Barbara Lull
{{Short description|American violinist (1905–1978)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Barbara Lull
| image = BarbaraLull1927.png
| alt = A young woman with light skin and dark hair cut in a short bob, photographed in profile, with her upper back facing the camera
| caption = Barbara Lull, from a 1927 publication
| birth_name = Barbara Wood Lull
| birth_date = January 25, 1905
| birth_place = Belmont, California, U.S.
| death_date = May 18, 1978 (age 73)
| death_place = Berkeley, California, U.S.
| other_names = Barbara Lull Rahm, Barbara Rahm
| occupation = Violinist
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse(s) =
| relatives =
}}
Barbara Wood Lull Rahm (January 25, 1905 – May 18, 1978) was an American violinist, a student of Leopold Auer. Later in life she taught violin in Berkeley, California.
Early life and education
Lull was born in Belmont, California,{{Cite news |date=1978-07-03 |title=Barbara Lull remembered; Memorial fund established |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-berkeley-gazette-barbara-lull-rememb/162270196/ |access-date=2025-01-04 |work=The Berkeley Gazette |pages=16 |via=Newspapers.com}} and raised in Portland, Oregon,{{Cite news |date=1929-02-03 |title=Barbara Lull to Return; Ex-Portland Violinist Appears with Symphony Tomorrow |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sunday-oregonian-barbara-lull-to-ret/162270072/ |access-date=2025-01-04 |work=The Sunday Oregonian |pages=45 |via=Newspapers.com}} the daughter of Henry Morris Lull and Alice M. Woods Lull. Her mother was a violinist, and her father was a railroad executive.{{Cite journal |date=May 1949 |title=In Memoriam: Henry Morris Lull |url=https://archive.dartmouthalumnimagazine.com/article/1949/5/1/deaths |journal=Dartmouth Alumni Magazine |pages=85}} She was considered a musical prodigy.{{Cite news |date=1916-03-14 |title=Portland Girl to Appear in Concert |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-eugene-guard-portland-girl-to-appear/162272485/ |access-date=2025-01-04 |work=The Eugene Guard |pages=8 |via=Newspapers.com}} She moved to New York at age 15,{{Cite news |date=1922-12-17 |title=Oregon Artists Succeed in New York Maelstrom |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sunday-oregonian-oregon-artists-succ/162271909/ |access-date=2025-01-04 |work=The Sunday Oregonian |pages=67 |via=Newspapers.com}} and studied violin with Leopold Auer.{{Cite journal |date=January 1930 |title=Barbara Lull, Soloist |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7s8uXID63fMC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=%22Barbara%20Lull%22&pg=RA8-PA9#v=onepage&q=%22Barbara%20Lull%22&f=false |journal=The Southwestern Musicale |volume=15 |issue=10 |pages=9}}
Career
Lull played violin with a "fine-spun tone of delicate beauty and warmth, a firm bow and emotional feeling tempered with artistic restraint," according to a report in The New York Times.{{Cite news |title=Barbara Lull's Recital; Young Violinist Shows Growth as a Sincere and Talented Artist |date=November 6, 1928 |page=31 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1928/11/06/95645809.html |access-date=2025-01-04 |work=The New York Times |language=en |issn=0362-4331}} She performed at the Royal Albert Hall in 1924, sharing the bill with vocalists Evelyn Scotney and Umberto Urbano.Royal Albert Hall, Record, [https://catalogue.royalalberthall.com/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Performance&id=PERF6470 "Special Sunday Concert"] (27 April 1924).[https://books.google.com/books?id=SqGTi4fXSlMC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=Agnes%20Leist%20Beebe&pg=RA4-PA12#v=onepage&q&f=false "Violin Recital by Barbara Lull"] Music News 19(January 28, 1927): 12. In 1928, she played Aaron Copland's "Ukelele Serenade" at a concert in New York City, with Copland himself accompanying her on piano.{{Cite news |title=Barbara Lull Heard; Appears as a Full-Fledged Artist in Violin Recital |date=February 13, 1928 |page=16 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1928/02/13/91676935.html?pageNumber=16 |access-date=2025-01-04 |work=The New York Times |language=en |issn=0362-4331}} "Miss Lull plays with a vigor that results in brilliance, rhythmical accuracy and a big tone," reported The Musical Leader after a Town Hall concert in 1928.{{Cite journal |date=November 15, 1928 |title=Barbara Lull a Fascinating Violinist |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vWuoRnWvKGwC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=%22Barbara%20Lull%22&pg=RA19-PA17#v=onepage&q=%22Barbara%20Lull%22&f=false |journal=The Musical Leader |volume=55 |issue=20 |pages=17}} She toured in the United States, Canada, and Europe.