Discipline: Literature

Anne Oberndorfer

Discipline: Literature
MacDowell Fellowships: 1926, 1927, 1928, 1936
Anne Oberndorfer (1877-1948) was an American writer who attended the Chicago Conservatory of Music and the Caruthers Normal School of Music. She was on staff and taught music history at the Columbia Conservatory, and gave lectures for the University of Chicago. From 1897 to at least 1935, she gave pre-concert lectures the day before Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) concerts. Although she was a member of the Music Supervisors National Conference (MSNC; now MENC: The National Association for Music Education), she apparently never taught in the public schools. She did, however, give several papers on music appreciation at MSNC national conventions. She also presented her music appreciation lecture-recitals on the radio (WMAQ Chicago), often on such topics as musical geography and the opera. She authored a music appreciation text, What We Hear In Music, which was published in 13 editions over 30 years. As the national chair of the Music Division for the General Federation of Women's Clubs, she wrote for the GFWC newsletter, gave conference presentations, and wrote yearly reports. She also wrote the program notes for the first Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) Children's Concerts, and more than 50 articles published in such magazines as The Ladies Home Journal, Better Homes and Gardens, and Child Life.

Studios

Phi Beta

Anne Oberndorfer worked in the Phi Beta studio.

Funded by the Phi Beta Fraternity, a national professional fraternity of music and speech founded in 1912, Phi Beta Studio was built between 1929–1931 of granite quarried on the MacDowell grounds. The small studio is a simple in design, but displays a pleasing combination of materials with its granite walls and colorful slate roofing. Inside is…

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