Alfred Francis Hill CMG OBE (16 December 186930 October 1960) was an Australian-New Zealand composer, conductor and teacher.

Life and work

Alfred Hill was born in Melbourne in 1869. His year of birth is shown in many sources as 1870, but this has now been disproven. He spent most of his early life in Wellington before moving to Germany, where he studied at the Leipzig Conservatory between 1887 and 1891 under Gustav Schreck, Hans Sitt and Oscar Paul. Later he played second violin with the Gewandhaus Orchestra, under guest conductors including Brahms, Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Bruch, and Reinecke. While there, some of his compositions were played with fellow students, and several were published in Germany. These included the Scotch Sonata for violin and piano.

Hill returned to New Zealand, where was appointed director of the Wellington Orchestral Society.

In 1897 Hill returned to Australia, where he taught for a number of years. He married his first wife, Sarah Brownhill Booth, a New Zealander, on 6 October 1897 in Paddington, New South Wales. They were to have three children, who were given the Wagnerian names Isolde, Tristan and Elsa. and a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1960. In 1959, his 90th birthday was celebrated by a special concert of his music played by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under Henry Krips. Alfred Hill died at the age of 90 in 1960. He was survived by his second wife Mirrie Hill, and the three children of his first marriage. Isolde Hill became well known as a singer. From 1937 onwards, he devoted himself full-time to composition. He wrote more than 500 compositions, including 13 symphonies (of which 11 are arrangements of previously written string quartets), eight operas (including The Weird Flute), numerous concertos, a mass, 17 string quartets and other chamber works, two cantatas on Māori subjects (Hinemoa and Tawhaki) and 11 other choral works, and 72 piano pieces.

Hill wrote a whole opera for the 1938 film The Broken Melody.

While mostly neglected nowadays, he is still very well known on both sides of the Tasman for a short song "Waiata Poi", which was recorded by many singers including Peter Dawson. Since the 1990s, however, there has been renewed interest in Hill's oeuvre. His short piece for narrator and orchestra, Green Water, with words by John Wheeler, has been recorded at least twice. The Marco Polo label recorded most of his symphonies, which were played by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.

List of works (selection)

  • Thirteen symphonies:
  • No. 1 in B-flat major, "Maori" (1901), unfinished
  • No. 2, in E-flat major, "Joy of Life" (1941)
  • No. 3 in B minor, "Australia"
  • No. 4 in C minor, "The Pursuit of Happiness" (arranged from String Quartets Nos. 4 and 17)
  • No. 5 in A minor, "Carnival"
  • No. 6 in Bb major, "Celtic"
  • No. 7 in E minor
  • No. 8 in A major, "The Mind of Man", for string orchestra
  • No. 9 in E major, "Melodious", for string orchestra
  • No. 10 in C major, "Short Symphony"
  • No. 11 in E major, "The Four Nations", for string orchestra (arranged from String Quartet No. 5)
  • No. 12 in E-flat major
  • No. 13 in A minor, for string orchestra
  • Orchestral music, including:
  • Linthorpe
  • The Lost Hunter, Tone poem (1945)
  • The Sea, Tone poem for orchestra and voices (1941)
  • The Sacred Mountain
  • White Flame
  • Concertos
  • Piano Concerto in A major
  • Violin Concerto in E minor (1932)
  • Viola Concerto (1940)
  • French horn Concerto in D minor (1947)
  • Trumpet Concerto (1915)
  • Seventeen String quartets, including:
  • String Quartet No. 1 in B-flat, "Maori" (; published 1913)
  • String Quartet No.2 in G minor, "A Maori Legend in 4 Scenes"
  • String Quartet No.3 in A minor, "The Carnival"
  • String Quartet No. 4 in C minor
  • String Quartet No. 5 in E major, "The Allies" (1920)
  • String Quartet No. 6 in G major, "The Kids"
  • String Quartet No. 7 in A major (1934)
  • String Quartet No. 8 in A major (1934)thumb|Cover of a booklet containing the words of the musical work "Hinemoa", 18 November 1896
  • Eight operas:
  • The Whipping Boy (1893)
  • Lady Dolly (1900)
  • Tapu (1913)
  • Teora (1913)
  • Giovanni (1914)
  • The Rajah of Shivapore (1917)
  • Auster (1922)
  • The Ship of Heaven (1923)
  • Eleven pieces for choir, including:
  • Hinemoa, cantata (1896)
  • Mass in E-flat major for mixed chorus and organ (1931)
  • Make a joyful noise unto the Lord (Psalm 100) for male chorus and piano or organ (1934)
  • The 3 great pillars for male voices and piano or organ (1934)
  • 72 Pieces for piano
  • Other compositions:
  • Piano Trio in A minor
  • Violin Sonata No. 2 in A minor
  • Violin Sonata No. 3 in A minor
  • Violin Sonata No. 4 in C minor

Discography (partial)

  • String Quartets Nos. 5, 6 and 11 (Australian String Quartet) : Marco Polo 8.223746
  • String Quartets, Vol. 1 (Dominion String Quartet) – Nos. 1, 2, 3 : Naxos 8.570491
  • String Quartets, Vol. 2 (Dominion String Quartet) – Nos. 4, 6, 8 : Naxos 8.572097
  • String Quartets, Vol. 3 (Dominion String Quartet) – Nos. 5, 7, 9 : Naxos 8.572446
  • String Quartets, Vol. 4 (Dominion String Quartet) – Nos. 10 and 11, Life Quintet : Naxos 8.572844
  • String Quartets, Vol. 5 (Dominion String Quartet) – Nos. 12, 13, 14 : Naxos 8.573267
  • Symphony No. 2 "Joy of Life" (Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Adelaide Singers, Patrick Thomas): ABC Classic FM recording
  • Symphony Nos 3 and 7, The Lost Hunter, The Moon's Golden Horn (Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Wilfred Lehmann) : Marco Polo 8.223537
  • Symphony Nos 4 and 6, The Sacred Mountain (Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Wilfred Lehmann) : Marco Polo 8.220345
  • Symphony Nos 5 and 10, As Night Falls, Tribute to a Musician (Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Wilfred Lehmann) : Marco Polo 8.223538
  • Green Water (Peter Munro, narrator; Queensland Symphony Orchestra, John Farnsworth Hall) (1954; ABC recording)

Resources

Listen to Alfred Hill's The Moon's Golden Horn online at ABC Classic FM's classic/amp website.

References

Sources

  • McCredie, A. D. 1978. "Alfred Hill". In Australian Composition in the Twentieth Century, ed. Frank Callaway and David Tunley, 7–18. Melbourne and New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Andrew D. McCredie, "Hill, Alfred Francis (1869–1960)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hill-alfred-francis-6667/text11495, published first in hardcopy 1983, accessed online 9 November 2022.
  • Thomson, J. M. 2001. "Hill, Alfred." In The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. S. Sadie and J. Tyrrell. London: Macmillan.
  • Australian Music Centre: Alfred Hill (1869-1960) : Represented Artist.
  • Australian Dictionary of Biography: Alfred Francis Hill (1869–1960) by Andrew D. McCredie.
  • A Catalogue of works by Alfred Hill compiled by Allan Stiles.
  • Alfred Hill String Quartet No.1 "Maori" Soundbites and discussion of work
  • See also and compare with the following biography, which contains more information: http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/H/HillAlfred/HillAlfred/en