Mirrie Hill

Mirrie Hill (1 December 1889 – 1 May 1986) was an Australian composer.

Life

Mirrie Irma Jaffa Solomon was born in Randwick, Sydney on 1 December 1889,^[1] 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.

After completing her studies, she took a position teaching harmony and aural culture at the Conservatorium. She married Alfred Hill in 1921, and became step-mother to the three children of his first marriage (Isolde, Tristan and Elsa).^[2] 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.^{[3] [4]}

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

References