Olga Steeb

Olga Steeb (born 1890 – December 29, 1941) was an American pianist and music educator, based in Los Angeles, California.

Olga Steeb, from a 1922 publication.
Olga Steeb with composer Carl Preyer, from a 1921 publication.

Early life

Olga Steeb was the daughter of Carl Egon Steeb and Sophie S. Steeb, both German immigrants living in Los Angeles.[1] Her father, a French horn player, was said to have taught his daughter to memorize hundreds of compositions as a child,[2] and she was performing in concerts by 1904.[3] She studied piano with Thilo Becker.[4]

Career

Steeb performed across the United States and in Europe,[5][6][7] in solo performances and as part of the Griffes Group with mezzo-soprano Edna Thomas and violinist Sacha Jacobinoff.[8] She was featured as a soloist at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915, in San Francisco.[9] She made her New York debut in 1919, at the Aeolian Hall.[10] Once, in 1921, she was called from the audience to the stage to perform a concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, without rehearsal or advanced notice, when the scheduled pianist, Mischa Levitzki, was injured.[11] She played at the Hollywood Bowl in 1922.[12] In 1923, she played a radio concerts with retired violinist Lili Petschnikoff.[13]

Steeb was head of the music departments at the University of Redlands from 1915 to 1919, and at the University of Southern California from 1919 to 1923.[14] The Olga Steeb Piano School operated on Wilshire Boulevard from 1923 to 1942.[15] Olga Steeb's piano students included Leonard Pennario, composer Elinor Remick Warren, composer Harry Partch[16] and organist David Craighead.[17]

Her sisters Norma Steeb and Lillian Steeb French continued running the piano school a while past Olga Steeb's death.[18]

Personal life

Olga Steeb married twice. Her first husband was fellow musician Charles H. Keefer. They married in 1911[19] and divorced in 1916.[20] She married again in 1919, to Charles Edward Hubach, a vocal teacher who became her manager.[21] Olga Steeb was a widow when she died in Los Angeles in late 1941, from cancer, aged about 55 years.[22][23][24]

References
  1. "Mrs. Sophie Steeb" Los Angeles Times (November 21, 1958): 26. via Newspapers.com
  2. "Olga Steeb's Offer Withdrawn Saturday" Oregon Sentinel (March 8, 1912): 9. via Newspapers.com
  3. "Music and Musicians: Olga Steeb" Los Angeles Times (February 28, 1904): 23. via Newspapers.com
  4. "Olga Steeb, Pianist" Los Angeles Herald (January 13, 1907): 7. via California Digital Newspapers Collection
  5. "A Marvelous Young Pianist" Santa Cruz Sentinel (May 14, 1910): 8. via Newspapers.com
  6. "Olga Steeb Playing Compositions of Dr. Carl A. Preyer" Musical America (January 1, 1921): 21.
  7. "Olga Steeb Triumphs in Long Beach" Pacific Coast Musical Review (June 18, 1921): 6.
  8. "Griffes Group in Fine Debut" Musical America (January 8, 1921): 21.
  9. "The Performing Arts at San Francisco’s 1915 World’s Fair" 100 Years, Panama-Pacific International Exposition (December 9, 2015).
  10. "Olga Steeb, Pianist" Musical Courier (December 18, 1919): 25.
  11. "Rises from Audience to Perform Concerto" Musical America (March 26, 1921): 49.
  12. "Symphony Concerts in Hollywood Bowl Prove Great Success" Musical Courier (August 10, 1922): 35.
  13. "Two Renowned Artists on KHJ" Los Angeles Times (July 23, 1923): 6. via Newspapers.com
  14. "Olga Steeb with U. S. C." The Golden West (March 1, 1921): 11.
  15. K. Marcus, Musical Metropolis: Los Angeles and the Creation of a Music Culture, 1880–1940 (Springer 2004): 50. ISBN 9781403978363
  16. Bob Gilmore, Harry Partch: A Biography (Yale University Press 1998): 43. ISBN 9780300065213
  17. Tandy Reussner, David Craighead: Portrait of an American Organist (Scarecrow Press 2009): 14. ISBN 9780810869837
  18. Catherine Parsons Smith, Making Music in Los Angeles: Transforming the Popular (University of California Press 2007): 311 note 26. ISBN 9780520251397
  19. "Cupid's Secret Will Not Keep" Los Angeles Times (July 9, 1911): 12. via Newspapers.com
  20. "Composer to Lose Inspiration: Olga Steeb Asks Degree" Los Angeles Herald (July 20, 1916): 1. via California Digital Newspapers Collection
  21. "Olga Steeb, Noted L. A. Pianist, to be Bride of Teacher" Los Angeles Herald (August 25, 1919): 3. via California Digital Newspapers Collection
  22. "The Final Curtain" Billboard (January 17, 1942): 29.
  23. "Death Takes Olga Steeb, Famous Concert Pianist" San Bernardino County Sun (December 31, 1941): 13. via Newspapers.com
  24. "Noted Pianist Olga Steeb Dies" Los Angeles Times (December 31, 1941): 21. via Newspapers.com
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