The remarkable story of Maria Hinckesman

Abstract

Maria Hinckesman, who migrated from London to Sydney in 1842, was one of the first female composers whose music was printed in Australia. She studied in London with the Polish pianist Maria Szymanowska and the theorist Augustus F. C. Kollmann, whose method of thorough-bass instruction she endeavoured to introduce in Australia. She was a principal exponent of the sostenente piano patented by Isaac Henry Robert Mott in 1817 and appears to have performed on it before members of the royal family. She published her own music in England and organised concerts in association with leading musicians on two continents. Although biographical dictionaries have omitted her, sufficient documentation has survived to recount her achievements and to portray her travails. An annotated list of her compositions is appended to the article.