{{Short description|American musician (born 1859)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2021}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Marion Osgood | image = Marion Osgood2.jpg | image_upright = | image_size = | landscape = <!-- yes, if wide image, otherwise leave blank --> | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Marion Gilman Osgood | alias = | birth_date = January 4, 1859 | birth_place = Chelsea, Massachusetts, United States | origin = | death_date = November 1, 1957<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/284206161/marion-g-osgood}}</ref> | death_place = | genre = Classical | occupation = Violinist, composer, conductor | instrument = Violin | years_active = <!-- YYYY–YYYY (or –present) --> | label = | associated_acts = Marion Osgood's Ladies Orchestra | website = <!-- {{URL|www.example.com}} --> }} '''Marion Gilman Osgood''' (January 4, 1859 – November 1, 1957){{efn|See [http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/cdm/ref/collection/tc/id/24717 "Miss Marion G. Osgood."]}} was an American violinist, composer, and orchestra conductor. She established her own company, the Marion Osgood's Ladies Orchestra, which was the first women's orchestra organized for professional work in the United States. She was one of the leading solo violinists in the country.
== Biography == thumb|upright=1.1|Osgood with violin Marion G. Osgood was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts. Her father was associated as a teacher with Lowell Mason, and her mother, Mary A. Osgood, was an author and music composer.{{sfn|Willard|1893|p=550}} George L. Osgood, a Boston musician, was her cousin, and her brother was Professor Fletcher Osgood, elocutionist. She began her musical life as a child, coming from a musical and scholarly family.{{sfn|Illustrated American Publishing Company|1890|p=313}}
Osgood worked as a violin teacher in Boston and was one of the leading solo violinists in the US. She composed and published a number of vocal and instrumental pieces, was a scholarly writer regarding art, and met with local success as a writer of short stories in romantic fiction. Osgood organized and conducted the ladies' orchestra which bore her name. This company was established by her in 1884, was composed wholly of women artists, numbered 30 pieces, and was thoroughly organized with brass and woodwinds, strings, and tympana. This company was the first ladies' orchestra for professional work in the US;{{sfn|Illustrated American Publishing Company|1890|p=313}} it existed for about ten years.{{sfn|Handy|1998|p=24-25}} Among her many published works are a "Fantaisie Caprice", an album of descriptive pieces for violin and piano, and the song "Loving and Loved".{{sfn|Willard|1893|p=550}}
Osgood's correspondence with her publisher, the Arthur P Schmidt Music Company, continues into the year 1951,<ref>{{Cite news |title=About this Collection {{!}} A.P. Schmidt Company archives, 1869-1958 {{!}} Digital Collections {{!}} Library of Congress |url=https://www.loc.gov/collections/a-p-schmidt-collection/about-this-collection/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250520130346/https://www.loc.gov/collections/a-p-schmidt-collection/about-this-collection/ |archive-date=2025-05-20 |access-date=2025-08-17 |work=The Library of Congress |language=en}}</ref> when she was already in her nineties.
== Notes == {{notelist}}
== References == {{reflist}}
=== Attribution === * {{Source-attribution| {{cite book|author=Illustrated American Publishing Company|title=The Illustrated American|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7XBNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA313|edition=Public domain|volume=3|year=1890|publisher=Illustrated American Publishing Company}} }} * {{Source-attribution| {{cite book|last=Willard|first=Frances Elizabeth|title=A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_zXEEAAAAYAAJ|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_zXEEAAAAYAAJ/page/n554 550]|edition=Public domain|year=1893|publisher=Moulton}} }}
== Further reading == {{Commons category}} * {{cite book|last=Handy|first=D. Antoinette|title=Black Women in American Bands and Orchestras|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-cJHuaH5M5oC&pg=PA24|year=1998|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-3419-4}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Osgood, Marion}} Category:1860s births Category:Year of death missing Category:American violinists Category:American classical composers Category:American women classical composers Category:Orchestra leaders Category:American women classical violinists Category:American classical violinists Category:People from Chelsea, Massachusetts Category:American romantic fiction writers Category:American women romantic fiction writers Category:American music educators Category:American women music educators Category:Wikipedia articles incorporating text from A Woman of the Century Category:Founders of early music ensembles Category:American women founders Category:American founders Category:American conductors (music) Category:American women conductors (music)