Music Memories: Frieda Rieck

Frieda Rieck

The Cape Girardeau Central High School Orchestra recently celebrated its 100th year in the Cape Girardeau Public School System. Frieda Rieck was its director from 1921 through 1946.

Frieda Rieck was born in St. James, Mo., in 1892. She began studying the violin at the age of six. In 1907, the Rieck family moved to Cape Girardeau. Rieck’s father, Frederick, supervised the construction of the rail system in Southeast Missouri.

Given Frederick’s position with the Frisco Railroad, the family was well-off, and the family assumed a rank of importance in the local community. Rieck attended the State Normal School and graduated in 1910. She studied violin and piano with Nora Naeter, who was a member of the Music Department. After high school, she attended the Southeast Missouri State Teachers College, earning enough hours to obtain a teaching certificate. From 1913 to 1914, Rieck studied violin with Walter Detlefs at the Klindwoth-Schwenka Conservatory in Berlin, Germany.

Considering the social attitudes of the time, it would have been adventuresome for a 20- to 21-year-old unmarried female to travel to Berlin unaccompanied. Rieck returned to Cape Girardeau in 1914 when World War I hostilities broke out in Europe. Between 1914 and 1916, she resumed studies at the Teachers College. While still a student, Rieck was hired by Dr. W.S. Dearmont to teach violin in the Music Department, largely due to her studies in Berlin.

Rieck spent 1916 and 1917 in the Oakland-San Francisco area in order to study with Louis Persinger. Persinger was noteworthy because of his association with renowned violinist Yehudi Menuhin. After additional studies in New York City and Denver, Rieck returned to Cape Girardeau and established a teaching studio in August 1919. In addition to managing a robust teaching studio, Rieck performed in and around Cape frequently, often with Nora Naeter accompanying on piano.

In 1921, Rieck was hired to teach music in Cape Public Schools. By the 1924-1925 school year, she was successful in developing junior and senior high orchestras, as well as the first high school band. By 1929, Rieck was in charge of six chorus classes, band, orchestra, and a drum and bugle corps, in addition to elementary teaching duties. It is reasonable to assume she may have been overwhelmed by these responsibilities. In 1930, William Shivelbine was hired to take charge of instrumental music in the elementary schools and the Cape Central Band.

The Great Depression of the 1930s seemed to have little or no effect on the music in Cape Public Schools. Approximately 50% of the student body was involved in music programs at Cape Central High. Three students represented Cape Central in the 1931-32 Missouri All State Orchestra in St. Louis. Violinists Mary Elizabeth Kinnison and Rush Limbaugh and flutist Dick Brandt were the first high school musicians from Cape to attend a Missouri All-State event in music.

Rieck was instrumental in securing and arranging performances by professional music groups at Cape Central High School and in the Cape Girardeau community. Performances of note presented at Cape Central were the Zimmer Harp Trio of Boston in 1931, Dutch cellist Philip Abbus in 1933 and members of the St. Louis Symphony who performed as a wind ensemble in 1939. Other significant area community performances initiated by Rieck were violinists Albert Spalding in 1943 and Yehudi Menuhin in 1945. She often sponsored student trips to attend St. Louis Symphony concerts.

The onset of World War II made an impact on music education in the 1940s. Rationing reduced the availability of quality instruments. Gas rationing eliminated field trips, the Cape Central Tiger school newspaper was not published during 1940-1941, and the Cape Central yearbook was not published in 1943 and 1944.

In spite of the challenges of the war, 1942 marked the appearance of the Cape Girardeau Symphony, under the direction of Rieck. She organized the civic symphony with financial backing from the American Legion. The orchestra, composed of 57 musicians, rehearsed for an entire year before its debut performance in Academic Auditorium on May 11, 1942. The Southeast Missourian reported of the orchestra: “A good many of the members are youngsters, but all are well-grounded in music and particularly their chosen instrument. Enough adults are in the personnel to give it the seasoning of experience.”

Symphony concerts were sporadic during the war years but enjoyed overwhelming support. Gaps in instrumentation were often filled by hiring players from the St. Louis Symphony. From the late 1940s until the early 1960s, the orchestra presented three annual concerts and numerous performances in nearby towns.

In February 1946, Rieck resigned abruptly from Cape Girardeau Public Schools to assume a position at Southeast Missouri State College. Rieck completed her work at Cape Central on Feb. 14 and took over some of the duties of Miss Wilhelmina Vieh at the College. In that same year, Rieck became the chair of the Music Department at Southeast Missouri State University and held that position until she retired in 1962. As department chair, she was instrumental in the completion of the $650,000 music building, which became known as Brandt Music Hall.

Rieck died Dec. 8, 1979, at age 87. As a noted force in the field of music and music education, she was remembered for her contributions to the arts and for her community endeavors. A funeral mass was held Dec. 11 at Old St. Vincent’s Church, with Father Bernard Degan officiating. She is buried at the new Lorimier Cemetery in Cape Girardeau.

Steve Schaffner is the director of the Music Academy at Southeast Missouri State University. Previously, he was the orchestra director for Cape Girardeau Public Schools and Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School in Augusta, Ga. He has performed and/or directed in 48 states and 11 countries.