Leila Holterhoff

Leila Holterhoff (October 29, 1885 – February 21, 1968) was an American soprano concert singer from Los Angeles, California, who later (as Leila Mosher) became a psychoanalyst, translator, and philanthropist.

Leila Holterhoff, from a 1916 publication
Leila Holterhoff on horseback, from a 1917 publication

Early life

Leila S. Holterhoff was born in Dayton, Ohio and raised in the West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles,[1] the daughter of Godfrey Holterhoff Jr. and Louise Schaeffer Lewis Holterhoff. Her father was a railroad, oil, and banking executive.[2] Her aunt, Ida Holterhoff Holloway, was a notable painter based in Ohio.

Leila Holterhoff was blind from infancy. She attended the Marlborough School in Los Angeles. She studied piano as a girl, but concentrated on voice and languages when she traveled to Paris, Florence, and Berlin for further studies, especially with Edgar Stillman Kelley.[3] She also earned a California teaching certificate in Latin.[4]

Careers

Holterhoff performed to acclaim in Berlin in 1910.[5] In 1911 she gave a series of concerts to benefit the Grand Ducal Institute for the Blind.[6] On her return to North America, Holterhoff performed across the United States in 1910s, sometimes billed as "the Helen Keller of music.[7] After her Chicago debut at the Ziegfeld Theatre in 1917, where a reporter found "the quality of the voice is exceedingly sweet and this – coupled with an engaging gentleness of manner in the singer combines to make her thoroughly charming."[8]

Later in 1917, she gave a concert at Aeolian Hall in New York to benefit "blind soldiers in France".[9] She became interested in helping disabled veterans more directly.[10][11] After studying medicine and psychology at Columbia University and earning a medical degree in the 1920s, Leila Mosher earned another professional degree from the University of Vienna.[12][13] She co-authored a book in French with René Maublanc, on blindness. Using her fluency in European languages, she worked as a translator at the First International Conference for the Blind in New York in 1931, sponsored by the American Foundation for the Blind.[14] Also in 1931, she also worked with the League of Nations in Geneva, for the International Bureau of Labor, on immigration issues.[12]

Personal life

She was married twice, first to Bernard George Heyn in 1923;[15] they divorced in 1925.[16] Her second marriage was to Evan Royal Mosher by 1927.[10] She and Mosher adopted two children, Ann and Allen. Leila Holterhoff Mosher died in 1968, aged 82 years, in Coronado, California.

References
  1. "Sweet Blind Angeleno Singer Arranges to Tour America" Los Angeles Times (January 29, 1911): II10.
  2. "Made Good, Though Ill" St. Louis Star and Times (August 17, 1913): 33. via Newspapers.com
  3. "Los Angeles Girl Singer Triumphant in Berlin" Los Angeles Times (April 24, 1910): II13.
  4. "Leila Holterhoff" Outlook for the Blind (Autumn 1916): 84.
  5. "Blind Los Angeles Girl is Singing in Berlin" Los Angeles Herald (July 9, 1910): 3. via California Digital Newspapers Collection
  6. "Blind Girl Wins Musical Honors in Europe" San Francisco Chronicle (January 22, 1911): 41. via Newspapers.com
  7. "Los Angeles Girl named 'Helen Keller of Music'" Los Angeles Times (May 22, 1910): II22.
  8. "Leila Holterhoff in Recital" Music News (February 2, 1917): 15.
  9. Untitled news item, The Musical Leader (December 20, 1917): 652.
  10. "Sightless Genius to Wed Here" Los Angeles Times (November 29, 1926): A1.
  11. "Dedicates Self to Service" Los Angeles Times (July 19, 1920): 13. via Newspapers.com
  12. "Unique Career Achieved by Talented Matron" Los Angeles Times (January 17, 1937): 67. via Newspapers.com
  13. "Mosher Rites" Independent Press-Telegram (February 4, 1968): 2. via Newspapers.com
  14. "Blind Linguist Returns Home" Los Angeles Times (May 22, 1931): A1.
  15. "Mme. Leila Holterhoff Heyn" Annual Report of the Delaware Commission for the Blind (1924): 16.
  16. "French Court Rules 'Indifference' is Ground for Divorce" Arizona Republic (December 11, 1925): 15. via Newspapers.com
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