{{Short description|American harpist (1894–1982)}} {{Infobox musical artist | honorific_prefix = | name = Mildred Dilling | honorific_suffix = | image = File:Dilling headshot.jpg | image_upright = | image_size = | landscape = <!-- yes, if wide image, otherwise leave blank --> | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = | alias = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1894|02|23}} | birth_place = Marion, Indiana, US | origin = | death_date = {{Death date and age|1982|12|30|1894|02|23}} | death_place = New York City, New York, US | genre = Classical | occupation = | instrument = Harp | years_active = 1911–1982 | label = | associated_acts = }}
'''Mildred Dilling''' (February 23, 1894 – December 30, 1982) was an American harpist. She studied under Henriette Renié in Paris. She first started performing in 1911, and traveled over {{convert|30000|mi}} per year at her busiest.<ref name=Govea/> She performed with many notable vocalists, had her own weekly NBC radio show, and appeared on the Bing Crosby radio show. She toured Europe and Asia multiple times, and often performed internationally. She enthusiastically championed the harp<ref name=Govea/> and gave many celebrities their first harp lesson, including Harpo Marx. In 1962 she helped found the American Harp Society. She devised a lever system for a non-pedal harp that made it more portable than a pedal harp but which allowed flexibility in harp tuning. Her extensive harp collection is held partially by Indiana University, and harp students still use two of her harp music compilations.
==Early life== Mildred Dilling's mother, Rachel Freel, grew up on a farm and once heard travelling musicians play the harp and violin. Freel was so taken with the music that she was determined that her future children would learn to play the violin and harp.<ref name=Sharpes/> Freel married Frank Dilling<ref name=Sharpes/> and Mildred was born on February 23, 1894, in Marion, Indiana.<ref name=findingaid>{{Cite archival metadata|author = Phillips, Lynzi|title = Mildred Dilling papers|url = http://archives.lib.byu.edu/repositories/14/resources/11335|repository = L. Tom Perry Special Collections|location = Provo, Utah|date = 2011|accessdate = 8 January 2018}}</ref> Dilling had a younger sister, Charlene. As there was no harp instruction available in Marion, Mildred studied the piano starting at age six while Charlene studied the violin. Mildred's instructor was Samuel Nussbaum at the Marion Conservatory of Music. The family moved to Indianapolis, where Mildred studied harp with Louise Schellschmidt at age 12.<ref name=Govea/> Upon receiving a harp for her 12th birthday, she was so excited that she "had to lie down for several minutes".<ref name=Sharpes>{{cite journal|last1=Sharps|first1=Rita|title=Mildred Dilling|journal=The American Harp Journal|date=1981|volume=8|issue=2}}</ref> At age 13, she started playing for social events, her first fee for a performance being a dozen carnations and a jar of pickles.<ref name=Govea/>
==Harp career== thumb|Dilling with Renié around 1934 After Dilling graduated from high school, her mother took her and her sister to New York, where they continued their musical studies. Dilling played for the Central Presbyterian Church's services, where she earned money to pay for her and Charlene's musical studies. Through this job she met other musicians, including soloists from the Metropolitan Opera, and played in special events in the area as well as with the Central Presbyterian Church. She studied with Ada Sassoli and also had lessons from Carl Scheutze and Carlos Salzedo. In 1917,<ref name=abroad>{{cite news|title=News from Abroad Concerning Mildred Dilling|work=Music News|date=11 August 1922|location=Chicago, America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bmhFAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA28}}</ref> she went to Paris and studied under Henriette Renié, continuing to study with her in subsequent summers for more than thirty years.<ref name=Govea/><ref name=Montesquiou>{{cite book|last1=Montesquiou|first1=Odette|editor1-last=Haefner|editor1-first=Jaymee|title=The legend of Henriette Renié: Henriette Renié et la harpe|date=2006|publisher=AuthorHouse|location=Bloomington, Ind.|isbn=9781425954697|language=English}}</ref> Dilling credits Renié with encouraging her career and love of the harp.<ref name=Montesquiou/> In 1922 Dilling took five pupils with her to France.<ref name=abroad/>
