"The great sorrow of my life...."

         Ima Hogg returned to Houston in October of 1908, having reached a life-changing decision. Somewhere along the way, this intrepid, talented young woman, who had been aiming for a career as a concert pianist since she began her studies in New York in 1901, who had studied with fine teachers in Europe, decided that the concert stage was not for her. Did a teacher discourage her? Did she decide for herself? No one knows.

        

         A close friend of Ima’s said that Ima once told her that she regretted having small hands, because they limited her keyboard reach. Although she came home with “a bone-crushing grip,” as one friend said, Ima feared that no matter how much she practiced, no matter how fine her technique, she could be a good pianist, but never a great one.

        

         But she said years later to another friend, “The great sorrow of my life is that I was never a concert pianist.”

         When Ima was ninety-two, recording an interview for an oral history project, she had a different view: “I studied in Europe, with very great teachers, and they all encouraged me to become a professional concert pianist. I never wanted to do that.”
        

         What did she want?