Thelma Mary Given Verdi (March 9, 1896 — December 25, 1977) was an American violinist and child musical prodigy.
Early life
Thelma Mary Given was born in
Columbus, Ohio, and raised in
Decatur, Illinois,[1] the daughter of James Frederick Given and Emma Jones Given.[2][3] Her musical abilities were recognized by age 5.[4] She studied with
Leopold Auer in Russia.[5] She toured Europe with Auer as a teenager, and was caught in the tumult of war and the
Russian Revolution for almost a year[6] before she and her mother were able to return to the United States.[7]
Career
Given made her American debut at
Carnegie Hall in 1918.[8] She returned to the Carnegie Hall stage several times.[9][10] She toured in the United States and Europe[11] in the 1920s and 1930s, given recitals and as guest soloist with orchestras.[12][13] She played a
Guarneri violin made in 1738.[14]
Personal life
Given lived much of her adult life living with her mother and brother Eben Given (a painter), at
Saranac Lake,[15] and in the arts colony at
Provincetown, Massachusetts,[16] in social circles that included playwright
Eugene O'Neill.[17] She married in 1943, as the third wife of Minturn de Suzzara Verdi, a New York lawyer.[18]
Thelma Given Verdi was widowed in 1970,[19] and she died on
Christmas Day, 1977, aged 81 years, in
Boston, Massachusetts, after a stroke.[5] Papers associated with Thelma Given, including concert programs, letters, and a clippings album of reviews, are archived by the Provincetown History Preservation Project.[20]