Call for Submissions: Remembering Anne Farber

It is with sadness that we announce the passing of Anne Farber from a heart attack on August 17, 2024. Many of us knew Anne through her brilliant teaching at the Longy School in Cambridge, along with Lisa Parker, and the Lucy Moses School in New York, where she founded the ongoing Dalcroze School.

Although confined to her apartment, Anne continued to live a life with friends, family, and music. She retained her piano facility, playing the great American songs with the same finesse she showed all her life. She welcomed visitors and took a lively interest in their lives. Witty and clever, able to find just the right word, Anne remained the uniquely intelligent person beloved by so many of us.

Colleagues, friends, and especially students (so many of us!) mourn her loss.

— Cynthia Lilley 

The following is Anne’s obituary, reprinted from the New York Times:

Anne Farber, an esteemed music educator and pianist, passed away at the age of 92 on Saturday, August 17, 2024 at her home in New York City. After high school, she attended The New School of Music in Philadelphia, later earning a B.A. in Comparative Literature at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. After graduating, she moved to New York City, where she played for the dance classes of Martha Graham, Jose Limon and Alvin Ailey. She married Dr. Leslie Farber, a well-known psychiatrist and writer, in 1960. After living in Washington, D.C., and Stockbridge, MA, the couple ultimately settled in New York City with their three children, Luke, Seth, and Phoebe. She obtained her Dalcroze License in 1973, and earned the prestigious diplôme supérieur from the Institut Jaques-Dalcrozein Geneva, Switzerland in 1984. For over forty years, she taught Dalcroze throughout the United States, Germany, England, Canada, Taiwan, and Japan. She maintained a busy teaching schedule, seeing thousands of students both in her home and institutions including The Special Music School, The Diller-Quaille School, The Longy School of Music, New York University, The Lucy Moses School, and Manhattan School of Music. Anne is survived by two brothers, Christopher Clague and Llyn Clague, her children, Luke, Seth, and Phoebe, their respective spouses, Nina Farber, Liz Queler, and Craig Levine, and seven grandchildren, Jessica, Molly, Joey, Isabel, Rachel, Eliza, and Caleb. She was predeceased by her stepson, Stephen Farber. A memorial will be held at The Lucy Moses School on November 2nd at 12pm.

We invite the Dalcroze community to also help us honor Anne’s memory by sharing a short remembrance of your time with her, to be published in the next edition of Dalcroze Connections. Please send your submissions to editor@dalcrozeusa.org.

A memorial service for Anne Farber will be held in New York City in November, 2024. Contributions in Anne’s memory may be made to the Dalcroze Society of America.

The DSA thanks the many Dalcroze educators who have changed lives through their work. Please, tell us about the educators who have inspired you or consider a donation to the DSA to support their legacy.