Reba Paeff Mirsky

Reba Paeff Mirsky
Born(1902-05-25)May 25, 1902
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedNovember 22, 1966(1966-11-22) (aged 64)
New York City, U.S.
Alma mater
Occupations
  • Classical musician
  • children's writer
EmployerThe New School for Social Research
AwardsGuggenheim Fellowship (1953)
Musical career
GenresClassical
Instruments

Reba Paeff Mirsky (May 25, 1902 – November 22, 1966) was an American classical musician and children's writer. A 1953 Guggenheim Fellow, she wrote three books on the fictional Zulu girl Nomusa: Thirty-one Brothers and Sisters (1952), Seven Grandmothers (1955), and Nomusa and the New Magic (1962).

Biography

Reba Paeff was born on May 25, 1902, in Boston.[1] She was one of six children of Louis Paeff, a Jewish emigrant from Minsk who later became a local businessman.[2] She began learning to play musical instruments as a young child, starting with the piano and soon teaching it to others.[3] She then obtained a BA and Phi Beta Kappa status from Radcliffe College in 1921 and was a graduate student at Harvard University from 1921 to 1922.[1][3]

Mirsky performed for Amor Musicae, the New School Recorder Ensemble, and the New York Recorder Ensemble, and she played clavichord, harpischord, and the virginals, as well as flute and recorder.[3] John Briggs of The New York Times said that her clavichord performance of Johann Kuhnau's The Fight between David and Goliath at a 1958 Amor Musicae concert "sounded like an over-sized guitar played by an extra-ordinarily gifted performer with two right hands and two left hands".[3][4]

Mirsky taught music at the City and Country School and The New School for Social Research and worked as music director (1943–1949) at Ethical Culture Fieldston School.[1] She worked at Hargail Music Press as an editor from 1944 to 1952.[1]

In addition to music, Mirsky was a children's writer. In 1952, she published her children's book Thirty-one Brothers and Sisters, inspired by her experiences with befriending Zulu girls; she won the Charles W. Follett Award for that book.[3] In 1953, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship "for studies of the lives of children in Zulu and Toro society",[1] allowing her to travel to the homeland of the Zulu people and publish two more sequels for that book: Seven Grandmothers (1955) and Nomusa and the New Magic (1962).[3] She also wrote several composer biographies aimed at children, with subjects including Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Joseph Haydn, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.[3]

Mirsky's husband was molecular biologist Alfred Mirsky.[3] She had two children, including Jonathan Mirsky.[3][5] Her sister was sculptor Bashka Paeff and her brother-in-law was Louis Lazarus Silverman.[2][3] At the time of her death, she had lived at 350 Central Park West.[3]

Mirsky died on November 22, 1966, at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, aged 64.[3]

Bibliography

  • Thirty-one Brothers and Sisters (1952)[a]
  • Seven Grandmothers (1955)[8]
  • Nomusa and the New Magic (1962)[3]

Notes

  1. ^ Reviews of this book:[6][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Reports of the Secretary and Treasurer. John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. 1953. p. 72.
  2. ^ a b "Louis Paeff, Father of Boston Sculptor, Dead". The Boston Globe. March 3, 1928. p. 12 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Reba Paeff Mirsky, a Musician, Author of Children's Books, Dies". The New York Times. November 23, 1966. p. 39. ProQuest 117272221.
  4. ^ B., J. (January 20, 1958). "Music for the Clavichord Is Performed". The New York Times. p. 18. ProQuest 114384805.
  5. ^ "Jonathan Mirsky, Journalist and Historian of China, Dies at 88". The New York Times. September 26, 2021. Archived from the original on June 10, 2025. Retrieved August 31, 2025.
  6. ^ E. H. (November 16, 1952). "Adventure Abroad: Zulu Tomboy". The New York Times. p. BRA35. ProQuest 112435215.
  7. ^ Valdez, Sandy (February 19, 1976). "A brotherhood review". Austin American-Statesman. p. 5. Archived from the original on October 6, 2025. Retrieved September 1, 2025.
  8. ^ Hodges, Elizabeth (November 13, 1955). "9-12: At Home and Abroad: Zulu Girl". The New York Times. p. BRA40. ProQuest 113163002.
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