Top of page

Article Gertrude Clarke Whittall

Image of Gertrude Clarke Whittall
Gertrude Clarke Whittall, 1867-1965. Prints and Photographs Reading Room, Library of Congress.

Gertrude Clarke Whittall, another musical philanthropist and a contemporary of Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge's, expressed her interest in supporting musical activities in the Library in very different, but complementary, ways. Mrs. Whittall preferred to concentrate on the classic tradition. Her generosity began in 1935 when she donated the first of a total of five Stradivari instruments to the Library, each accompanied by a Tourte bow, and in 1936 she established the Gertrude Clarke Whittall Foundation at the Library to maintain these instruments and to support their use in concerts. It was Mrs. Whittall's wish that they "be played by many different musicians," and for several years "the Strads" were played by guest string quartets, generally in only one or two concerts. This made it difficult for players to become familiar with these magnificent instruments.

To resolve this problem, Dr. Harold Spivacke, then-Chief of the Music Division, suggested to Mrs. Whittall that the Library invite a prominent string quartet to become a resident ensemble at the Library. In 1940 the Budapest String Quartet settled into the Library's first residency, followed by the Juilliard String Quartet in 1962. The Beaux Arts Trio became a resident group, too, although its members did not use the Whittall Strads in their performances.

Image of Stradivari violinsEmulating Mrs. Coolidge's donation of the Coolidge Auditorium, Mrs. Whittall donated the Whittall Pavilion'a drawing room adjacent to the Coolidge Auditorium. Its main purpose remains today what it has always been: to be a "beautiful sanctuary of the precious Stradivari."

Mrs. Whittall also presented the Library with several remarkable original musical manuscripts by classical composers such as Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms. In addition, the Gertrude Clarke Whittall Foundation has supported the Music Division's acquisition of autograph manuscripts and other documentary holdings of prominent European composers, as well as an annual concert on December 18 commemorating Antonio Stradivari.

About this Item

Title

  • Gertrude Clarke Whittall

Headings

  • -  Articles
  • -  Songs and Music

Genre

  • article

Additional Metadata Formats

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes and makes no warranty with regard to their use for other purposes. The written permission of the copyright owners and/or other rights holders (such as holders of publicity and/or privacy rights) is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemptions. There may be content that is protected as "works for hire" (copyright may be held by the party that commissioned the original work) and/or under the copyright or neighboring-rights laws of other nations.

Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item. Users should consult the bibliographic information that accompanies each item for specific information. This catalog data provides the details known to the Library of Congress regarding the corresponding items and may assist users in making independent assessments of the legal status of these items as related to their desired uses. Items included here with the permission of the rights holders are indicated as such in the bibliographic record for each item.

While every effort has been made to obtain permission to use these songs or portions of these songs, in some cases, the rights' owner may have only granted permission to use a portion of the material online. In those cases, only excerpts of sound or video recordings and one or two pages of print or manuscript materials are used.

In some cases, the Library was unable to identify a possible rights holder and has elected to place some of those items online as an exercise of fair use for strictly non-commercial educational uses. The Library of Congress would like to learn more about these materials and would like to hear from individuals or institutions that have any additional information or know of their history. Please contact: Performing Arts Reading Room.

Suggested credit line: Library of Congress, Music Division.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Gertrude Clarke Whittall. Web.. https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200152689/.

APA citation style:

Gertrude Clarke Whittall. [Web.] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200152689/.

MLA citation style:

Gertrude Clarke Whittall. Web.. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200152689/>.