In 1911 she began performing professionally in Paris<ref name=Grove/> and toured Europe with Yvette Gilbert for several years with much success.<ref name=Govea/> Around this time, she also toured the United States with the quartet the De Reszke singers and the Irish tenor John McCormack. During World War II, Dilling played for servicemen. After the death of her husband in 1948, she toured Europe with her sister Charlene.<ref name=Sharpes/>
Dilling performed with noted vocalists Alma Gluck, Frances Alda, Yvette Guilbert, Nelson Eddy, and brothers Édouard de Reszke and Jean de Reszke.<ref name=Grove/> She played with Charles Wagner's Community Concert Series over 2000 times.<ref name=Sharpes/><ref name=Govea/> She held a weekly radio show on the NBC network every Sunday before the New York Philharmonic concert. After appearing on the Bing Crosby radio show, she gave many celebrities a few lessons on the harp, including Sir Laurence Olivier, Deanna Durbin, and Bob Hope and his daughter.<ref name=Govea/> The lessons were filmed as a part of Artist Films's "Twenty-four Great Musicians" series.<ref name=Sharpes/> For more than thirty years, Dilling taught Harpo Marx, a self-taught harpist who wanted to learn the proper techniques. She introduced him to Renié.<ref name=Sharpes/>
Dilling was the first solo harpist to broadcast in Ireland.<ref name=Sharpes/> The BBC sent her on a tour of its stations and she performed as a guest artist with broadcasting studio orchestras throughout the UK and Ireland. She played with NBC's afternoon Chamber Music Series, performing every work then available for harp and string quartet.<ref name=Sharpes/> She performed at the White House seven times for five different presidents.<ref name=Sharpes/> The State Department sent Dilling on three German tours, two in Holland, and two in Austria some time after 1948. They also sent her to Asia in 1961.<ref name=Sharpes/> In 1963–1964 Dilling again toured Asia, including the Middle East. The State Department sent her to Central and South America in 1966, and she toured Asia again, this time with Charlene, in 1967.<ref name=Govea/> She gave a recital for UNESCO in Paris in October 1968.<ref>{{cite journal|title=People and Places|journal=The American Harp Journal|date=Fall 1968|volume=1|issue=4}}</ref> In 1971 she visited Iceland, where she was a soloist with the Iceland Symphony. There she had some of her last performances with her sister Charlene, who died in 1972.<ref name=Sharpes/>
Dilling was one of the founders of the American Harp Society in 1962<ref name=Grove/> and served as a judge in many of its national student contests. She also frequently served as a judge for the Ruth Lorraine Close Awards.<ref name=Sharpes/> From 1964 until 1982, she held a two-week masterclass and workshop at UCLA.<ref name=Sharpes/> In 1970 she appeared on a BBC television broadcast.<ref>{{cite journal|title=People and Places|journal=The American Harp Journal|date=Fall 1969|volume=2|issue=2|page=32}}</ref> She held masterclasses in London whenever her touring schedule allowed it.<ref name=Sharpes/>
==Harp collection and legacy== thumb|Pedal Harp that was a part of Dilling's collection thumb|Pedal Harp that Dilling donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art Dilling had an extensive harp collection. She kept her harp that belonged to Evangeline Booth at home because it was too delicate to transport; it now resides in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.<ref name=Moore>{{cite book|last1=Moore|first1=J. Kenneth|last2=Dobney|first2=Jayson|last3=Strauchen-Scherer|first3=E. Bradley|title=Musical Instruments: Highlights of The Metropolitan Museum of Art|date=2015|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|isbn=9781588395627|page=163|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yZyzCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA163}}</ref> She also owned a harp that once belonged to Marie Antoinette.<ref name=findingaid/> After Dilling's death in New York on December 30, 1982, Indiana University received part of her collection of 124 harps.<ref name=Grove/><ref name=Sharpes/>
