author
Leonora Speyer
1872–1956
A gifted violinist who later found equal acclaim as a poet, she brought music, wit, and emotional precision to her writing. Best remembered for Fiddler’s Farewell, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1927.
1 Audiobook
Fiddler's farewell
by Leonora Speyer
About the author
Born in Washington, D.C., in 1872, Leonora Speyer was an American poet and violinist whose life moved between concert halls and literary circles. She was known as Leonora von Stosch before her marriage to Sir Edgar Speyer, and her background in music remained central to the rhythm and feeling of her work.
Her poetry gained wide recognition in the 1920s. Fiddler’s Farewell, published in 1926, won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1927, and her writing was often noted for its lyric grace and musical sensibility. She also published collections including A Canopic Jar and, later, Slow Wall: Poems Together with Nor Without Music.
She died in New York City in 1956. Today she is remembered as a distinctive voice who united two arts—music and poetry—with unusual elegance and warmth.