Bettina Walker
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Bettina Walker | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1837 Dublin |
| Died | 4 February 1893 (aged 55–56) |
| Occupations | Pianist, music educator, memoirist |
| Notable work | My 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]
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]
