Christian Carpenter

[Rob H]

Does anyone know anything about this female (I'm assured) pianist/composer? A friend is playing some piano pieces by her and can find no information at all. All I can see is that she played Paderewski's Polish fantasy (4 times) and Rubinstein's 4th concerto (twice) at several proms concerts between 1909 and 1921. Several pianists biogs note that they won the "Christian Carpenter recital prize" or "CC accompaniment prize" at the RAM or RCM but can find no mention amongst past allumi or professors at those institutions.
Amazon has a few of her scores but again, no info.
Thanks,
Rob

[giles.enders]

Have you tried approaching the colleges you mention?  They may have some of her music and if she was a student they should have dates etc;

[Rob H]

Not yet - I was only asked last night. As my 'thing' is historical pianists I was their first choice to approach and I was sorry to say that it was the first time I'd heard the name.
Your suggestion will be passed on to them, thanks

[eschiss1]

I see that she received a Walter MacFarren gold medal around 1906...

[Wiz]

To Rob H.
Hi, I am an alumna of the Royal Academy of Music where I graduated in 1965. Recently, I was going through some old papers and found some information about Christian Carpenter who shared a house before World War 2 in Bathford, Bath, with, I believe, a relative of my husband's grandmother. If you are still interested in this subject, please let me know and I will send you the information I have.
Best wishes.

[Martin Eastick]

Christian Olive Carpenter (1883-1953). Her rather impressive violin sonata in E minor has been superbly recorded by the young violinst Shulah Oliver, with Simon Marlow, piano. I obtained a copy of the CD directly from Shulah some 4 years ago, and hopefully is still obtainable here for anyone interested!https://sites.google.com/site/shulaholiver/cd-recordings. Judging from the style of the work (Parry, Dunhill, Hurlstone etc), I would think it probably dates from the first decade of the 20th century. I warmly recommend this recording to anyone interested.

Apart from this, I have a printed score of her "3 Characteristic Pieces for piano" (Ricordi 1908), which are pleasant enough, but I would very much like to see her piano sonata, which is listed in the British Library together with the violin sonata and a handful of smaller works. Obviously, it would be interesting to know what other works of hers survive.

[giles.enders]

Christian Olive Carpenter  Born 12.9.1883 Hampstead, London    Died 5.2.1953 Bath, Somerset.

Daughter of a Cambridge schoolmaster, she was one of four children. There were family so it may be possible to trace some offspring.

16 Crossfield Rd Hampstead --  Died 1 Westwood, Bathford, Bath.

Chamber

Violin sonata

Piano

Sonata
Suite of three characteristic pieces:  pub. by Ricordi & Co
1. Gavotte and musette
2. Reverie
3. Valse-caprice
Bijou Suite: Gavotte, Minuet, Past-time, Waltz, Jig.  pub. by Ryalls & Jones
Sarabande  pub. by Ryalls & Jones
Three Atoms for piano  pub. by Stainer & Bell
Octives - study for piano  pub. by Edwin Ashdown.

Father :Robert Spencer Carpenter
Mother: Mary Elizabeth Wood

Spencer Cecil Carpenter   -19.8.1959
Robert Abbott Carpenter
Winifred Mary Carpenter
Christian Olive Carpenter

[Gareth Vaughan]

The Bath & North East Somerset Records Office has a collection of her journals, papers and ephemera, together with 4 or 5 pieces of light, probably inconsequential pieces of occasional music or written for children.