Josephine Trott

Josephine Augusta Trott (December 24, 1874 - March 2, 1950) was an American author, composer, and music educator who sometimes wrote under the pseudonym Colin Shepherd.{{Cite web|title=Blog Archives|url=http://www.violinmusicbywomen.com/1/archives/03-2012|access-date=2021-05-24|website=Violin Music by Women: A Graded Anthology|language=en}} Her violin pedagogy books are still in use today.{{Cite book|last=Cohen|first=Aaron I.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/16714846|title=International encyclopedia of women composers|date=1987|isbn=0-9617485-2-4|edition=Second edition, revised and enlarged|location=New York|oclc=16714846}}

Trott was born in Wilmington, Illinois, to Dr. Stenson E. and Augusta J. Trott.{{Cite web|title=Josephine Trott - Violinwiki|url=https://www.violinwiki.org/wiki/Josephine_Trott|access-date=2021-05-24|website=Violinwiki.org|language=en}} Although she never married, she adopted a daughter, Riccarda McQuie, who went on to play violin in the Denver Symphony for 29 years. Trott's book, On Demande une Maman, published under her pseudonym Colin Shepherd, was actually a fictionalized version of McQuie's story.

Trott taught at the Hull House Music School, which was established in Chicago in 1893. She also studied and taught violin in Berlin and Paris. She lived in Denver during the 1920s where she maintained a studio on Humboldt Street.{{Cite web|title=Josephine Trott|url=https://www.weaccompany.com/composer/trott-josephine/5fdfaf10570dc678da8eb367|access-date=2021-05-24|website=www.weaccompany.com|language=en}} During this time, Trott helped established the Civic Symphony, which then became the Denver Symphony and today is the Colorado Symphony.{{cite web |title=Denver Symphony Orchestra and Association papers, 1922-1990 |url=http://eadsrv.denverlibrary.org/sdx/pl/doc-tdm.xsp?id=WH941_d0e33&fmt=text&base=fa |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725231338/http://eadsrv.denverlibrary.org/sdx/pl/doc-tdm.xsp?id=WH941_d0e33&fmt=text&base=fa |archive-date=2011-07-25 |website=Denver Public Library archival collection |access-date=8 October 2022}} The Denver Symphony gave its first performance on May 4, 1922. In 1932, Trott published an English translation of a French book on William the Conqueror by Lucie Delarue-Mardrus.

Trott died in Topeka, Kansas.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NuAKAQAAIAAJ&q=Josephine+Trott+composer|title=The Music Magazine/Musical Courier|date=1950|language=en}} She left the royalties from her publications to the Josephine Trott Memorial Scholarship Fund of the National Federation of Music Clubs. Her music was published by G. Schirmer Inc., Clayton F. Summy Co., and Weekes & Co. Her publications include: