E. Jeanette Orloff (1878-1967)

In a time not long removed from the day when “it was almost considered out of place for a lady to wield a violin bow” and that was just starting to accept “the fact that the gentle sex is quite capable of mastering the queen of instruments,” Jeanette Orloff was seen as a “violinist who bids fair to rank high in her profession.”

Born in Indianapolis in 1880, by the age of six, Orloff was showing a “passionate liking for the violin.” Her father, a Russian immigrant with musical inclinations of his own, and her mother, an American of Spanish heritage, soon provided her with a violin and a local teacher. Showing abundant talent, she continued her studies at the College of Music in Cincinnati. After four years of hard work, she received its Gold Medal for highest honors. By the time she was 16, she had toured in the United States and performed in Italy before continuing her studies in London under a virtuoso of the time, Maestro August Wilhelmj.

Orloff taught at Shortridge High School in Indianapolis and performed in various ensembles in the city until the 1940s.

Occasionally, newspapers would spell her name as “Orlopp.” Her mother Emma, father Richard, brothers Richard and Harry, and sister Lizzie, are buried in the same lot as Jeannette and spell their last name “Orlopp.” Article from the Indianapolis Journal (21 May 1904).
Emma Jeanette Orloff is buried in Section 36, Lot 190.