Pyle, Wynne Belle (1881–1980)
Wynne Belle Pyle, pianist and piano roll recording artist, was born on October 24, 1881, in Fannin County, Texas. She was the daughter of Jasper Garney and Mary Emily (Nail) Pyle. She showed a talent for music at an early age and was enrolled in the North Texas College of Music to study piano, violin, voice, harmony, and literature.
Her piano teacher, Harold von Mickwitz, advised her to go to Vienna to study with Theodore Leschetzky. She also studied in Paris in 1908 with Harold Bauer who found her to be an exceptional student. She later studied with Alberto Jonas in Berlin for five years. Jonas helped arrange her 1911 debut with the Bluthner Orchestra. She also performed with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and as a soloist with nineteen other symphony orchestras.
In July 1913 she married Dr. Alfonse Bernstein in London. Dr. Bernstein was a banker and member of the Exchange in Berlin which required the couple to reside in Berlin where she continued her concert career. She made her American recital debut at Aeolian Hall in New York on February 17, 1916, and her Chicago debut on April 30. She also made guest appearances with leading orchestras in the United States.
Eventually Wynne made her home in New York. Her recordings included “Echo de Vienne” by Sauer, “Etude Japonaise” by Poldini, and “Les Collines d’Anacapri” by Debussy for Ampico. She married Harold Bauer after the death of his first wife. Bauer had helped organize the Manhattan School of Music, and they both taught there. Wynne Pyle died in 1980 in a Florida retirement home.
