See also

Mathilde Verne (1865-1936)

Name: Mathilde Verne
Sex: Female
Father: John Evangelist Wurm (c. 1828-1892)
Mother: Marie Sophie Niggl (c. 1833-1882)

Individual Events and Attributes

Birth 25 May 1865 12 Portland Street, Southampton
Birth fact 1865 (age 0) 1865 Jun Q, Southampton, 2c/34 (registered as Matilda Sophia Wurm)
Census 1881 (age 15-16) Living with mother in Penge
Census 1901 (age 35-36) Piano teacher, 19 St Loo Avenue, Chelsea (unmarried)
Census 1911 (age 45-46) Pianist & piano teacher, 194 Cromwell Road, London S W
Residence 1920 (age 54-55) 12 Montagu Street, Paddington (Elect. Reg.)
Death 4 Jun 1936 (age 71) Savoy Hotel, Strand, London

Individual Note 1

A pianist and piano teacher, Mathilde Verne has her main claim to fame in her discovery of the seven year-old piano prodigy Solomon (Cutner), whom she managed for five years from 1910 to 1915.

After studying for four years under Clara Schumann in Frankfurt, she became established as a concert pianist in 1887, as well as launching a career as music teacher. She taught briefly at the Royal College of Music, and later made regular appearances under Henry Wood at the Queen's Hall Promenade Concerts from 1903 to 1907, and the Sunday afternoon concerts from 1908 to 1912.

Along with most of her other sisters, Mathilde changed her name to Verne in 1893 after the death of their father John Wurm.

In 1909 the Mathilde Verne School of Pianoforte Playing opened at 194 Cromwell Road, South Kensington, and quickly gained attention with its student performances. Among numerous notable students, she taught Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, later Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

The novel "Madame Sousatzka" by Bernice Rubens (1962), made into a film in 1988 is partly based on Mathilde Verne's career.

Source: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

 

For more information on the Verne sisters and John Vallier, see the family website: http://www.keyboardgiants.com/

Individual Note 2

VERNE Mathilde Sophie of 2 Mansfield Street Portland Place Middlesex spinster died 4 June 1936 at Savoy Hotel Strand Middlesex; Administration London 13 July to Alice Barbara Bredt (wife of William Bredt). Effects £262 19s. 5d.