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celebrating three hundred years of music by women |
Helen Hopekirk (1856-1945)
Hopekirk was something of a second Clara Schumann, with a huge career as a touring virtuoso pianist. Press reviews and contemporary accounts show that she was regarded as one of the great concert pianists of her generation. As performer, teacher and composer she exerted a strong influence on the cultural life of her adopted city - Boston. She was born in Scotland and later became an American citizen. She studied composition with Carl Reinecke (1824-1910) in Leipzig from 1876-1878, and made her dé ate Gewandhaus in 1878, playing the Chopin F minor Concerto. In 1882 she married the music critic and businessman William Wilson (died 1926). In 1887 went to Vienna to study piano with the legendary Theodor Leschetizky; he described her as "the finest woman musician I have ever known." She portrayed him 'Leschetizski is a small, very nervous, but kind-hearted man. It is true that he had fits of irritation. I recollect one occasion in the class when he became impatient and broke one of the strings of his instrument. He was sometimes very sarcastic, and always impatient of halfway work. But you would go far to find a more innately kind, considerate, generous man. From the majority of his artist pupils, he would accept no payment whatever.' In Vienna she also studied composition with Karl Nawrátil (1836-1914) and played with the renowned Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe (1858-1931).Following successful débuts with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and at London's Crystal Palace (playing Saint-Saëns Second Piano Concerto), she went on tours of America. In 1897 she settled in Boston; George Chadwick (1854-1931) invited her to teach at the New England Conservatory (1897-1901). In 1900 she performed her own Piano Concerto in D major with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Her recitals frequently included her own compositions, which reflected her love of Celtic folk tunes. In 1905 Hopekirk published her collection of Scottish Folk-Songs in her own arrangements. She also wrote a remarkable Introduction, describing her memories of Gaelic singing: “… as the song goes on, one is strangely moved by a subtle something - a wild irregularity of rhythm, something ancient, remote, more easily felt than expressed. The quaint Gaelic language, the old-world melodies, the quiet and pathos of the way of singing, are haunting”. Her last concert was in 1939, in Steinert Hall, Boston. She was interested in how Chopin and Vaughan Williams created beauty and vitality by marrying their musical natures with a foundation of folk song, in touch with all humanity. As well as the two works for piano and orchestra, she wrote two Violin Sonatas (E minor,1891; 1893) and numerous songs and piano pieces. Concertstück. 1894 Maestoso - Allegro con fuoco - Meno Allegro - Tempo Primo - Poco Meno Allegro - Cadenza - Presto. D minor. Solo Piano, 2 fl, 2 ob, 2 cl, 2 bn, 4 hn, 2 tpt, 3 tbn, perc, timp, stgs. 20 mins This is an expansive fantasy on celtic tunes in a popular, grand romantic style. The pianism reflects her as a technically superior pianist of uncommon sensitivity and imagination. Here are some of Hopekirk's own notes written for the American premiere given with the Boston Symphony Orchestra: "It will be noticed that the Concertstück is moulded pretty much on classical lines at its opening, but as it develops there is a characteristic freedom of form, and what may be called fantastic flavour, redolent of northern breezes and heathery hills. After a ff chord from the orchestra the pianoforte arrests our attention with a prelude. The orchestra then announces the Allegro con fuoco, which enters piano but increases rapidly to assume a wild and barbaric character. The second subject, which is like a plaintive love-song, is first delivered by cellos and violas, answered by the piano, then the full orchestra. An orchestral tutti, built on the prelude and the barbaric theme, leads to the development. After brilliant passages for the piano, the cadenza enters like a melancholy recitative on the first subject, capricious and fanciful transformations succeeding each other. A feature of the cadenza is the introduction of the oboe, which lingers with dreamy tenderness over the main theme, while the piano supplies soft harp-like harmonies. The short Presto finale provides a tutti conclusion." The Scottish musicologist John Purser (b 1942) had no reservations about the value of the Concertstück: "it bloody well ought to stir them in the aisles as it is full of mood and very effective piano writing. When one reflects on the music for showy pianist and orchestra which gains international currency, then I see no reason why this piece should not join the ranks - indeed raise its head well above the standard." We gave the English première in October 2002 to a very warm response. Thanks to Dana Muller who helped me with information, quotations and musical illustration; they came from her dissertation "Helen Hopekirk (1856-1945): Pianist, Composer, Pedagogue: A Biographical study; A Thematic Catalogue of her works for Piano; A Critical Edition of her Concertstuck in D minor for Piano and Orchestra." published as a Doctor of Musical Arts essay at the Hartt School of Music, University of Hartford, in May 1995. To visit her web site, click here. Writing Helen Hopekirk, Pamela Fox (revised Laurie Blunsom) 2013, Oxford Music Online. Helen Hopekirk: a critical and biographical sketch, Allan Gordon Cameron, online @ University of Southern Indiana. The Second New England School and Helen Hopekirk, Jule Josef Streety, MA thesis, University of Arizona, 2019. Scores Seventy Scottish Songs Edited Hopekirk. Prelude and Dance are in American Women Composers Piano Music 1865-1915. Three Pieces for the piano, Hopekirk, 1915; Generic, 2022. Five Portraiets for the piano, Hopekirk, 1919; Generic, 2022. Suite for Piano Hopekirk, 1917. There are about a dozen scores on IMSLP. Five of her scrap books are in the Library of Congress. Three Centuries of American Music: a Collection of Sacred and Secular Music: American Keyboard Music 1866 through 1910 Vol 4, Edited Sylvia Glickman. Recordings Piano Music, Gary Steigerwalt Toccata Classics. British Piano Music, Adrian Connell, 2022, MP3 download.
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