Hilda Wilson

Hilda Wilson (7 April 1860 – 10 December 1918)[1][2] was a British contralto and composer who also used the name Matilda Ellen Wilson and composed under the name Douglas Hope.[3]

Hilda Wilson, 1890s

Life

Wilson was born into a musical family in Monmouth.[4] Her father James Wilson was the bandmaster of the Monmouth Volunteer Corps. Her sister Agnes became a professional contralto, their brother James taught at the West London Conservatoire of Music, another brother, Henry Lane Wilson, (1871–1915), was a pianist, composer and baritone,[5] and a third, W. Stroud Wilson, became a well-known violinist.[1] Hilda's early years were largely spent in Gloucester, where her family moved when she was four.[1] She made her debut as a soloist at the age of 15 in a performance of Messiah at the Gloucester Shire Hall.[6] The following year, a reviewer in The Western Mail wrote:

Miss Hilda Wilson is a promising contralto of about 16, with an exceedingly good, though not powerful, voice. Her vocalisation is clear and truthfully in tune. And although it would be flattery to say that she has nothing to learn, we may say that she has already acquired a very good style, and is likely to become a great favourite.[7]

Her vocal range in her early years was unusually wide. She was heard in concert in mezzo soprano and soprano solos, and was invited to sing the soprano part in Haydn's The Creation before being guided towards a career as a contralto.[1]

In 1879 Wilson became a student at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, where she won several awards, including the Westmorland Scholarship (twice), the Parepa-Rosa gold medal, and bronze and silver medals at the yearly examinations.[1] She was later elected a Fellow of the RAM, a member of the Royal Society of Musicians, and an associate of the Philharmonic Society of London.[8]

During the 1880s and 1890s Wilson was a frequent soloist at the Three Choirs Festivals. In addition to singing in the mainstays of the festivals' repertoire such as Messiah and Mendelssohn's Elijah and St Paul,[9] she took part in less often heard works such as Mozart's Requiem and Sullivan's The Prodigal Son and in newer works including Dvořák's Stabat Mater.[10] She sang at music festivals in other parts of Britain, including those at Chester (1885), Wolverhampton (1886), Leeds (1886, 1889, 1895), Norwich (1887), Bristol (1890), Birmingham (1891, 1894) and Cardiff (1892).[11] Edward Elgar composed some songs for her in October 1890, one of which was called "Garlands".[12] At the Birmingham festival in 1891 she took part in the world premiere of Dvořák's Requiem.[13]

In London, Wilson performed frequently as a soloist with the Bach Choir and the Royal Choral Society, and at concerts at the Crystal Palace.[14] In 1890 she sang in Beethoven's Choral Symphony for the Philharmonic Society and in 1892 she was the contralto soloist in a performance of Messiah in Westminster Abbey.[15] On more than one occasion she appeared together with her brother Lane at the Steinway Hall. After one such recital in 1900 The Times commented:

Few of the songs were in the least well known to concert-goers, and most of them merit a closer acquaintance. Miss Hilda Wilson sang Dvořák's Biblical song, "The Lord is my Shepherd", most beautifully, and the most notable of her other performances were those which she gave of her own, "Even such is time", a Scotch song, "McGregor Amaro", and an old English song, "The village swain", the last of which she had to repeat.[16]

She took part in two Henry Wood Promenade Concerts in 1896, and in 1900 her song "Wheresoe'er You Are" had its first performance during the Last Night of the Proms.[17] After retiring from the concert platform she devoted herself to teaching, and became president of the West London Conservatoire of Music, an institution created by the Wilson family.[1]

Wilson married Ashley Hart of Bristol on 16 July 1904.[18] She died in Boscombe, Hampshire, on 10 December 1918, aged 58.[6]

Compositions

Wilson's compositions include:

Musical theatre

Vocal
  • "From Overseas"[20]
  • "My Roses"[20]
  • "When Birds Do Sing"[20]
  • "Wheresoe'er You Are"[21]

References
  1. "Death of Miss Hilda Wilson". Gloucester Journal. Gloucester. 14 December 1918. p. 5.
  2. Greene, Frank (1985). Composers on Record: An Index to Biographical Information on 14,000 Composers Whose Music Has Been Recorded. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-1816-3.
  3. Frenger, Carolyn (2004). "Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 11,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins". Reference Reviews ((4th edition). ed.). Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland. 19 (1): 53–54. doi:10.1108/09504120510573936. ISSN 0950-4125.
  4. Brown, James Duff; Stratton, Stephen Samuel (1897). British Musical Biography: A Dictionary of Musical Artists, Authors, and Composers Born in Britain and Its Colonies. S.S. Stratton.
  5. "Mr H. Lane Wilson". Sheffield Daily Telegraph. Sheffield. 5 January 1915. p. 5.
  6. "Obituary". The Musical Times. 60 (911): 26. 1 January 1919. JSTOR 3701806.(subscription required)
  7. "Entertainments". The Western Mail. Cardiff. 23 November 1876. p. 8.
  8. International Who's who in Music and Musical Gazetteer. Current Literature Publishing Company. 1918.
  9. "The Worcester Festival". The Times. London. 2 September 1881. p. 8.; "Hereford Musical Festival". The Times. London. 13 September 1882. p. 4.; and "The Festival of the Three Choirs". The Times. London. 9 September 1896. p. 7.
  10. "Gloucester Musical Festival". The Times. London. 6 September 1889. p. 4.; "Worcester Musical Festival". The Times. London. 11 September 1890. p. 3.; and "The Gloucester Musical Festival". The Times. London. 7 September 1886. p. 12.
  11. "Chester Musical Festival". The Times. London. 23 July 1885. p. 5.; "Wolverhampton Triennial Festival". The Times. London. 18 September 1886. p. 7.; "Leeds Musical Festival". The Times. London. 14 October 1886. p. 9.; "Leeds Musical Festival". The Times. London. 12 October 1889. p. 7.; "Leeds Musical Festival". The Times. London. 7 October 1895. p. 8.; "Norwich Musical Festival". The Times. London. 14 October 1887. p. 7.; "Bristol Musical Festival". The Times. London. 23 October 1890. p. 8.; "Birmingham Musical Festival". The Times. London. 8 October 1891. p. 7.; "Cardiff Musical Festival". The Times. London. 21 September 1892. p. 7.
  12. Reed, W. H. (31 May 2013). The Master Musicians - Elgar. Read Books Ltd. p. 34. ISBN 978-1-4733-8828-4.
  13. "antonin-dvorak requiem". www.antonin-dvorak.cz. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
  14. "The Bach Choir". The Times. London. 16 December 1891.; "Royal Choral Society". The Times. London. 26 March 1892. p. 17.; and "Crystal Palace Concerts". The Times. London. 14 November 1893. p. 12.
  15. "Philharmonic Society". The Times. London. 1 July 1890. p. 8.; and ""The Messiah" in Westminster Abbey". The Times. London. 14 November 1891. p. 13.
  16. "Miss Hilda and Mr H. Lane Wilson's Concert". The Times. London. 1 October 1900. p. 11.
  17. "Hilda Wilson". BBC Proms Archive. Retrieved 2 February 2022.; and "Hilda Wilson". BBC Proms Archive. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  18. "Marriages". The Western Mail. Cardiff. 10 August 1904. p. 10.
  19. "Hilda Wilson". British Library. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  20. "hilda wilson". www.unsungcomposers.com. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
  21. "Hilda Wilson". BBC Proms Archive. Retrieved 2 February 2022.

External References
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