Frank Hutchens | |
|---|---|
| Born | 15 January 1892 Leeston, New Zealand |
| Died | 18 October 1965(1965-10-18) (aged 73) Mona Vale, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation(s) | Music teacher, concertpianist,composer |
Francis HutchensOBE (15 January 1892 – 18 October 1965) was apianist, music teacher andcomposer originally fromNew Zealand. He became a popular concert pianist inAustralia and was a founding member of theNew South Wales Conservatorium of Music, where he taught for fifty years.
Hutchens' parents, Richard Lavers Hutchens and his wife Maria Giles, née Hosking, bothCornish,[1] migrated toNew Zealand in 1879. Richard tried his hand at farming and bootmaking before settling down atHāwera as a piano teacher. Frank Hutchens was born inLeeston nearChristchurch on 15 January 1892. He attended Hawera District High School.
In 1904, at the age of twelve, Hutchens had the opportunity to demonstrate his talents after his piano teacher arranged for him to play for the virtuosoIgnaz Paderewski, who was then touring New Zealand. Impressed with the boy's potential, Paderewski encouraged him to study inEurope. The following year, at the age of thirteen, Hutchens travelled alone toLondon to attend theRoyal Academy of Music, where he studied piano and composition withTobias Matthay andFrederick Corder. At the Academy, he won theSterndale Bennett andThalberg scholarships, and also the Hine Prize and the Chappell gold medal for pianoforte playing. In 1909, at the age of 17, he became the youngest sub-professor yet appointed to the Academy.[2] In 1911 however, he was forced to return home after his mother fell ill and the family faced financial difficulties.
Having given many recitals in New Zealand, Hutchens decided in 1913 to return to London to resume his career, but after arriving inSydney, Australia, for a stopover, he was given the opportunity to perform with the Sydney Amateur Orchestral Society conducted byAlfred Hill. He decided to stay, and in 1915 was offered a position byHenri Verbrugghen as a founding professor with the newly formedNew South Wales Conservatorium of Music, which he accepted. Hutchens was rejected for military service in 1916, and he went on to become an influential teacher of such talents asValda Aveling,[3] retaining his role as a professor with the Conservatorium for fifty years. Prior to his death in 1965 at the age of 73, he was the only remaining original member of the Conservatorium on staff.
In addition to his successful teaching career, Hutchens in 1924 formed a piano duo withLindley Evans, which was destined to become another long and successful partnership.[4] Over the course of the next forty years, Hutchens and Evans made many tours of Australia and New Zealand, giving concerts and broadcasts, and they were among the first composer-performer teams to be recorded commercially in Australia.
Highlights of the partnership included the premiere of Hutchens' own work theFantasie Concerto and Evans'Idyll with theSydney Symphony Orchestra in 1943 (later recorded by the duo in 1962), a recital forDame Nellie Melba, and the premiere performance in Australia ofFrancis Poulenc'sConcerto for Two Pianos in D minor. The success of the Hutchens-Evans partnership enabled them to establish a scholarship for young musicians, funded by their own concerts.
As an examiner for theAssociated Board of the Royal Schools of Music andTrinity College of Music in London, Hutchens had the requisite experience to assist in the establishment of theAustralian Music Examinations Board as an independent body. He was also a professor at theNewcastle Conservatorium of Music, President of the NSW Musical Association, a director of APRA, and a member of the Sydney Conservatorium's advisory board.
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In 1955, Hutchens married Joyce White, granddaughter ofR. H. D. White. His wife, a former pupil of his whom he had known since 1927, was a musician herself who gave much encouragement to his career. The couple had no children.
He was still active as a performer and teacher when he sustained fatal injuries in a car accident that occurred in Sydney's northern suburbs. On 18 October 1965, he died at the nearbyMona Vale Hospital.
Hutchens was made a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in 1939, and was also named a "Bard of Cornwall". In the 1962Queen's Birthday Honours he was appointed an Officer (OBE) of theOrder of the British Empire for "services to Music in the State of New South Wales."[5]
Scholarships in composition are awarded annually in his name to students under 25, and his portrait, byCornish painterStanhope Forbes, is held by the Sydney Conservatorium to which he devoted so much of his working life.
Hutchens wrote a considerable amount of music, and his works are said to have "charm and craftsmanship".[1] Among his best-known works are theConcerto Symphonique for piano and orchestra, theConcerto andQuintet (both for piano and strings), theFantasie Concerto, andAir Mail Palestine for baritone and orchestra. He also made a large number of recordings for theABC.
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