Ada Elizabeth Corder
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}{{Use Australian English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Ada Elizabeth Corder
| honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=AUS|MBE|size=100%}}
| image = Ada Freeman 1930.png
| caption = Corder in 1930
| birth_name = Ada Elizabeth Freeman
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1895|03|20}}
| birth_place = Ararat, Victoria, Australia
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1987|09|27|1895|03|20}}
| death_place = Camberwell, Victoria, Australia
| alma_mater = University of Melbourne
| occupation = Pianist, music teacher
}}
Ada Elizabeth Corder (20 March 1895 – 27 September 1987) was an Australian music teacher and pianist. Best known of her pupils was Nancy Weir. She performed and taught as Ada Freeman before her marriage in 1937.
Early life and education
Corder was born at Ararat, Victoria on 20 March 1895, daughter of Ada (née Byrne) and railway employee James Charles Freeman.{{Citation |last=Matthews |first=Emma |title=Ada Elizabeth Corder (1895–1987) |work=Australian Dictionary of Biography |url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/corder-ada-elizabeth-12356 |access-date=2025-01-30 |place=Canberra |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |language=en}} She learned piano from Mother Mary Agnes during her schooling at the Faithful Companions of Jesus convent in Richmond, where soprano Stella Power was also a pupil.{{cite news |last=Sheedy |first=Frank |date=23 December 1916 |title=Talented Australians |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article254636444 |accessdate=30 January 2025 |newspaper=Richmond Guardian |location=Victoria, Australia |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia |volume= |issue=2106}} At the 1909 Australian Natives Association (ANA) Musical Competitions, she won the champion under 14 for piano solo.{{cite news |date=22 April 1909 |title=Music |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article176024412 |accessdate=30 January 2025 |newspaper=Melbourne Punch |location=Victoria, Australia |page=28 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=CX |issue=2804}} She gained honours in her Grade III piano examination in 1910.{{cite news |date=18 May 1910 |title=Universities of Melbourne and Adelaide |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article184294218 |accessdate=30 January 2025 |newspaper=The Age |location=Victoria, Australia |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia |issue=17,214}} After a concert with tenor Walter Kirby in 1911, Punch described her as "though quite a child, we have a pianist of much maturity of thought and execution".{{cite news |date=23 March 1911 |title=Music |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article175611241 |accessdate=30 January 2025 |newspaper=Melbourne Punch |location=Victoria, Australia |page=30 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=CXIV |issue=2904}} She won grand champion instrumentalist at the 1912 ANA Musical Competitions.{{cite news |date=12 December 1912 |title=Welch and Carbasse |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article175804671 |accessdate=30 January 2025 |newspaper=Melbourne Punch |location=Victoria, Australia |page=26 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=CXVII |issue=2994}}
File:Ada_Freeman_1913.png With licentiate qualifications from the LCM, she enrolled in the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music in 1913, where she was taught piano by Edward Goll. She was awarded the Ormond exhibition each year for achieving the highest marks and graduated in 1917 with a Bachelor of Music (honours).{{cite news |date=17 March 1917 |title=News and Notes |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article269663925 |accessdate=30 January 2025 |newspaper=The Sunbury News |location=Victoria, Australia |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia |issue=233}}
Career
Corder began teaching pianoforte before her graduation. She gave frequent concerts as a soloist and accompanist.{{cite news |date=31 August 1918 |title=Wool Spinning Guild |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article129613911 |accessdate=30 January 2025 |newspaper=Kyneton Guardian |location=Victoria, Australia |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia |issue=3126}} She first performed with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 1918.{{cite news |date=20 June 1918 |title=Music |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article130036365 |accessdate=30 January 2025 |newspaper=Melbourne Punch |location=Victoria, Australia |page=37 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=CXXVIII |issue=3282}}
She was sought after as a piano teacher and nurtured the careers of students such as Esther Rofe, Geoffrey Saba and Nancy Weir. She accompanied the latter to Berlin in 1930 where both student and teacher took lessons from Artur Schnabel. Years later she and Weir established the Australian Musicians Overseas Scholarship.
Honours and recognition
Corder was awarded honorary life membership of the Victorian Music Teachers Association. She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1975 New Year Honours for service to music.{{Cite web |title=Mrs Ada Elizabeth CORDER |url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1085263 |access-date=2025-01-30 |website=Australian Honours Search Facility}}
Personal and death
References
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Category:Australian Members of the Order of the British Empire