Ruth Breton

Ruth Jones was born in Louisville, Kentucky,^[2] the daughter of Oliver Martin Jones and Meta Alfreda Hursh Jones. Her father was a violinist and her mother was a cellist. She graduated from Louisville Collegiate School. She moved to New York after school and studied with Franz Kneisel for a year, before she spent four years training with Leopold Auer.^[2][3] She was one of the students who gave a eulogy when Auer died in 1930.^[4]

Breton played historical violins, including the Amati violin known as the "Goding",^[2] and a 1685 violin by Antonio Stradivari, known as the "Florentiner".^[5][6] She gave a recital at Aeolian Hall in 1925.^[7] In 1926 she gave a joint recital with singer Helen Traubel in Chicago.^[8] She "played with an innate sense of form and phrase, a delicacy and charm that alternated with bold, full-toned melody" at another recital at Aeolian Hall in 1927.^[9] At Carnegie Hall in 1928, her program included the New York debut of a work by Rebecca Clarke.^[10] She gave the first New York performances of works by Willem de Boer and Arthur Benjamin at her Gallo Theatre concert in 1929.^[11]

Breton's career continued in the United States and Europe through the 1930s.^[12] In 1931 she played on a radio concert from Hartford.^[13] Eleanor Roosevelt mentioned hearing Breton perform in a 1937 "My Day" column.^[14] In 1938 and 1939, she was a soloist with the Louisville Civic Arts Orchestra.^[15][16][17] During World War II, she played 112 concerts in 95 days for the USO, at military hospitals, camps, and bases.^[18][19]

Breton married newspaper publisher and banker Richard Gillmore Knott in 1919. They had a daughter, Ruth Gillmore Knott Hapgood.^[20] Breton died in 1993, at the age of 92, at her home in Framingham, Massachusetts.^[21] A painting of Breton by Kentucky artist Henry Strater is in the collection of the Speed Art Museum.^[22] Breton was featured in several episodes of the podcast series Ribbons & Bows.^[23]