Helen Hopekirk

Helen Hopekirk (1856–1945) was Scottish-American pianist and composer who lived and worked in Boston. She was born near Edinburgh, Scotland, and studied with G. Lichtenstein and Scottish composer Alexander Mackenzie. She later studied composition with Carl Reinecke in Leipzig and Theodor Leschetizky in Vienna. She made successful debuts in Leipzig and London and began regular concert tours of Europe and America.

She settled in Boston in 1897 at the invitation of George Chadwick, and took a teaching position at the New England Conservatory, later becoming an American citizen.^[1]^[2]

Works

Hopekirk composed works for piano, violin and orchestra and wrote songs and piano pieces. She often incorporated Scottish folk melodies. Selected works include:

Piano Concerto in D major
Serenata
Blows the wind to-day (Text: Robert Louis Stevenson)
Eilidh my Fawn (in Five Songs) (Text: William Sharp)
From the Hills of Dream (in Six Poems by Fiona Macleod) (Text: William Sharp)
Hushing song (in Five Songs) (Text: William Sharp)
Mo-lennav-a-chree (in Five Songs) (Text: William Sharp)
On bonnie birdeen (in Six Poems by Fiona Macleod) (Text: William Sharp)
Requiescat (Text: Matthew Arnold)
Sag ich ließ sie grüßen (in Five Songs) (Text: Heinrich Heine) ENG ITA
St. Bride's lullaby (in Six Poems by Fiona Macleod) (Text: William Sharp)
The Bandruidh (in Five Songs) (Text: William Sharp)
The bird of Christ (in Six Poems by Fiona Macleod) (Text: William Sharp)
The lonely hunter (in Six Poems by Fiona Macleod) (Text: William Sharp)
The sea hath its pearls (in Five Songs) (Text: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow after Heinrich Heine)
There was an ancient monarch (in Five Songs) (Text: after Heinrich Heine)
Thy dark eyes to mine (in Five Songs) (Text: William Sharp)
When the dew is falling (in Six Poems by Fiona Macleod) (Text: William Sharp)^[3]

References

^ "Women of Note". http://oboeclassics.com/~oboe3583/ambache/wHopekirk.htm. Retrieved 21 December 2010.
^ Sadie, Julie Anne; Samuel, Rhian (1994) (Digitized online by GoogleBooks). The Norton/Grove dictionary of women composers. http://books.google.com/books?id=IvoQQU1QL_QC&pg=PR14&dq=Helen+Hopekirk+(1856%E2%80%931945)++norton&hl=en&ei=HP0QTfXaFYH-8AaekczrDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 21 December 2010.
^ "Composer: Helen Hopekirk (1856-1945)". http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/h/hopekirk.html. Retrieved 21 December 2010.

External Links

"Helen Hopekirk". http://www.hopkirk.org/hopkirk/PageE100162.html. Retrieved August 30 2011. Genealogy Page.
Free scores by Helen Hopekirk at the International Music Score Library Project

Persondata
Name	Hopekirk, Helen
Alternative names
Short description	Pianist and composer
Date of birth	1856
Place of birth	Edinburgh, Scotland
Date of death	1945
Place of death