Woman of the Century/Lillie Berg

BERG, Miss Lillie, musician and musical educator, was born in New York City. Her father LILLIE BERG. was a German of noble birth, and her mother was a New England woman with a proud English ancestry. Miss Berg passed her childhood in Stuttgart, Germany, where she was thoroughly trained in piano, organ and harmony by professors Lebert, Paisst and Stark. She was graduated from the Royal School in Stuttgart, attending at the same time the Conservatory of Music. Professors Lebert and Stark complimented her by sending to her pupils to prepare in piano and harmony for their classes, while under the direction of the organ teacher, Dr. Faisst, she was organist and choir director of one of the most prominent churches in that city. Her precociousness caused such musical authorities a«- Julius Benedict and Emma Albani to advise her to devote her attention to her voice, predicting for her a brilliant future. Mine. Albani directed her to her own master, Lamperti. Lamperti, soon perceiving the ability of his new pupil, gave her the position of accompanist, whic h she held for three years, enabling her to note the artistic and vocal training of many of the most famous artists on the operatic and concert stages. In America she holds the position of the foremost exponent of the Lamperti school and she studies every season indefatigably with the famous artists and great teachers of the Old World. Among these have been Theresa Brambilla, Mme. Filippi, Stockhausen, the late Mme. Rudersdorf, Mme. Marchesi, and Delia Sedie, of Paris, William Shakespeare and Randegger. She has developed a "method" which is distinctively her own, and she has an extraordinary knowledge of the art of song. She has the friendship of the majority of modern composers of note, and she aims to combine modern progressiveness and dramatic interpretation with strict adherence to purity and beauty of tone production. She passes the spring season of each year in London, England. Miss Berg possesses a clear soprano voice. She is constantly engaged in arranging concerts and classical recitals in and out of New York. She has also organized quartets and choruses. To Miss Berg belongs, it is believed, the honor of being the first woman musician in America to wield the baton at a public performance. In April, 1891, she conducted Smart's cantata, "King Rent's Daughter," before an audience which crowded the new Carnegie Hall, New York. The amount of artistic work which she accomplishes is the more astonishing, as she personally instructs an extraordinarily large number of private pupils, professionals and distinguished amateurs, conducts and leads classes and choruses in her private music school, and is in constant demand at social gatherings. Miss Lillie Berg is more widely versatile in her intellectuality than is usual with musicians She is well versed in philosophy, art, history, poetry, political science and social lore, has traveled extensively, and can speak five languages with fluency.