Anna Myrtle Meggy (7 January 1887,

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

— 8 February 1959, Sydney) was an Australian pianist and pedagogue.

Life

Meggy was born to Sarah Myrtle Meggy (née Boone) and Percy Robert Meggy in Sydney, Australia. Meggy was the eldest of six children. She came from a large literary family: her father was prolific writer and helped found the

Chicago Daily News The ''Chicago Daily News'' was an afternoon daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, published between 1875 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois. History The ''Daily News'' was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty ...

, while her mother was a published poet. Meggy received her first music lessons from her father. When she was nine she began studying with Sydney Moss, and gave her first recital at the age of 12. In 1902, she went to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in order to study with Mathilde Verne. Her first public performance was at the Aeolian Hall in 1905. She soon gave recitals there and at Bechstein Hall. Later she participated in

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 ...

Queen's Hall The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect Thomas Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. Fro ...

under Sir

Henry Wood Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 186919 August 1944) was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introducing hundr ...

. Meggy toured the English provinces with Alice Verlet, and gave concerts in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

(1906) and

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

. She made an extensive tour (1907) with

Emma Albani Dame Emma Albani, DBE (born Marie-Louise-Emma-Cécile Lajeunesse; 1 November 18473 April 1930) was a Canadian-British operatic coloratura soprano, later spinto soprano and dramatic soprano of the 19th and early 20th century, the first Canadian ...

through Australia,

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

, and

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. In 1917 she returned to London to give annual recitals, play with the Queen Hall's orchestra under

Sir Henry Wood Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 186919 August 1944) was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introducing hundr ...

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (15 August 18751 September 1912) was a British composer and conductor. He was particularly known for his three cantatas on the epic 1855 poem ''The Song of Hiawatha'' by American Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Coler ...

dedicated to her his valse-suite for piano ''Three-fours, Op. 71'' (1909). In 1917, Meggy returned to Sydney as a result of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Four of her siblings - her three brothers and her sister Margaret Helen - served with the

First Australian Imperial Force The First Australian Imperial Force (1st AIF) was the main Expeditionary warfare, expeditionary force of the Australian Army during the First World War. It was formed as the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) following United Kingdom of Great Bri ...

abroad. Two brothers, Albert Edward Meggy and Douglas Acland Meggy, were killed in action, during the Gallipoli campaign and the

battle of Pozières The Battle of Pozières (23 July – 3 September 1916) took place in northern France around the village of Pozières, during the Battle of the Somme. The costly fighting ended with the British in possession of the plateau north and east of the ...

respectively. Upon her return to Australia in 1917, Meggy received an invitation from

Henri Verbrugghen Henri Adrien Marie Verbrugghen (1 August 187312 November 1934) was a Belgian musician, who directed orchestras in England, Scotland, Australia and the United States. Born in Brussels, Verbrugghen made his first appearance as a violinist when o ...

to teach at the New South Wales Conservatorium. In June 1918, she gave the first performance of the complete cycle of

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

and

Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include symphonie ...

cello sonatas in Sydney with James Messeas. In May 1920, Meggy participated in the ''Beethoven Festival'' organized by the Conservatorium. She was one of four pianists to perform piano concertos (along with Laurence Godfrey Smith, Frank Hutchens and

Henry Penn Henry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters * Henry (surname) * Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone Arts and entertainment ...

). She performed

the Fourth ''The Fourth'' () is a 1972 Soviet drama film directed by Aleksandr Stolper. The film tells the story of an American journalist who has to make a difficult choice: publicize the plans of supporters of the war after having lost all his life's ben ...

on 12 May (with Saint-Saëns' cadenzas). Among her pupils was Marie van Hove.

Sources

* H. Saxe Wyndham.
Who's who in music: A biographical record of contemporary musicians
'. Boston: Small, Maynard and Co., 1913. * H.J. Gibbney, Ann G. Smith.
A biographical register 1788-1939. Notes from the name index of the Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. II: L-Z
'

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meggy, Myrtle 1887 births 1959 deaths 20th-century Australian pianists 20th-century Australian women pianists