Frieda Peycke Papers (Ms.2020.003)

Biographical/Historical Note

Frieda Peycke (born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1884 and died in Los Angeles, California in 1964) was a pianist, composer, and performer who rose to prominence in the early 20th century as a diseuse. Peycke wrote and performed her own musical settings for popular poetry and prose of the time. A diseuse is defined as a female who performed monologues; however, she rejected the labels of both elocutionist and monolinguist and billed herself instead as a “Pianist, Composer, Interpreter” whose compositions were “Musically Illustrated Readings – Music that Speaks – Poems that Sing.” She toured across the United States as a solo performer doing her own material during much of the first half of the 20th century. During this same time, dozens of her compositions spent several decades in print for leading musical publishers. In her later years, she slowed her performance schedule and focused instead on instruction of her many students in piano, composition, and musical readings.

Peycke began training as a concert pianist at a young age and, after relocating to Los Angeles in her early twenties began composing her own musical material in earnest at the urging of her mentor, Fred C. Gamble. Her decade long friendship and mentorship of Fred C. Gamble’s son, Frederick Gamble, shaped much of this collection as nearly all the correspondence is addressed to him and the collection itself was acquired from him. Peycke typically began her compositions by finding contemporary popular poetry and prose written by others that appealed to her and then writing piano music that could accompany a reading of the material. Her vocal performances then struck a balance between singing and elocution that was her own unique style that she was able to popularize and spread to other performers of the time.

Peycke was also active in civic and religious matters throughout her time in Los Angeles. She was an advocate for and frequent performer at the Hollywood Bowl. She was a member of and former president of both the Hollywood Community Sing and The Dominant Club.

Peycke was married, in her middle age, to George Holman, a widower from Texas whose children were fully grown at the time of their nuptials. Holman died shortly after their marriage.