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Rose and Ottilie Sutro


Rose Sutro (15 September 1870 – 11 January 1957) and Ottilie Sutro (4 January 1872 – 12 September 1970) were American sisters who were notable as one of the first recognised duo-piano teams. It has been claimed they were the first such team, but Willi and Louis Thern preceded them by almost 30 years. They had a significant association with the German composer Max Bruch.

Rose Laura Sutro and Ottilie Sutro were both born in Baltimore. Their parents were Otto Sutro (a German-born organist, composer, music publisher, and conductor of the Oratorio Society of Baltimore); and Arianna née Handy (a pianist, singer, and daughter of a former chief justice of Mississippi). Their uncle was Adolph Sutro, Mayor of San Francisco and founder of the Sutro Baths.

They were initially taught the piano by their mother. They studied in Berlin at the Royal Hochschule für Musik under Karl Heinrich Barth, and made their debut in London in July 1894. Their American debut was with the Seidl Society in Brooklyn, New York on 13 November of the same year, in a Bach concerto. They toured in the United States and Europe.

Ottilie injured her hand in 1904, making her unable to perform until 1910. She made an arrangement for two pianos of Frédéric Chopin's Nocturne No. 2 in E-flat, Op. 9, No. 2, which has been recorded by Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow. She also arranged Edward MacDowell's Dirge, and, with William Henry Humiston, MacDowell's Love Song, Op. 48, No. 2.

For Duo-Art, they recorded the "Entrée de fête" from Charles Gounod's Suite concertante and Dvořák's Slavonic Dance No. 1 in C.


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