Sophie Weisse (1852–1945) was a Scottish music teacher and founder of Northlands, an all-girls school in Surrey, England.
For a few years following Tovey's divorce from his first wife, she and her former student, Clara Wallace, had joint guardianship of his young son, John Wellcome.
[8] On the suggestion of friends, Weisse went to Eton in early 1880 with the intention of settling and establishing a school for the children of the college masters.
Drawing upon her network of associates, Weisse had many musical celebrities visit the school, including Joseph Joachim, Maud MacCarthy, flautist Louis Fleury and cellist Pablo Casals.
In her role as a teacher, Weisse encountered the young Donald Tovey, who would go on to become a renowned pianist, music scholar and composer.
[7] When Tovey was an adolescent, she arranged for him to study counterpoint with Walter Parratt and James Higgs, and composition with Hubert Parry.
Weisse disapproved of choices Tovey made in his personal life and expressed frustration with a stall in his career between 1902 and 1914.
[7] When the Reid Chair of Music at the University of Edinburgh became available to Tovey, Weisse was dismissive, believing that the role was beneath him, stating that the students are ‘the worst set of amateurs’ and expressed her disappointment that he had passed up the opportunity of a summer of concerts in mainland Europe.
It includes correspondence between Weisse and Tovey, Louis Fleury, Hubert Parry, Joseph and Ellen Joachim, and J.A.