Tua, Teresina (actually, Maria Felicita)

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Tua, Teresina (actually, Maria Felicita)

Tua, Teresina (actually, Maria Felicità), Italian violinist; b. Turin, May 22, 1867; d. Rome, Oct. 29, 1955. She studied with Massart at the Paris Cons., where she took the 1stprize in 1880. She toured the Continent with brilliant success; made her English debut at the Crystal Palace in London, May 5, 1883; appeared in America (1887). In 1889 she married Count Franchi-Verney della Valetta, and withdrew from the concert stage until the autumn of 1895, when she set out on a successful European tour, including Russia, where her accompanist and joint artist was Rachmaninoff. Franchi died in 1911; in 1913 she married Emilio Quadrio. She taught at the Milan Cons. from 1915 to 1924, and then at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome; subsequently abandoned her career, and entered the Convento dell’Adorazione in Rome as Sister Maria di Gesù.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire