Victorian Guitarist of Renown
Our journey through music takes us to an intriguing Victorian guitarist, Catherina Josepha Pelzer, born in 1821 at Mulheim, on the Rhine. Her father, Ferdinand Pelzer, was an important German guitarist, who taught her to play.
She debuted in London at nine years old and her family quickly moved to England. Catherina’s distinction as a soloist grew rapidly. She gained popularity with upper crust of the day and began to teach guitar in their circles. She became a prominent teacher and several guitars were made “to her specifications” relates Freeth and Alexander and she had a photograph of herself playing one of the guitars on her visiting card, they continue.
She wrote an extensive book for classical guitar, “drawing on the work of Giuliani and Sor;” but reports Freeth and Alexander, authors of The Illustrated Directory of Guitars, the average student wasn’t interested in such a complicated text.
The authors explain that she resolved this problem by writing a simpler book entitled Learning the Guitar Simplified by Mme. Sidney Pratten. This book garnered huge success and went through twelve editions before she died in 1895.
According to dolmetsch.com she wrote 250 works and a few methods for guitar and also instructions for playing the gigliera.
She married an Englishman, Robert Sidney Pratten who played the flute and was renowned in his own right. A portrait of her is online. The addy is listed below. There is also one in the book by Nick Freeth and Charles Alexander.
References:
The Illustrated Directory of Guitars, Nick Freeth and Charles Alexander
http://www.dolmetsch.com/cdefsp.htm
http://library.csun.edu/igra/vol1/pergolesi.html
Online portrait: