Annie Patterson

This article is about Anne Wilson Patterson. For singer and songbook co-editor Anne T. Patterson, see Rise Up Singing .

Annie Wilson Patterson (27 October 1868 – 16 January 1934) was an Irish organist, music educator, writer, composer, and arranger.

Life

Annie Patterson was born in Lurgan, County Armagh, Ireland, and was related through her mother's family to Lord Macaulay. She made her debut performance in Dublin at age fifteen, studied at Alexandra College and the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin (with Robert Prescott Stewart), and received her doctorate in 1889, becoming the first British woman to hold a Doctorate of Music. After she completed her studies, she became an examiner for the Royal University of Ireland and worked as an organist and conductor of the Dublin Choral Union and the Hampstead Harmonic Society. In 1897 she founded the Feis Ceoil festival in Dublin. The Dr. Annie Patterson Medal is awarded in her honor at the festival. In 1909 Patterson took a job as organist at St. Anne’s in Shandon, County Cork.[1]

Patterson composed sacred and secular cantatas, orchestral works and songs based on Irish themes. She also wrote poetry, essays, short stories as well as professional articles and books on music. She published articles in The Girl’s Own Paper in England and a series of articles on music in the Weekly Irish Times from 1899–1901. She published ten books, including a text on Irish folk music and a biography of Robert Schumann for the Master Musician’s Series. In 1924 she took a position in Cork as a lecturer on Irish music, where she worked until her death in 1934.[2]

Compositions

Writings

References

  1. Hixon, Donald L.; Hennessee, Don A. (1993). Women in music: an encyclopedic biobibliography: Volume 1.
  2. O'Connor, Jennifer (2010). The multi-faceted career of Dr Annie Patterson. "First International Conference on Irish Music and Musicians Music Department, University of Durham, 12–15 July 2010, Abstracts". Retrieved 27 November 2010.