Editing Rebecca Clarke (composer) (section)

==Early life==
[[File:Royal College of Music - April 2007.jpg|thumb|left|London's [[Royal College of Music]] where Clarke studied from 1907 to 1910]]

Clarke was born in [[London Borough of Harrow|Harrow]], England, to Joseph Thacher Clarke, an American, and his German wife, Agnes Paulina Marie Amalie Helferich.<ref name="oxford"/> Her father was interested in music, and Clarke started on violin after sitting in on lessons that were being given to her brother, [[Hans Thacher Clarke]], who was 15 months her junior.<ref name="curtis-reader"/> Her father was abusive, often hitting her with a steel ruler over infractions such as biting her nails.<ref name="id" /> She started composing at an early age<ref name="rcc-life"/> and began her studies at the [[Royal Academy of Music]] in 1903, but was abruptly withdrawn by her father in 1905 after her harmony teacher [[Percy Hilder Miles]] proposed to her. Miles later left his [[Stradivarius]] violin to Clarke in his will.<ref>{{cite web |title=Antonio Stradivari, Cremona, 1720, the 'General Kyd' (Provenance) |url=https://tarisio.com/cozio-archive/property/?ID=41490 |website=Tarisio Auctions |accessdate=4 September 2023}}</ref> She made the first of many visits to the United States shortly after leaving the Royal Academy.<ref name="curtis-reader">{{cite book|title=A Rebecca Clarke Reader|last=Curtis|first=Liane|publisher=Rebecca Clarke Society|year=2005|isbn=978-0-9770079-0-5|editor=Curtis, Liane|page= 185|chapter=Violist to Violist: Nancy Uscher's Interview with Rebecca Clarke Friskin}}</ref> She then attended the [[Royal College of Music]], becoming one of Sir [[Charles Villiers Stanford]]'s few female composition students.<ref name="id"/> Her substantial ''Theme and Variations'' for piano dates from this period.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2022/Sep/Clarke-Busch-SRCD408.htm |title=Complete Piano Music|accessdate=23 September 2022|website=MusicWeb}}</ref>

At Stanford's urging she shifted her focus from the violin to the viola, just as the latter was coming to be seen as a legitimate solo instrument.<ref name="oxford" /> She studied with [[Lionel Tertis]], who was considered by some the greatest violist of the day.<ref name="oxford">{{cite web|author=Ponder, Michael|title=Clarke, Rebecca Helferich (1886–1979)|work= Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2004|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/61135}}{{subscription required}}</ref> In 1910 she composed "Tears", a setting of Chinese poetry, in collaboration with a group of fellow students at RCM.<ref name="curtis-reader" /> She also sang under the direction of [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]] in a student ensemble organised by Clarke and another student called Beryl Reeve (later Clarke's sister-in-law) to study and perform [[Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina|Palestrina]]'s music.<ref name="curtis-reader" />

Following her criticism of his extra-marital affairs, Clarke's father turned her out of the house and cut off her funds.<ref name="cd">{{cite AV media notes|author=Ponder, Michael|year=2000|title=Rebecca Clarke: Midsummer Moon|id=Dutton Laboratories}}</ref> She had to leave the Royal College in 1910 and supported herself through her viola playing. Clarke (along with [[Grimson (musical family)|Jessie Grimson]]) became one of the first female professional orchestral musicians when she was selected by Sir [[Henry Wood]] to play in the Queen's Hall Orchestra in 1912.<ref name="id">{{cite journal|author=Curtis, Liane|date=May 1996|url=http://www.rebeccaclarke.org/pdf/identity.pdf|title=A Case of Identity|journal=Musical Times|volume=137|issue=1839|pages=15–21|doi=10.2307/1003935|jstor=1003935}}</ref><ref name="grove">{{cite web|author=Curtis, Liane|title=Rebecca Clarke|work=[[New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians|Grove Music]] Online|url=http://www.grovemusic.com}}{{subscription required}}</ref> She was highly sought after as a violist, playing with [[Artur Schnabel]], [[Pablo Casals]], [[Jascha Heifetz]], [[Jacques Thibaud]], [[Guilhermina Suggia]], [[Arthur Rubinstein]], [[Pierre Monteux]], and [[George Szell]], among others.<ref name="rcc-life">{{Cite web |date=3 June 2020 |title=Life |url=https://rebeccaclarkecomposer.com/life/ |website=Rebecca Clarke}}</ref>

In 1916 Clarke moved to the United States to continue her performing career. In 1918, she premiered her short, lyrical piece for viola and piano titled ''Morpheus'', composed under the pseudonym of 'Anthony Trent,' at her joint recital with cellist [[May Mukle]] in New York City. Reviewers praised the "Trent", largely ignoring the works credited to Clarke premiered in the same recital.<ref name="cd" /> She continued to perform with [[May Mukle]] in Hawaii in 1918 and 1919, and on a tour of the British colonies in 1923.<ref name="rcs-life">{{Cite web |title=Her Life |publisher= Rebecca Clarke Society |url=https://www.rebeccaclarke.org/her-life/ |accessdate=11 December 2023 }}</ref>

Her compositional career peaked in a brief period, beginning with the [[Viola Sonata (Rebecca Clarke)|viola sonata]] she entered in a 1919 competition sponsored by [[Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge]], Clarke's neighbour and a [[patronage|patron]] of the arts. In a field of 72 entrants, Clarke's sonata tied for first place with a composition by [[Ernest Bloch]]. Coolidge later declared Bloch the winner. Reporters speculated that "Rebecca Clarke" was only a pseudonym for Bloch himself, or at least that it could not have been Clarke who wrote these pieces,<ref name="grove" /> as the idea that a woman could write such a beautiful work was socially inconceivable. The sonata was well received and had its first performance at the Berkshire music festival in 1919. In 1921 Clarke again made an impressive showing in Coolidge's composition competition with her [[piano trio]], though again failed to take the prize. A 1923 [[rhapsody (music)|rhapsody]] for [[cello]] and [[piano]] followed, sponsored by Coolidge, making Clarke the only female recipient of Coolidge's patronage.<ref name="grove" /> These three works represent the height of Clarke's compositional career.<ref name="oxford" />