Rose Ethel Bassin

Rose Ethel Bassin (1889 – 29 April 1974), LRAM, ARCM, was a Scottish writer, music educator, and folklorist, known for her work in British Columbia in the 1930s, and for her biography of folklorist Frances Tolmie, published posthumously in 1977.

Rose Ethel Bassin

LRAM, ARCM
A newspaper photo of a white woman with bobbed wavy hair, wearing eyeglasses
Rose Ethel Bassin, from a 1933 publication
Born1889
Edinburgh
Died1974
Other namesEthel Bassin
Occupation(s)Biographer, music educator, folklorist
Parent

Early life and education

Bassin was born in Edinburgh,[1] the daughter of Elieser Bassin and Fanny Bassin.[2] Her father was an immigrant from Russia; he was raised in a Jewish household, but became a Christian convert and missionary as a young man.[3] She attended George Watson's Ladies College in Edinburgh, and earned certificates at the Royal Academy of Music in Manchester and London. In 1915, she was the first graduate of the music teacher training program at Moray House.[1] She studied music under Marjory Kennedy-Fraser.[4][5]

Career

Bassin taught at schools in Scotland and England, including stints in the Hebrides.[1] From 1927 to 1934[6] she was a lecturer at the University of British Columbia.[4] While she was teaching in western Canada, she wrote a play for the Vancouver Sea Music Festival in 1930,[5][7] directed musical pageants,[8][9][10] lectured and wrote about music,[5][11] judged folk music competitions,[12] collected and arranged folk songs,[13] and performed in concerts as a singer[14] and a pianist.[15][16] In 1935, she was hired to teach music to unemployed girls in Glasgow.[17] She also edited a magazine, Rural Music, for the Federation of Rural Music Schools.[18]

Bassin retired from schoolwork in 1949, but continued to teach privately,[4] and give talks about her work.[19] She was a subscribing member of the Gaelic Society of Inverness,[20] and contributed articles to the Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society.[21][22] She was a member of the Scottish School Music Association in the 1940s.[23] Poet Sorley MacLean was one of her students.[1] Her last and most substantial work, a biography of Frances Tolmie, was published posthumously in 1977.[24]

Publications
  • "Gaelic Mods in the Western Isles" (1938)[25]
  • "Old Devonshire House is Now Museum and Center for Study of Old Instruments and Music" (1938)[26]
  • "Frances Tolmie (1840–1926)" (1948)[21]
  • "Margaret Kennedy-Fraser and Songs of the Hebrides" (1948)[21]
  • "The Tolmie Manuscripts" (1951)[22]
  • "Frances Tolmie and Her Songs" (1960)[27]
  • "The Tolmie Journal: A Note on the Corrigenda" (1961)[28]
  • The Old Songs of Skye: Frances Tolmie and her Circle (1977)[24]

Personal life

Bassin died in 1974, at the age of 85.[1][29] There is a collection of her papers housed at the National Library of Scotland.[4]

References
  1. Macleod, Morag; Munro, Ailie (1974). "Ethel Rose Bassin, 1889-1974". Folk Music Journal. 2 (5): 423 – via JStor.
  2. In the 1891 British census, Bassin was a toddler living with her parents Elieser Bassin and Fanny Bassin, and her younger brother Theodore A. Bassin, and a servant, Jane Beddie, in Edinburgh; her father's occupation was given as "missionary"; via Ancestry.
  3. Singer, Isidore; Broydé, Isaac. "Bassin, Eliezer". Jewish Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2023-09-15.
  4. "Papers of and relating to Rose Ethel Bassin, collector of Scottish songs and music teacher, Edinburgh". Catalogue of Archives and Manuscripts Collections, National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 2023-09-15.
  5. "National Song is Potent Force for Friendship; Miss Ethel Bassin, Musician and Journalist, Week-end Visitor". Edmonton Journal. 1934-12-17. p. 16. Retrieved 2023-09-15 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Farewell Recital; Miss Ethel Bassin Leaves Soon for Scotland". The Vancouver News-Herald. 1934-12-01. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-09-15 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. "A Festival of Sea Music". The Baltimore Sun. 1930-02-02. p. 53. Retrieved 2023-09-15 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "Colorful French Pageant at U. B. C." The Vancouver Sun. 1933-11-30. p. 11. Retrieved 2023-09-15 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. "Director". The Province. 1933-11-25. p. 12. Retrieved 2023-09-15 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Director". The Province. 1933-02-01. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-09-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. "Ethel Bassin Will Present Demonstration". The Province. 1934-05-26. p. 10. Retrieved 2023-09-15 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. "Assistant Judge". The Vancouver Sun. 1933-09-18. p. 9. Retrieved 2023-09-15 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. "Ethel Bassin Honored by Onegin; Famous Contralto Pays Tribute to Vancouver Musician". The Province. 1934-11-10. p. 8. Retrieved 2023-09-15 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. "Varied Program at University Women's Club". The Vancouver Sun. 1931-10-14. p. 15. Retrieved 2023-09-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. "Concert Series is Planned by Pupils of Templeton High". The Vancouver Sun. 1929-11-23. p. 35. Retrieved 2023-09-15 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. "To Give Recital". The Vancouver News-Herald. 1934-06-06. p. 5. Retrieved 2023-09-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. "Glasgow Music Post for Miss Bassin". The Vancouver Sun. 1935-04-18. p. 6. Retrieved 2023-09-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. "New Music Magazine". Oban Times and Argyllshire Advertiser. 7 August 1937. p. 3. Retrieved September 15, 2023 – via The British Newspaper Archive, via The Wikipedia Library.
  19. "Collecting Hebridean Songs; Talk by Miss Ethel Bassin". Oban Times and Argyllshire Advertiser. 3 February 1951. p. 3. Retrieved September 15, 2023 – via The British Newspaper Archive, via The Wikipedia Library.
  20. "Subscribing members" Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness 46(1969–1970): 356.
  21. Williams, Ralph Vaughan; Howes, Frank; Karpeles, Maud; Bassin, Rose Ethel (1948). "Portraits". Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society. 5 (3): 127–146. ISSN 0071-0563.
  22. Bassin, Rose Ethel (1951). "The Tolmie Manuscripts". Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society. 6 (3): 61–68. ISSN 0071-0563.
  23. "Music Teachers Seek Better Conditions". The Perthshire Advertiser, etc. 1946-05-08. p. 7. Retrieved 2023-09-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. Bassin, Ethel (1977). Bowman, Derek (ed.). The old songs of Skye: Francis Tolmie and her circle. London henley: Routledge & Kegan Paul. ISBN 978-0-7100-8546-7.
  25. Bassin, Ethel (1938). "Gaelic Mods in the Western Isles. Skye, June 21 and 22 - Lewis, June 23 and 24". The Musical Times. 79 (1147): 704–705. ISSN 0027-4666.
  26. Bassin, Ethel (1938-04-02). "Old Devonshire House is Now Museum and Center for Study of Old Instruments and Music". The Ottawa Citizen. p. 12. Retrieved 2023-09-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. Bassin, Ethel (1960). "Frances Tolmie and Her Songs". Clan MacLeod Magazine. 3 (25): 255–259.
  28. Bassin, Ethel (1961). "The Tolmie Journal: A Note on the Corrigenda". Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society. 9 (2): 91–92. ISSN 0071-0563.
  29. "Skye Song Collector". The Scotsman. 25 June 1977. p. 18 – via The British Newspaper Archive, via The Wikipedia Library.
  • "Ethel Bassin" Airidh air Urram (30 June 2013), a half-hour radio program about Ethel Bassin, on BBC Radio nan Gàidheal
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