Valentina Crespi

Valentina Crespi (March 14, 1892 – after 1959 ) was an Italian-American violinist and composer, based in New York City in the 1910s and 1920s. Early life and education Crespi was described as being from Milan, the daughter of Lucrezia Crespi, and a “protegee of the Queen of Roumania”. She trained with in Paris, and with Jenő Hubay in Budapest. Career Crespi was a “celebrated violinist” who toured in the United States, Canada, and Europe. She played Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D at the Promenade Concerts in London in 1912. “Her technique is excellent and she gave the work with intelligence and artistic insight of no small order for a young violinist”, reported the Musical News of her Proms appearance. She also played at Bechstein Hall in 1912 and 1914. In 1914, a British collector gave Crespi a manuscript of a “secret exercise” written by Niccolò Paganini, along with a letter in Paganini’s hand. Crespi lived in New York City in the 1910s and 1920s. She performed at a “socialst musical festival” in Carnegie Hall in 1914. She gave concerts in Maine and Michigan in 1915. In 1916 she played at a benefit for the Italian Red Cross the Biltmore Hotel, and for the Humanitarian Cult at