{{Cite news |date=1928-12-02 |title=Second Symphony Concert Monday |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/el-paso-times-second-symphony-concert-mo/162272315/ |access-date=2025-01-04 |work=El Paso Times |pages=15 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=2025-02-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250222211541/https://www.newspapers.com/article/el-paso-times-second-symphony-concert-mo/162272315/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite journal |date=December 13, 1928 |title=Planning Concert Tour of Europe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vWuoRnWvKGwC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=%22Barbara%20Lull%22&pg=RA22-PA11#v=onepage&q=%22Barbara%20Lull%22&f=false |journal=The Musical Leader |volume=55 |issue=24 |pages=11}} She was a soloist with the Baltimore Symphony in 1932.{{Cite news |last=Taylor |first=Helen S. |date=1932-03-20 |title=Music: Many Local Interests in Program |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-music-many-local-inte/162271713/ |access-date=2025-01-04 |work=The Baltimore Sun |pages=38 |via=Newspapers.com}} She gave a recital at the Peabody Conservatory in 1933.{{Cite news |date=1933-12-03 |title=Will Play at Peabody |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-will-play-at-peabody/162272132/ |access-date=2025-01-04 |work=The Baltimore Sun |pages=40 |via=Newspapers.com}}
In later life, Lull taught violin in Berkeley, California. She was concertmaster and assistant conductor of the University of California Symphony,{{Cite news |last=Scruggs |first=Margaret |date=1950-09-27 |title=Berkeley String Ensemble Concert |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-berkeley-gazette-berkeley-string-ens/162289078/ |access-date=2025-01-05 |work=The Berkeley Gazette |pages=17 |via=Newspapers.com}} and played second violin in the Oakland Symphony.{{Cite web |title=Cecilia Augspurger Schultz photograph collection|url=https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:80444/xv88104 |access-date=2025-01-04 |website=Archives West}}
Personal life, death and legacy
Lull married engineering professor Louis Frank Rahm{{Cite web |title=Louis Frank Rahm |url=https://plasticshof.org/members/louis-frank-rahm/ |website=Plastics Hall of Fame |access-date=2025-01-04 |archive-date=2025-02-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250222211451/https://plasticshof.org/members/louis-frank-rahm/ |url-status=live }} in 1929. They lived in Princeton, New Jersey, and had two sons, Michael and Richard. They divorced in 1947, and she moved to Berkeley with her sons, and lived with her mother and younger brother there.{{Cite news |date=1958-12-19 |title=Alice W. Lull |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-berkeley-gazette-alice-w-lull/162289556/ |access-date=2025-01-05 |work=The Berkeley Gazette |pages=20 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=2025-02-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250222211342/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-berkeley-gazette-alice-w-lull/162289556/ |url-status=live }} She listed her occupation as "professional violinist" in the 1950 census.Barbara L. Rahm, 1950 United States census manuscript returns for Berkeley, California, via Ancestry. She died in 1978, at the age of 73, in Berkeley.{{Cite news |date=1978-05-21 |title=Obituary for Barbara Rahm Lull |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner-obituary-for/47211105/ |access-date=2025-01-04 |work=The San Francisco Examiner |via=Newspapers.com|pages=31}} The San Francisco Conservatory of Music has a Barbara Lull Rahm Scholarship Fund for young musicians, established as a memorial to her.{{Cite web |title=Our Impact; 2023-24 Report|url=https://www.sfcm.edu/experience/giving/our-impact-2023-24 |access-date=2025-01-04 |website=San Francisco Conservatory of Music |language=en}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- Elfenworks Productions, [https://ribbonsandbows.podbean.com/e/episode-2-part-1-1524782324/ "World War I Through the Roaring 1920s"] Ribbons & Bows Podcast (February 28, 2019); a podcast episode about American women violinists, including Lull
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Category:20th-century American violinists
Category:American women violinists
Category:American music educators
Category:American women music educators