Women of the Keys

This book by Jeanell Carrigan tells the story of some of those amazing Australian women who established a lasting tradition of pianism at the beginning of the twentieth century. It describes a musical history that unfolds in transition from colonial forms of life, through the period following Federation, and well into modern Australian society. This history will be related through brief ‘snapshots’ of the lives and careers of specifically eight pianists, and the contribution they made to the musical and cultural life of Australia. Their careers often developed in a context of social disadvantage and gender-related struggle, but they still managed to have national and international fame, along with many personal achievements. Many were dubbed child prodigies and demonstrated enormous talent from a very young age, finding the technical challenges of learning an instrument and the study of new repertoire an easy task. These women studied in Europe or America, performed worldwide, recorded for the major recording companies of His Majesty’s Voice, Columbia, Decca, and Deutsche Grammophon, to name a few, and then returned to Australia with knowledge and experience that they then passed on in a teaching capacity.

The piano music of most of these women is published by Wirripang under the Australian Heritage Collection, available online.

ISBN 978 1 876829 93 3