of Miss Edith Bideau"] ''The Chanute Daily Tribune'' (May 18, 1910): 3. via Newspapers.com</ref> She earned bachelor's degrees from Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas in 1911, where she wrote the school song, "Hail! Old Baker";<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=nVIcAQAAIAAJ&dq=Edith+Bideau&pg=PA782 ''Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical compositions, Part 3''] (Library of Congress Copyright Office 1910): 782.</ref> and from Kansas State University in 1912.<ref>Kansas State College of Pittsburg, [https://books.google.com/books?id=JKZGAQAAMAAJ&dq=Edith+Bideau&pg=RA5-PA18 ''Annual Catalogue''] (June 1916): 18.</ref> She pursued further music studies in Italy, and with Richard Hageman in New York.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=YXfOAAAAMAAJ&dq=Edith+Normelli&pg=PA370 "Interesting Alpha Chis"] ''The Lyre of Alpha Chi Omega'' (July 1920): 370.</ref><ref>Florence Arzelia Armstrong, [https://books.google.com/books?id=LcskPqSPM2QC&dq=Edith+Normelli&pg=PA391 ''History of Alpha Chi Omega Fraternity (1885-1921)''] (Banta Publishing 1922): 390-391.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=7SIqQHZL2_wC&dq=Edith+Bideau&pg=RA2-PA53 "Hageman Enjoys Busiest Autumn"] ''Musical Courier'' (November 6, 1919): 57.</ref>
==Career== Bideau taught voice and was director of the vocal department at the State Normal School in Pittsburg, Kansas from 1916 to 1919.<ref>C. E. W., [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZnNFAQAAMAAJ&dq=Edith+Bideau&pg=RA1-PA6 "Edith Bideau"] ''The Music News'' (September 21, 1917): 6.</ref><ref>Gene E. Vollen, [https://music.pittstate.edu/_files/documents/newsletter/1993-sp-music-notes-v8,n1.pdf "Music at Pittsburg State: Part 4: The Building of the Program"] ''Music Notes'' 8(1)(Spring 1993): 1.</ref><ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29222631/edith_bideau_1916/ "Edith Bideau to Teach"] ''The Daily Gazette'' (June 7, 1916): 3. via Newspapers.com</ref> At the beginning of World War I, she was in Italy, and there were concerns for her safety.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29222711/edith_bideau_1914/ "Kansas Soloist in Europe"] ''The Evening Herald'' (August 22, 1914): 1. via Newspapers.com</ref><ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29223130/edith_bideau_1914/ "Message from Miss Edith Bideau"] ''The Neodesha Daily Sun'' (August 27, 1914): 3. via Newspapers.com</ref> When she returned to the United States, she gave concerts for troops stationed in Kansas.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29222797/edith_bideau_1919/ "To Entertain the Soldiers"] ''Parsons Daily Eclipse'' (May 8, 1919): 6. via Newspapers.com</ref> She was director of music and instructor in church music at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois in 1935.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=PBzSAAAAMAAJ&dq=Edith+Bideau&pg=PA80 "Seabury-Western Theological Seminary"] ''The Living Church Annual'' (1935): 80.</ref> She taught voice at Iola, Kansas in 1947.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29223664/edith_bideau_normelli_1947/ "Dr. Normelli to Teach Voice in Iola"] ''Iola Register'' (July 11, 1947): 6. via Newspapers.com</ref>
Bideau was a concert and oratorio soloist in Chicago and Pittsburgh.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=S3w1AQAAMAAJ&dq=Edith+Normelli&pg=PR48-IA168 "About the Campus"] ''The Techne'' (November 1923): xlviii.</ref> 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.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=gNtFAQAAMAAJ&dq=Edith+Bideau&pg=RA18-PA17 "Edith Bideau in Admirable Debut"] ''Musical America'' (March 6, 1920): 6.</ref> Another witness, however, reported that "she was altogether too nervous to inspire critical confidence."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=MDkR4BSU0YUC&dq=Edith+Bideau&pg=PA239 "Metropolitan Musings"] ''The Musical Monitor'' (March 1920): 239.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=y-w6AQAAMAAJ&dq=Edith+Bideau+Musical+Courier+1920&pg=RA7-PA16 "Edith Bideau's New York Debut"] ''Musical Courier'' (February 19, 1920): 16.</ref> She toured the midwest as a performer in 1921.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29222371/edith_bideau_1921/ "Edith Bideau to Take Tour"] ''University Daily Kansan'' (September 29, 1921): 1. via Newspapers.com</ref> On Christmas Day in 1921, she sang solos at six different events in New York City.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29223405/edith_bideau_normelli_1921/ "Mrs. Normelli in New York"] ''The Chanute Daily Tribune'' (December 28, 1921): 4. via Newspapers.com</ref> She wrote "Tone Coloring in Singing" an essay published in ''Étude'' magazine in 1955.<ref>Edith Bideau Normelli, [https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1096&context=etude "Tone Coloring in Singing"] ''Étude'' (August 1955): 22, 62.</ref>
==Personal life== Edith Bideau married Swedish diplomat Carl Gustav Normelli in 1920.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=gNtFAQAAMAAJ&dq=Edith+Bideau+Wed+to+Swedish+Consul&pg=RA20-PA21 "Edith Bideau Wed to Swedish Consul"] ''Musical America'' (March 20, 1920): 21.</ref> She was widowed when Normelli died in 1957, and she died in 1958, aged 69. Kansas legislator Edwin Bideau was her great-nephew, her brother Edwin Hale Bideau's grandson.<ref>[https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/CJOnline/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=166835126 Edwin Bideau obituary], ''Topeka Capital-Journal'' (September 7–9, 2013).</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bideau, Edith}} Category:1888 births Category:1958 deaths Category:American women in World War I Category:American operatic sopranos Category:American women music educators Category:People from Pittsburg, Kansas Category:20th-century American women opera singers Category:People from Chanute, Kansas