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.

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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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