Nancy Evelyn Salas (28 July 1910 – 18 December 1990) was an Australian music teacher and

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

Early life

Salas was born in

Coolgardie, Western Australia Coolgardie is a small town in Western Australia located around east of the state capital, Perth; and southwest of Kalgoorlie. It has a population of approximately 850 people. Although Coolgardie is now known to most Western Australians as a ...

, to Annie ( Maguire) and Godfrey Dowling Salas. Her father was of Hungarian descent.

Career

Salas learned piano from a teacher in

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie-Boulder (or just Kalgoorlie) is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder as the surroundi ...

, and gained her licentiate in music from

Trinity College London Trinity College London (TCL) is an examination board based in London, United Kingdom which offers graded and diploma qualifications across a range of disciplines in the performing arts and English language learning and teaching. Trinity Colleg ...

in 1929. She moved to

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 ...

in 1934 and began working as a music teacher, from 1938 also studying under Alexander Sverjensky at the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music. Salas was appointed to the staff of the conservatorium in 1955, teaching piano and

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

. She performed both the instruments with the

Sydney Symphony Orchestra The Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO) is an Australian symphony orchestra based in Sydney. With roots going back to 1908, the orchestra was made a permanent professional orchestra on the formation of the Australian Broadcasting Commission in 1932. ...

, under conductor Eugene Goossens, and also made recordings for the

Australian Broadcasting Commission The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is a ...

(ABC). A devotee of

Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hunga ...

, Salas formed the Bartók Society of Australia in 1955, and in 1963 went to Hungary to study his archives, meeting with his widow,

Ditta Pásztory-Bartók Ditta Pásztory-Bartók (31 October 190321 November 1982) was a Hungarian pianist and the second wife of the composer Béla Bartók. She was the dedicatee of a number of his works, including ''Out of Doors (Bartók), Out of Doors'' and the Piano ...

. She was also interested in

Baroque music Baroque music ( or ) refers to the period or dominant style of Classical music, Western classical music composed from about 1600 to 1750. The Baroque style followed the Renaissance music, Renaissance period, and was followed in turn by the Class ...

, undertaking research with

Gustav Leonhardt Gustav Maria Leonhardt (30 May 1928 – 16 January 2012) was a Dutch keyboardist, conductor, musicologist, teacher and editor. He was a leading figure in the historically informed performance movement to perform music on period instruments. Leo ...

and

Ralph Kirkpatrick Ralph Leonard Kirkpatrick (; June 10, 1911April 13, 1984) was an American harpsichordist and musicologist, widely known for his chronological catalog of Domenico Scarlatti's keyboard sonatas as well as for his performances and recordings. Life an ...

, and the music of

Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...

. In 1979, Salas and a pupil,

Kathryn Selby Kathryn Shauna Selby AM (born 1962) is an Australian classical pianist. She is often known as Kathy Selby. Biography She grew up in Sydney. She entered the Sydney Conservatorium of Music at the age of seven, studying under Nancy Salas. She ...

, performed in front of the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its Seventy-ninth session of th ...

in New York as part of a concert to celebrate the

International Year of the Child UNESCO proclaimed 1979 as the International Year of the Child. The proclamation was signed on January 1, 1979, by United Nations Secretary General Kurt Waldheim. A follow-up to the 1959 Declaration of the Rights of the Child, the proclamation ...

. She retired from the conservatorium the following year. Salas received several honours during her career. She was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in 1977. She also received the

Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal The Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal () is a commemorative medal created in 1977 to mark the 25th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession in 1952. The medal is physically identical in all realms where it was awarded, save for Canada ...

, and also received medals from the Hungarian and West German governments.

Personal life

Salas was married twice, first to Halford Oldershaw in 1942; they divorced in 1955. The following year, Salas married Victor Coleman; they would divorce in 1971. She had no children by either marriage. Salas died in Sydney in 1990, aged 80.

Notable Students

Ray Hartley OAM (1925-2014) was a world-class Australian pianist, composer, arranger and philanthropist; he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for his fund-raising concerts in the U.S.A. and Australia, and performed at the Sydney Opera House in 1994.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Salas, Nancy 1910 births 1990 deaths Australian harpsichordists Women harpsichordists Australian Members of the Order of the British Empire Australian musicologists Australian women musicologists Australian people of Hungarian descent Australian women classical pianists Piano educators People from Coolgardie, Western Australia Australian women musicians Alumni of Trinity College of Music Academic staff of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music 20th-century Australian musicologists 20th-century Australian classical pianists Australian music educators Australian women music educators 20th-century Australian women pianists