music.wikisort.org - Musician

Ida Geer Weller (1881-1944) was an American concert singer and clubwoman.

Early life

Ida Geer was from Beaver, Pennsylvania.[1]

Career

Ida Geer Weller was a mezzo-contralto. Her voice was described as being "of great range and flexibility, large in natural volume, but leading itself easily to lighter work."[2] She started performing in Pittsburgh as a concert singer, and as president of the South Hills Choral Club.[3] During World War I she substituted for a Pittsburgh church soloist who was called into military service; she was also a soloist at the city's YMCA celebration of the Fourth of July in 1918.[4]

In New York, Weller performed concerts for radio.[5][6] "I believe radio will have a marked effect on the people of tomorrow," she explained in a 1922 interview, "the children of today."[7] She also wrote about music in essays such as "Music Aids His Return to Health" (1920)[8] and "Songs Reflect Colors" (1921), in which she describes how a recital program is best assembled.[9]

Weller was also interested in psychology. She gave an address on "The Psychology of Americanization" to the Psychology Club in Nashville, Tennessee,[10] while she was in that city to perform.[11] She also appeared as "guest of honor" of the Rotary Club in Nashville during her visit.[12] In 1928 she was a leader of the New York chapters of Women of Mooseheart Legion, a women's auxiliary of the Loyal Order of Moose.[13][14]

Later years in Beaver

She moved back to her hometown in Pennsylvania in 1934; that year, she started a "morning musicale" club in Beaver.[15] In the late 1930s, she chaired an annual juried art exhibit in Beaver, and raised money for arts education.[16][17] In 1938 she was director of the Music and Art Center of Beaver County.[18] She died in 1944, in her early sixties.

References

External links

• Ida Geer Weller's gravesite in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, on Find a Grave.

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