Helen Pyke (June, 1905 – 13 July 1954) (full name Helen Lucas Pyke) was an English pianist, teacher and composer, born in Paddington, London. She was educated at the London Academy of Music under Yorke Trotter and Horace Kesteven. She composed songs, including ''A Requiem - When I am dead my dearest'' (setting

Christina Rossetti Christina Georgina Rossetti (5 December 1830 – 29 December 1894) was an English writer of romanticism, romantic, devotional and children's poems, including "Goblin Market" and "Remember". She also wrote the words of two Christmas carols well k ...

), and ''April'' (text

William Watson William, Willie, Bill or Billy Watson may refer to: Arts * William Watson (songwriter) (1794–1840), English concert hall singer and songwriter * William Watson (poet) (1858–1935), English poet * William J. Watson (author) (1865-1948), Scott ...

), both published in 1948, and educational piano pieces such as 'Song of the Kinkajou' (originally from the piano suite for children ''Five Zoo Pictures'', 1929). In the mid-1930s, she was living at Studio 4, 59 Edwardes Square, London W.8. As a pianist, she specialised in piano duet performances, initially with

Paul Hamburger Paul Hamburger (3 September 1920, Vienna – 11 April 2004, London) was a British pianist, accompanist, chamber musician, and scholar. Paul Hamburger was born in Vienna in 1920, and studied at the Vienna State Academy before emigrating to Englan ...

. They premiered

Alan Rawsthorne Alan Rawsthorne (2 May 1905 – 24 July 1971) was a British composer. He was born in Haslingden, Lancashire, and is buried in Thaxted churchyard in Essex. Early years Alan Rawsthorne was born in Deardengate House, Haslingden, Lancashire, to ...

's ''The Creel'' in 1940, and the ''Fantasia on The Irish Ho-Hoane'', Op.13 by

Bernard Stevens Bernard (George) Stevens (2 March 1916 – 6 January 1983) was a British composer who first became known to the wider public when he won a newspaper composition prize for a 'Victory Symphony' post-war in 1946. The broader success was not sus ...

in 1949.

Malcolm Arnold Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold (21 October 1921 – 23 September 2006) was an English composer. His works feature music in many genres, including a cycle of nine symphonies, numerous concertos, concert works, chamber music, choral music and music f ...

dedicated his Concerto for Piano Duet and Strings, op. 32 to Pyke and Hamburger, who gave its first performance in August 1951, and again at the

Proms The BBC Proms is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Robert Newman founded The Proms in 1895. Since 1927, the ...

in 1953. Just before her death in 1954 Pyke also partnered for piano duets with Maurice Cole. Between the wars she worked for

ENSA The Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) was an organisation established in 1939 by Basil Dean and Leslie Henson to provide entertainment for British armed forces personnel during World War II. ENSA operated as part of the Navy, ...

, the

Arts Council An arts council is a government or private non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts; mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing arts events. They often operate at arms-length from the government to prevent pol ...

and the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

. She married the musicologist

Mosco Carner Mosco Carner (born Mosco Cohen) (15 November 1904 – 3 August 1985) was an Austrian-born British musicologist, conductor and critic. He wrote on a wide range of music subjects, but was particularly known for his studies on the life and works of ...

in 1944. He dedicated his 1958 book ''Puccini: a Critical Biography'' to the memory of his wife.Brook, Donald, ''Conductors' Gallery: Biographical sketches of well-known orchestral conductors'', Rockliff, 1947

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pyke, Helen 1905 births 1954 deaths 20th-century English pianists English classical pianists British women classical pianists 20th-century English classical composers 20th-century English women composers 20th-century English women pianists