Jeanne Behrend

Jeanne Behrend
Jeanne Behrend
Jeanne Behrend
Background information
Born(1911-05-11)May 11, 1911
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedMarch 20, 1988(1988-03-20) (aged 76)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
EducationCurtis Institute of Music
GenreClassical
Occupations
  • Pianist
  • Composer
  • Musicologist
  • Music educator
InstrumentPiano
Years active1922–88
Spouses
  • Alexander Kelberine (m. 1934; d. 1940)
  • George S. McManus (m. 1949; d. 1967)
Awards

Jeanne Behrend (May 11, 1911 – March 20, 1988) was an American pianist, musicologist, music educator, and composer.

She made her debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra at age 11, and graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music in 1934 after studying under Josef Hofmann and Rosario Scalero. Behrend won Columbia University's Joseph H. Bearns Prize in 1936. Following her 1937 Carnegie Hall debut, she championed American composers and explored musical traditions across the Western Hemisphere.

Sponsored by composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, she conducted lecture and concert tours across South America from 1945-46, for which she earned Brazil's National Order of the Southern Cross. As a musicologist and archival editor, Behrend published Louis Moreau Gottschalk's autobiography, Notes of a Pianist, in 1964. She taught at several institutions, including Juilliard, Temple University, and the Curtis Institute of Music.

Early life

Jeanne Behrend was an American Jewish pianist and composer. She was born May 11, 1911, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Music career and advocacy

Behrend made her orchestral debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1922 at 11 years old. She graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music in 1934, where she studied piano with Josef Hofmann and composition with Rosario Scalero.

Behrend won Columbia University's Joseph H. Bearns Prize in 1936. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in 1937, playing one of her own original compositions. She then joined the faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music, where she taught from 1937 to 1944.

She also worked as a pianist and composer, and taught music at the Juilliard School in New York City, the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music, and Temple University. Becoming aware of the lack of opportunity for American composers, Behrend became a champion of American music, focusing part of her performances on showcasing American works, and concentrated on her career as a performer.

Editorial work and musicology

Behrend edited a selection of 19th-century composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk piano scores, and his autobiography, Notes of a Pianist, in 1964. She also edited a collection of composer Stephen Foster's songs. and one of traditional American choral fuguing tunes.

International tours

Behrend was recommended for sponsorship by Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos. Under this sponsorship, she toured giving lectures and concerts in South America from 1945-46.

She founded and directed the Philadelphia Festival of Western Hemisphere Music in 1959 and 1960. Behrend was honored by the government of Brazil with its National Order of the Southern Cross.

Personal life

Behrend married twice. Her first husband, fellow pianist and frequent performance partner Alexander Kelberine whom she married in 1934, died at 35 years of age in 1940. She married her second husband, Americana book dealer George S. McManus, in 1949; he died in 1967. Behrend spent her final years in her hometown, dying in Philadelphia on March 20, 1988.

Behrend's personal research collection, musical manuscripts, and historical papers are permanently archived at the Free Library of Philadelphia.

Works

Behrend's compositions span orchestral suites, chamber music, songs, vocal cantatas, and pedagogical piano literature.

Orchestral and vocal

Chamber music

Piano solo

Behrend edited Louis Moreau Gottschalk's Notes of a Pianist (New York, 1964) and also selections of his music.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Leach, Brenda Lynne. "Jeanne Behrend". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved August 16, 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Legacy of Piano". Curtis Institute of Music. Retrieved August 16, 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 Rockwell, John (15 April 2008), "Jeanne Behrend, 76, a Pianist; Specialized in Music of Americas", The New York Times, retrieved 8 May 2014
  4. ↑ Hostetter, Elizabeth A. (August 1990). Jeanne Behrend: Pioneer Performer of American. Music, Pianist, Teacher, Musicologist, and Composer (Doctor of Musical Arts thesis). Arizona State University.
  5. ↑ Gottschalk, Louis Moreau (2006). Behrend, Jeanne (ed.). Notes of a Pianist. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691127163.
  6. ↑ Dees, Pamela Youngdahl (2004). A Guide to Piano Music by Women Composers: Women born after 1900.
  7. ↑ "KELBERINE, PIANIST, FOUND DEAD IN HOME; Apparently Ended Life by Taking Overdose of Medicine," The New York Times, January 31, 1940.
  8. ↑ Sadie, Julie Anne; Samuel, Rhian (1994). The Norton/Grove dictionary of women composers. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 9780393034875. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Summers, Jonathan. "Jeanne Behrend". Naxos Records.
  10. ↑ "Jeanne Behrend - Artist Profile". MacDowell Residency.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Sadie, Julie Anne; Samuel, Rhian (1994). The Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 9780393034875.
  12. ↑ "Legacy of Piano". Curtis Institute of Music. Retrieved August 16, 2026.
  13. ↑ "Country Jig in D major song by Jeanne Behrend". Apple Music Archive.