Helen Glatz facts for kids
Helen Sinclair Glatz (born Hunter) was an English composer and pianist. She was a student of the famous composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. Helen is best known for teaching music for over 40 years at Dartington Hall and the Dartington International Summer School.
A Young Musician's Journey
Helen Sinclair Hunter was born in South Shields, England, in 1908. She loved music from a young age. She studied music with Dr. William Gillies Whittaker. This was at Armstrong College in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Helen made history as the first woman from northern England to win a special scholarship. This scholarship was for composition at the Royal College of Music. There, she learned from important composers like Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gordon Jacob. Other talented students at the time included Elisabeth Lutyens and Imogen Holst. In 1931, she won a prize for her Phantasy Trio for strings.
In 1933, Helen traveled to Europe to continue her studies. She visited Vienna, Italy, and Budapest. She learned from famous musicians like Zoltán Kodály. In Hungary, she married Wolf Glatz, who was a linguist. She stayed there during World War II. They had to flee when the Red Army took Budapest.
Life at Dartington Hall
In 1949, Helen and Wolf settled in South Devon, England. Helen Glatz started teaching at St. Timothy's School in Dawlish. Sadly, her husband passed away in 1952. After this, she joined the staff at Dartington Hall in Totnes.
At Dartington, Helen was very busy. She taught piano and percussion. She also helped choirs and conducted music. She worked closely with Imogen Holst and Sir William Glock. Helen also played piano for ballet rehearsals with Marie Rambert. She even studied percussion more with James Blades, a famous percussionist.
Helen Glatz taught many students who became successful musicians. These included Lindsay Cooper, Philip Sawyers, and John Wellingham. She stayed at Dartington for the rest of her life. She lived in a small house on the estate. In 1995, she received an honorary fellowship, which is a special award. Helen had one son, Christopher. She passed away in Totnes, Devon, in 1996.
Helen Glatz's Musical Works
Helen Glatz wrote many different kinds of music. She composed pieces for small groups of instruments (chamber music). She also wrote for brass bands and percussion. Some of her music was for solo instruments or for theatre shows.
Her piece called Elegy for violin and strings was very special. She wrote it for Leonard Elmhirst, who founded Dartington Hall. This piece was performed on tour in 1990. It was also played at Dartington in 1994 to celebrate Elmhirst's 100th birthday.
Helen also wrote three ballets for children in the 1950s. She composed a choral cantata and two psalm settings. Every year, she would write Christmas music for Dartington. Her Five Carols Without Words for a wind quintet became very popular. It was one of her best-known works and one of the few that were published.
One of her most famous pieces today is an arrangement she made in 1930. She took Ralph Vaughan Williams's Hymn-tune Prelude on Song 13 by Orlando Gibbons and arranged it for strings. This arrangement was recorded by Richard Hickox and the London Symphony Orchestra in 1999. Her 1967 piece, Fanfare, was also recorded.
More recently, a publisher called Phylloscopus has printed some of her music. This includes her Five Carols Without Words. They also published her Suite for bassoon and piano, and the Hungarian Folk Song Suite for two bassoons.
Here are some of her other known works:
- Viola Sonata (1929)
- Phantasy Trio for strings (1931)
- Scherzo and Trio for orchestra (1932)
- String Quartet No 1 (1932)
- String Quartet No 2 (1936)
- Concertino for flute and string orchestra (1948)
- Suite of children's pieces for piano (1952)
- Two carols for women's choir, flute, and viola (1956)
- Five Carols Without Words for flute, oboe, clarinet and horn (1958)
- Prelude and Scherzo for flute (1958)
- Two Latin Poems for women's choir and two flutes (1962)
- Dance Rhapsody for harp and orchestra (1967)
- Three Songs on Cats for soprano and clarinet (1962)
- Flute Sonata (1971)
- Hall Sands for narrator, taped voice, spoken and sung choir, percussion and wind instruments (1971)
- Violin Sonata (1972)
