Mirrie Hill
| Mirrie Hill | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
1 December 1889 Randwick, N.S.W |
| Died |
1 May 1986 St Leonards, N.S.W. |
| Occupation | Composer |
| Spouse(s) | Alfred Hill (married 1921 – 1960) |
Mirrie Irma Hill (née Solomon) OBE (1 December 1889 – 1 May 1986) was an Australian composer.
Early life
Mirrie Irma Jaffa Solomon was born in Randwick, Sydney on 1 December 1889, and showed an early talent for music and pitch. She studied piano with an aunt, and at age 13 with Josef Kretschmann and later with Laurence Godfrey-Smith. She studied composition with Ernest Truman and composer Alfred Hill, and won a scholarship to study composition at the NSW State Conservatorium of Music.[1]
Career
After completing her studies, she took a position teaching harmony and aural culture at the Conservatorium. Whilst teaching at the conservatorium she wrote a textbook Aural and Rhythmic Training (1935).[1] She worked with her husband Alfred Hill to compose background music for three of anthropologist Charles P. Mountford's films which documented his expeditions to Arnhem Land.[2] Her work Three Aboriginal Dances was based on Aboriginal music recorded by Mountford in Arnhem Land.[3] She was awarded an OBE in 1980 for her service to music.[4]
Personal life
She married Alfred Hill in 1921, and became step-mother to the three children of his first marriage (Isolde, Tristan and Elsa).[5] After his death in 1960, she established the annual Alfred Hill Award for a composition student at the Conservatorium. She died in St Leonards, Sydney in 1986.[6] [7]
Works
Hill composed for orchestra, chamber ensemble, choral pieces, film scores, songs and solo instrumental works. She often incorporated Aboriginal themes and traditional Jewish melodies. Selected works include:
- Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra (1914)
- The Leafy Lanes of Kent (1950)
- Three miniature pieces for the piano
- Three Aboriginal Dances (Brolga, The Kunkarankara Women, Nalda of the Echo) (1950)
- Arnhem Land symphony (1954)
Her works have been recorded and issued on CD, including:
- Dance of the Wild Men - Early 20th Century Australian Piano Music Artworks
See also
References
- 1 2 Lawn, Meredith. Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
- ↑ "Unique Studies Of Aboriginal Life In Arnhem Land". The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954). 20 July 1950. Retrieved 6 Sep 2016 – via Trove Digitised Newspapers.
- ↑ "19 Sep 1950 - "Big field in native music"". Trove. Retrieved 2016-09-07.
- ↑ "It's an Honour - Honours - Search Australian Honours". www.itsanhonour.gov.au. Retrieved 2016-09-07.
- ↑ Australian Dictionary of Biography: Alfred Hill
- ↑ "Mirrie Hill (1892-1986)". Retrieved 21 December 2010.
- ↑ Sadie, Julie Anne; Samuel, Rhian (1994). The Norton/Grove dictionary of women composers (Digitized online by GoogleBooks). Retrieved 4 October 2010.
Further reading
- "Hill family - papers, music and pictorial material of Alfred Hill and Mirrie Hill, 1854-1984". Manuscripts and Pictures Catalogue, State Library of NSW.