Mabel Wagnalls

author

Mabel Wagnalls

1871–1946

A concert pianist who also wrote novels, poetry, and musical books, she brought a wide artistic life to the page. She is also remembered for creating the Wagnalls Memorial Library in Ohio as a lasting gift in honor of her parents.

1 Audiobook

Stars of the Opera A Description of Operas & a Series of Personal Interviews with Marcela Sembrich, Emma Eames, Emma Calvé, Lillian Nordica, Lilli Lehmann, Geraldine Farrar & Nellie Melba

Stars of the Opera A Description of Operas & a Series of Personal Interviews with Marcela Sembrich, Emma Eames, Emma Calvé, Lillian Nordica, Lilli Lehmann, Geraldine Farrar & Nellie Melba

by Mabel Wagnalls

About the author

Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Mabel Wagnalls was the only child of Adam and Anna Willis Wagnalls. She was educated at home and, as a teenager, went to Europe with her mother to study piano, later making her debut as a concert pianist in Berlin.

Alongside music, she built a writing career that included fiction, poetry, and books connected to opera and musical culture. Sources describe her as both a pianist and writer, and works associated with her include The Rose-bush of a Thousand Years and other literary and music-related books.

She is especially remembered for founding the Wagnalls Memorial Library in Lithopolis, Ohio, dedicating it in memory of her parents. That gift helped turn her family name into something more than a publishing legacy: a community institution meant to support reading, learning, and the arts.