Lulu Kunkel Burg

Lulu Kunkel Burg (December 3, 1876 – September 11, 1953) was for six years the first violinist of the St. Louis Symphony Society, as well as the only woman who ever played in this capacity for that organization up until her time.

When the time came, her uncle could not afford to do this, so some of the musicians Robyn, Kroeger, Epstein and G. A. Buder — arranged for a testimonial concert which netted her about $600.

[1] Lulu Kunkel Burg was a pupil of Eugène Ysaÿe, for four years, in the Conservatoire Royal de Musique, Brussels, Belgium.

To the listener her violin spoke with an intense sympathy and awokened a thrill of the senses as only such an instrument skillfully handled could arouse.

[1] Lulu Kunkel Burg was a teacher of violin for twelve years at Forest Park University, and for the same time violinist of the First Presbyterian Church.

With her in this work, outside of the regular choir, was Wilhelmina Lowe-Speyer, who was for many years the harpist for the St. Louis Symphony Society, and later played in the orchestra of which her husband was the leader at the Columbia Theatre.

[1] Just before Burg's marriage she was offered a position in New York on the vaudeville stage by H. M. Blossom, Jr., the author of Yankee Consul, Checkers and other plays.