{{Short description|American musician and educator (1856–1949)}} {{Infobox person | name = Kate Sara Chittenden | image = KateSaraChittenden1915.png | alt = A middle-aged white woman with fair hair, wearing eyeglasses, a tailored jacket with lapels, and a white blouse with a pleated bib front and high collar | caption = Kate Sara Chittenden, from a 1915 publication | birth_date = 17 April 1856 | birth_place = Hamilton, Canada West | death_date = {{Death date and age|1949|09|16|1856|04|17}} | death_place = New York City | occupation = Music school dean, music educator, pianist }}
'''Kate Sara Chittenden''' (17{{nbsp}}April 1856{{snd}}16{{nbsp}}September 1949) was an American professor of music, music school founder, and piano teacher.
== Early life and education == Chittenden was born in Hamilton, Canada West, the daughter of Curtis Strong Chittenden and Caroline Young Peterson Chittenden. Her parents were American; her father was a dentist born in Shelburne, Vermont. One of her paternal ancestors, William Chittenden (1593–1660), was one of six founders of Guilford, Connecticut, in 1639. Another ancestor, Thomas Chittenden (1730–1797), was the first Governor of Vermont.<ref>"Kate Chittenden, Taught at Vassar – Emeritus Professor of Music, Head of Piano Department for 31 Years, Dies at 93," ''The New York Times'', Sept. 17, 1949</ref> Her cousin Charles Curtis Chittenden was president of the American Dental Association.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kuhm |first1=Herbert W. |last2=Faries |first2=R. J. |date=1944 |title=Pioneer Dentistry in Wisconsin |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4631675 |journal=The Wisconsin Magazine of History |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=154–168 |jstor=4631675 |issn=0043-6534}}</ref>
She studied piano with an aunt from age 5, then with Jules Fossier and Lucy H. Clinton. She was awarded the Dufferin Medal for Art in 1873, while she was a student at Hellmuth Ladies' College, London, Ontario.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Blunsom |first=Laurie |title=Chittenden, Kate Sara |url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002087938 |access-date=2022-06-19 |website=Grove Music Online |year=2010 |language=en |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.A2087938|isbn=978-1-56159-263-0 }}</ref> Chittenden later studied with Lucy Nelson and Albert Ross Parsons.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1=Parsons |first1=Albert Ross |url=http://archive.org/details/syntheticmethodf00pars |title=The synthetic method for the piano-forte : a systematic development of notation, rhythm, touch, technic, melody, harmony, and form : the elements of music and piano-forte playing |last2=Chittenden |first2=Kate S. edt |last3=Werfel Collection |date=1906 |publisher=New York : Silver, Burdett |others=UMass Amherst Libraries}}</ref>
== Career == Chittenden taught at her alma mater, Hellmuth Ladies' College, after graduation. She moved to New York in 1876, to work with Lucy Nelson. Chittenden was organist and choir director at Calvary Baptist Church in New York City from 1879 to 1906.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=May 1, 1947 |title=Kate S. Chittenden, An A.G.O. Founder, Reaches Age of 91 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_diapason_1947-05-01_38_6/mode/1up |journal=The Diapason |volume=38 |issue=6 |pages=1}}</ref> In 1906, she became a founding member of the American Guild of Organists and a charter member of the MacDowell Club.<ref name=":0" />
Chittenden is known for originating a form of piano instruction known as synthetic piano method.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Brower |first1=Harriette |url=http://archive.org/details/pianomasteryseco02brow |title=Piano mastery, second series; talks with master pianists and teachers, including conferences with... |last2=Brower |first2=Harriette |date=1917 |publisher=New York, Frederick A. Stokes Company |others=Boston Public Library |pages=255–263 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> She served as the founding dean of the American Institute of Applied Music in New York City, from 1900 to 1932.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=May 15, 1915 |title=Kate S. Chittenden's Notable Career as Musical Educator |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mkc0AQAAMAAJ&dq=Musical%20America&pg=RA1-PA23 |journal=Musical America |volume=22 |pages=23}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Lobdell |first=Helen |date=1926-05-15 |title=Music and Musicians |pages=24 |work=Brooklyn Life and Activities of Long Island Society |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104015151/music-and-musicianshelen-lobdell/ |access-date=2022-06-19 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She was head of the piano department at Vassar College from 1899 to 1930, and upon retirement was awarded professor emeritus status. Newspapers also name her as the first woman lecturer employed by the Board of Education for New York City Schools, serving from 1892 to 1919.<ref>"Kate Chittenden Dies in New York", ''Springfield Union'', Sept 17, 1949</ref> She was head of piano department at Catherine Aiken School in Stamford, Connecticut, from 1890 to 1914.<ref name=":0" /> In 1883 she became a life member of the Music Teachers National Association. In 1889, she became founder and director of music department in Hartley House Settlement, later incorporated as Hartley House Music School.<ref name=":0" /> From 1899 to 1903, she was head of the piano department at Putnam Hall School in Poughkeepsie.
Chittenden's students included Paul Ambrose (Canadian conductor, composer and organist), Mable Madison Watson (composer and music educator), and June Weybright (composer and music educator).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brubecker|first=Debra|title=A History and Critical Analysis of Piano Methods Published in the United States from 1796 to 1995|publisher=University of Minnesota|year=1996|location=Minnesota|pages=324}}</ref> Annabel Wood Mansfield, a music teacher in Atlanta, was Chittenden's protegee and successor at the Hartley House Settlement.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bartholomew |first=Marguerite |date=1944-11-05 |title=Music Appreciation Class Attracts Many Through 'Y' |pages=38 |work=The Atlanta Constitution |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104015365/music-appreciation-class-attracts-many/ |access-date=2022-06-19 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Chittenden published ''Tetrad arpeggios: Dominant and diminished seventh'' (1926), a piano exercise book.<ref>{{Citation |last=Chittenden |first=Kate Sara |title=Tetrad arpeggios: dominant and diminished seventh |date=1926 |place=New York |publisher=Schroeder & Gunther |oclc=28175748 }}</ref>
== Personal life == Chittenden died in 1949, at the age of 93, at her home in New York City.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1949-10-02 |title=Prof. Chittenden's Will Filed in New York |pages=9 |work=Poughkeepsie Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104014886/prof-chittendens-will-filed-in-new/ |access-date=2022-06-19 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1949-09-17 |title=Kate S. Chittenden, Vassar professor emeritus |pages=123 |work=Daily News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104015268/kate-s-chittenden-vassar-professor/ |access-date=2022-06-19 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chittenden, Kate Sara}} Category:1856 births Category:1949 deaths Category:American music educators Category:American women music educators Category:American women classical pianists Category:Musicians from Hamilton, Ontario Category:Vassar College faculty Category:19th-century American women musicians Category:19th-century Canadian pianists Category:19th-century Canadian women musicians Category:19th-century American women pianists Category:19th-century American classical pianists Category:20th-century American classical pianists Category:20th-century American women pianists Category:20th-century Canadian women musicians Category:American women academics Category:Canadian emigrants to the United States