Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge

Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge by John Singer Sargent. 1923 Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge aka Liz Coolidge (30 October 1864 - 4 November 1953), born Elizabeth Penn Sprague, was an American pianist and patron of music, especially of chamber music. Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge's father was a wealthy wholesale dealer in Chicago. She was musically talented and studied piano as well as composition. She married the physician Frederic Shurtleff Coolidge who died from syphilis contracted from a patient during surgery, leaving her with their only child Albert. Soon after, her parents died as well. She inherited a considerable amount of money from her parents and decided to spend it on promotion of chamber music, a mission she continued to carry out until her death at the age of 89 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Due to her husband's profession, she also gave financial support to medical institutions. Coolidge's financial resources were not unlimited but through force of personality and conviction ... (see more)