thumb|Dilling with the "Dilling" harp In the 1920s, Dilling commissioned Browne & Buckwell to make a non-pedal harp with an "Egan-like mechanism and seven ditals".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Rensch|first1=Roslyn|title=Harps and harpists|date=1989|publisher=Duckworth|location=London|isbn=0715622161|pages=145–146}}</ref> Her Celtic Single Action Harp, Dilling Model, is a non-pedal harp with seven levers on the top that control the tuning of each note in a scale individually. Dilling used this kind of harp on her first European tour.<ref name=Sharpes/> Later, around 1980, she revisited the problem of a portable harp, and collaborated with carpenters Shawn Herman, Jody Nishman, and Arsalaan Fay.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Rice|first1=Joyce|title=The Dilling Model Single-Action Harp: A Short Version of the Long Backstory|url=https://www.harpspectrum.org/historical/The%20Long%20History%20of%20the%20Single%20Action%20Irish%20Harp.shtml|website=Harp Spectrum|accessdate=16 January 2018}}</ref> Fay still makes harps with what he calls "Dilling single-action levers".<ref>{{cite web|title=Douglas Harp Company|url=http://www.douglasharpco.com/|website=www.douglasharpco.com|publisher=Douglas Harp Company|accessdate=16 January 2018}}</ref>
Dilling was called the "First Lady of the Harp".<ref name=Moore/> Harp students commonly use two of her harp music collections, ''Old Tunes for New Harpists'' (1934) and ''Thirty Little Classics for the Harp'' (1938).<ref name=Grove>{{Cite web|url=http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002092987|title=Dilling, Mildred: Grove Music|year=2011|doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.a2092987|access-date=2018-01-04|last1=Thor Eckert|first1=Jr.|isbn=978-1-56159-263-0 }}</ref>
==Personal life== Dilling was a follower of Christian Science, and as such did not drink or serve alcohol. Sometimes when staying with friends she would hide their alcohol because she felt that drinking was wrong. She once asked for a wheelchair in her travels in order to avoid carrying heavy luggage.<ref name=Govea>{{cite book|last1=Govea|first1=Wenonah Milton|title=Nineteenth and twentieth century harpists: a bio-critical sourcebook|date=1995|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport, Conn.|isbn=9780313278662|edition=1st|pages=55–60|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YXgITVn1PP4C&pg=PA55}}</ref> She married banker Clinton Parker in 1943; Parker died in 1948.<ref name=Govea/>
Dilling once told a harpist with an infected finger and an upcoming harp concerto to perform: "Read the one hundred and twenty-first Psalm, and go on".<ref name=Govea/>
==Selected discography== Works taken from the selection in ''Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Harpists: A bio-critical sourcebook''.<ref name=Govea/>
;78-rpm discs for Columbia Records: *March of the Men of Harlech, John Thomas. Believe Me if All These Endearing Young Charms, old Irish Tune. *Danse Orientale, H. Cady. *La Source op. 44 Etude, A. Hasselmans. *An Old Music Box; The Music Box; De Severacq, Two French Songs: Le Bon Petit Roi d'Yvetot, Et Ron, Petit Patapon Arr. M. Grandjany *Chaconne, A. Durand, transcribed by A. Hasselmans; Menuets De Platee, J-Ph. Rameau, transcribed by G. Marty *Bouree (from Cello suite in C-major) Bach, Bouree (from Violin Partita no. 1) Bach. *Pastorale Op. 45 No. 5, Sibelius *Impromptu Caprice, Op. 9 G. Pierné *Variations Pastorales on an Old Noel, MS Rousseau
;for Connoisseur Record Corp Urania: *An Evening at Town Hall with Mildred Dilling and Her Harp: de la Presle, Watkins, Renié, Ravel, Roussel, Prokofiev. John Wustman, piano. 1969. *Romantic Music for the Harp: Debussy, Salzedo, Tournier, Renié, Liszt, Zabel, Poenitz, MacDowell, Hasselmans, Prokofiev.
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://archives.lib.byu.edu/repositories/14/resources/11335 Mildred Dilling papers, MSS 7775], L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dilling, Mildred}} Category:1894 births Category:1982 deaths Category:American classical harpists Category:American women classical musicians Category:20th-century American women musicians Category:People from Marion, Indiana Category:American Christian Scientists Category:20th-century American classical musicians