Fritz Hart - Australia

Australia

Fritz Hart came to Australia in 1908, where he remained until 1935. He was invited by J. C. Williamson to be conductor of a light opera company. The initial contract for 12 months was extended to four years. He then took over George Marshall-Hall's lecturing duties at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music in Albert Street. Dame Nellie Melba established her school of singing there, and Melba and her pupils helped shape Hart's work as a composer. He had the overall responsibility for her students' musical training, many of whom made their marks internationally.

In 1913 Hart and Alfred Hill founded the short-lived Australian Opera League. The first programme, on 3 August 1914, included the first performance of Hart's opera Pierrette. He became director of the Albert Street (later 'Melba') Conservatorium in 1915 when its Director, G.W. L. Marshall-Hall was reappointed Ormond Professor of Music at the University of Melbourne.

In 1924 Hart was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Music, London. In 1927 he became acting conductor for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO), and in 1928, after the death of Alberto Zelman, the permanent conductor. In 1932 the Melbourne University Conservatorium Orchestra and the MSO amalgamated under the joint conductorship of Hart and Professor Bernard Heinze. In 1929 the MSO was the first Australian orchestra to play open air concerts. These were in Melbourne's Alexandra Gardens, under the baton of Fritz Hart. These 'Popular Concerts' were made possible through a donation by Sidney Myer. He was highly regarded as a teacher, his pupils including Peggy Glanville-Hicks, Margaret Sutherland and Robert Hughes.

After 1937 he returned to Melbourne only once, for the Jubilee of the Albert Street conservatorium in July 1945 when he conducted several of his works.

His portrait was painted by, among other artists, Max Meldrum and is the National Gallery of Australia's collection. The National Library of Australia has another portrait, by A. D. Colquhoun.