Annie Jessy Curwen

Annie Jessy Curwen (1845 – 22 April 1932), born Annie Jessy Gregg, usually known from her books as Mrs. Curwen or Mrs. J. Spencer Curwen, was a writer of books aimed at children and related ones aimed at music teachers, on music theory and performance, and particularly piano playing, which were published by J. Curwen & Sons Ltd. of London in the late 19th century.

Biography

Annie Curwen, née Gregg, was born in Dublin, the daughter of a solicitor. She studied the piano with Joseph Robinson, Fanny Robinson, and Robert Prescott Stewart at the Royal Irish Academy of Music from 1857 to 1865, then after graduation she taught piano in Dublin until 1876. She then moved to Scotland, where she met the music educator John Curwen, a great advocate of the tonic sol-fa method for singing, which she adapted for the piano. Curwen was delighted when she married his eldest son, John Spencer Curwen, in 1877, and all her books were published under her married name by her father-in-law's publishing company. She died in Dublin.