Hutcheson, Ernest
Hutcheson, Ernest
Hutcheson, Ernest, Australian pianist, writer on music, teacher, and composer; b. Melbourne, July 20, 1871; d. N.Y., Feb. 9, 1951. He studied piano in Australia with Max Vogrich, and played concerts as a very young child. He then was sent to the Leipzig Cons, to study with Reinecke and Jadassohn, graduating in 1890. In 1898 he performed his own Piano Concerto with the Berlin Phil. He was head of the piano dept. at the Peabody Cons, of Music in Baltimore (1900–1912). In 1915 he created a sensation in N.Y. by playing 3 concertos (Tchaikovsky, Liszt, and MacDowell) in a single evening; in 1919 he repeated his feat, playing 3 Beethoven concertos in one evening. From 1924 to 1945 he was variously associated with the Juilliard School in N.Y., including serving as its dean (1927–37) and its president (1937–45). Among his compositions are several symphonic works and numerous piano pieces. He publ. The Elements of Piano Technique (N.Y., 1907), Elektra by Richard Strauss: A Guide to the Opera (N.Y., 1910), A Musical Guide to the Richard Wagner Ring of the Nibelung (N.Y., 1940), and The Literature of the Piano (N.Y., 1948; 2nd ed., rev., 1964).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire