Euphemia Allen

Euphemia Amelia Nightingale Allan (1861–1948) was a British composer. She composed the song "The Celebrated Chop Waltz" or now known as "Chopsticks" in 1877, at the age of 16, under the pseudonym Arthur de Lulli. She was the sister of music publisher Mozart Allan.

Allan was the daughter of William Elder Allan, a well-known dancing instructor in Glasgow, and Agnes Allan (née Letham). The 1901 Scotland Census states her occupation as 'teacher of the piano forte'. At the time of the census she was living with her brother E. J. Mozart Allan, his wife Christina, and their father William along with Mozart and Christina's three children. Although at the time of the Celebrated Chop Waltz publication there had been desirable achievement in women’s rights, females were still part of an unrelenting patriarchal society, enduring marital and societal inequalities.During the Victorian era, piano study was more common for girls than boys and a symbol of social status, with their ability to play well a testament of their marriageability.Although many became virtuosic teachers of piano, women were discouraged from playing professionally, with careers as concert musicians open usually to men.Mozart Allan wisely, at the time, chose the male nom de plume Arthur De Lulli, to protect his sister from ridicule and his alarm that no one would buy a music score attributed to a female composer.

According to her death certificate, Allan was a retired music publisher. She never married.