Cecile Stevens

Cecile Ann Stevens Molloy LRAM (1896 – 9 October 1970) was an Australian violinist.

Cecile Stevens

LRAM
A white woman, head tilted back, with curly hair, wearing a dark scarf around her neck
Cecile Stevens, from a 1922 publication
Born
Cecile Ann Stevens

1896
Sydney
Died9 October 1970
Other namesCecile Molloy (married name)
OccupationViolinist

Early life

Stevens was from Sydney, daughter of composer and organist John Michael Stevens and Kathleen Mary Noonan Stevens.[1][2][3] As a child musician,[4] she was conductor of the Parramatta Convention Orchestra in Sydney. She won a scholarship to attend the Royal Academy of Music in London.[5]

Career

Stevens played a Nicola Amati violin, a gift from her father.[6][7] She played for Princess Mary and entertained wounded troops while performing in Great Britain during World War I, sometimes sharing the bill with Lena Ashwell.[8] She made a two-year tour of English vaudeville theatres.[5]

She toured in Canada and the United States after the war,[8][9] and toured in Australia and New Zealand in 1921.[10][11] "Miss Cecile Stevens is a talented young violinist with a distinguished grace and charm characteristic of her wonderful ability," noted a New Zealand newspaper.[12] She gave radio concerts and made recordings, including a film, in the United States in 1922.[13][14] She returned to London in the early 1920s,[15] and played in London theatres.[16] After she married in 1929, she moved to East Africa.[17][18][19]

Personal life

Stevens married Michael Aloysius Molloy in 1929, in London.[15] She lived with her husband, an Irish veterinary officer,[20] in Tanganyika Territory,[21][22] at least until he retired in 1950.[23]

Stevens died in Sydney on 9 October 1970 and was survived by her husband.[24]

References
  1. Old Chum (16 May 1926). ""Old Sydney"". Truth. p. 24. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via Trove.
  2. "Miss Cecile Stevens". Freeman's Journal. 7 March 1912. p. 29. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via Trove.
  3. "MR. J. M. STEVENS". Truth. 30 November 1913. p. 4. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via Trove.
  4. "Miss Cecile Stevens". Sydney Morning Herald. 1 November 1911. p. 17. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via Trove.
  5. "De Luxe Star Plays for Radio" The Music Trade Review (July 15, 1922): 23.
  6. "Miss Cecile Stevens". Toowoomba Chronicle. 17 October 1921. p. 6. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via Trove.
  7. Dougherty, Henry E. (15 May 1922). "Historic Violin is Brought to Los Angeles; Famous Amati, 300 years old, Valued at $40,000". Los Angeles Evening Express. p. 19. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "Miss Stevens Chats with the 'World'". World. 4 November 1921. p. 2. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via Trove.
  9. "Australian Violinist California Soloist". San Francisco Call. 1 July 1920. p. 3. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  10. "Amusements: Miss Cecile Stevens". Advocate. 24 November 1921. p. 2. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via Trove.
  11. "Princess Theatre (advertisement)". Evening Star. 21 April 1921. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via Papers Past.
  12. "Carrie Lanceley; Bright Entertainment at Opera House". Gisborne Times. 19 May 1921. p. 7. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via Papers Past.
  13. "New York Favorites Entertaining from Station WJZ" (PDF). Radio Broadcasting News. 1 July 1922. p. 9. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  14. "Cecile Stevens, Australian Violinist and Art De Luxe Artist, Delights Radio Audience". The Music Trades. 64: 16. 22 July 1922.
  15. "Weddings: Molloy-Stevens". Freeman's Journal. 10 October 1929. p. 34. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via Trove.
  16. "Player's Gossip". Herald. 5 September 1925. p. 22. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via Trove.
  17. "Melbourne Music Heard in East Africa". The Age. 4 February 1950. p. 6. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. "'She Just Adores Lions'". Sydney Morning Herald. 2 August 1946. p. 5. Retrieved 25 October 2021 – via Trove.
  19. "Even if You Do Meet a Lion or Two on the Road Life in Africa is Not So Wild". Argus. 25 July 1946. p. 8. Retrieved 25 October 2021 – via Trove.
  20. Great Britain Colonial Office (1937). Tanganyika Under United Kingdom Administration: Report by Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the General Assembly of the United Nations. H.M. Stationery Office. p. 15.
  21. "The Life of Melbourne: An Historic Violin". Argus. 27 July 1946. p. 11. Retrieved 24 October 2021 – via Trove.
  22. "First Aid for Rhino". Weekly Times. 8 March 1950. p. 40. Retrieved 25 October 2021 – via Trove.
  23. "Visitors from Tanganyika". Forbes Advocate. 21 April 1950. p. 2. Retrieved 25 October 2021 – via Trove.
  24. "Deaths". The Sydney Morning Herald. 12 October 1970. p. 34.
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