Bettina Walker

Bettina Walker
Born1837
Dublin
Died4 February 1893
Occupation(s)Pianist, music educator, memoirist
Notable workMy Musical Experiences (1890)

Bettina or Bessie Walker[1] (1837[2] – 4 February 1893) was an Irish pianist and composer. She wrote a memoir of her musical education, published in 1890.[3]

Biography

Walker was born in Dublin, the daughter of physician William Augustus Walker, who died in 1838.[4] Her mother encouraged her study of music, but opposed Walker's hopes of a career as a pianist.[5]

Walker studied in the 1870s, first with William Sterndale Bennett in London and Carl Tausig in Berlin and Giovanni Sgambati in Rome.[6] In 1883 she came to Weimar and continued her studies with Franz Liszt.[7] She also studied under Ludwig Deppe, Xaver Scharwenka and Adolf Henselt.[6] She also studied organ music with composer John Goss.[8] She advertised herself as an "honorary associate of the St. Cecilian Academy of Rome."[9]

After Henselt's death in 1889 she settled in Fulham, London, where she taught her piano methodology, but died four years later, in 1893, in her sixties.[3]

My Musical Experiences (1890)

Of lasting importance are Walker's "chatty and agreeable"[10] memoirs, My Musical Experiences (1890), in which she details her numerous encounters with important musicians. "The book is pleasantly written with perfect freshness and innocence and freedom from affectation," commented one reviewer.[11] Critics compared Walker's book to Amy Fay's Music Study in Germany (1880), an American woman's memoir about piano study in Europe, with many of the same instructors.[12][13] "This book is valuable for two things," wrote another reviewer in 1892. "Its reflections upon music and the order of study, and its glimpses of remarkable and interesting personalities."[14] In particular, Walker's descriptions of Liszt, although admiring, showed the composer "in anything but an amiable light" and "little better than a boor."[15]

References

  1. ^ "Bettina or Bessie Walker" (PDF). Ireland, Calendar of Wills and Administrations, 1858-1920. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
  2. ^ England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915
  3. ^ a b "Death of Bettina Walker, Fulham". The Athenæum. No. 3409. 25 February 1893. p. 258. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  4. ^ Death notice, Dublin Daily Express, 8 February 1893
  5. ^ Musical Women in England, 1870-1914: Encroaching on All Man's Privileges. Springer. 7 July 2000. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-312-29934-7.
  6. ^ a b Bolam, Robyn (2005). Eliza's Babes: Four Centuries of Women's Poetry in English, c. 1500-1900. London. p. 348. ISBN 1852245212. Retrieved 4 July 2018.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. ^ Walker, Alan (1987). Franz Liszt: The final years, 1861-1886. Cornell University Press. pp. 12–13, 236. ISBN 978-0-8014-8453-7.
  8. ^ Vignoles, Olinthus John (1899). Memoir of Sir Robert P. Stewart, Kt., Mus. Doc., Professor of Music in the University of Dublin (1862-94). Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Company, Limited. p. 68.
  9. ^ "Bettina (advertisement)". The Musical Times. 29 (550): 709. 1 December 1888.
  10. ^ "Recent Biography". The Athenaeum (3301): 161. 31 January 1891.
  11. ^ "Musical Notes". The Theatre. 17: 45–47. 1 January 1891.
  12. ^ "Music: Musical Books". The Academy (961): 300. 4 October 1890.
  13. ^ "Bettina Walker's Musical Experiences". The Saturday Review. 71 (1842): 208. 14 February 1891.
  14. ^ "Reviews and Notices". Music: 296–302. January 1892.
  15. ^ "Some of my Musical Masters". The Pall Mall Gazette. 10 October 1890. p. 3. Retrieved 17 April 2025 – via Newspapers.com.

Works

Bibliography

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